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Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized Society

This book delves into the issues encountered by youth in an organized society, analyzing the impact of societal structures on their development and experiences. more

Author

Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman

Paul Goodman was an American novelist born on September 9, 1911, and died on August 2, 1972. His works are known for their deep psychological insights and critical reflections on social issues. more

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“Naturally, grown-up citizens are concerned about the beatniks and delinquents. ... The question is why the grownups do not, more soberly, draw the same conclusions as the youth. Or, since no doubt many people are quite clear about the connection that the structure of society that has becoming increasingly dominant in our country is disastrous to the growth of excellence and manliness, why don't more people speak up and say so?”

PeopleCountrySpeakGrowthClearDoubtYouthBecomingCitizensDrawsConcernedConnectionsStructureExcellenceConclusionOur CountryNo DoubtDominantGrownupsManlinessDelinquentsBeatnik
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“Nothing could be more stupid than for the communications commission to give to people who handle the means of broadcasting the inventing of what to broadcast, and then, disturbed at the poor quality, to worry about censorship.”

PeopleGivingMeanPoorQualityWorryStupidCommunicationHandleCensorshipDisturbedInventingBroadcastingPoor Quality
Book:Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized Society
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“Thwarted, or starved, in the important objects proper to young capacities, the boys and young men naturally find or invent deviant objects for themselves. ... Their choices and inventions are rarely charming, usually stupid, and often disastrous; we cannot expect average kids to deviate with genius. But on the other hand, the young men who conform to the dominant society become for the most part apathetic, disappointed, cynical and wasted.”

MenImportantHandsKidsYoungChoicesBoysStupidObjectsGeniusCapacityAverageInventionYoung ManDisappointedCynicalCharmingDominantConformApatheticDeviateDeviants
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“The ideal of having a real job that you risk your soul in and make good or be damned, belongs to the heroic age of capitalist enterprise, imbued with self-righteous beliefs about hard work, thrift, and public morals. Such an ideal might still have been mentioned in public fifty years ago; in our era of risk-insured semimonopolies and advertised vices it would be met with a ghastly stillness.”

YearsHas BeensStillsRealSoulSelfHardMightWould BeAgeJobsBeliefMoralRiskHard WorkMetsIdealsYears AgoVicesErasYour SoulFiftyEnterpriseHeroicStillnessCapitalistRighteousThriftSelf RighteousGhastlyReal Jobs
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“To want a job that exercises a man's capacities in an enterprise useful to society, is utopian anarcho-syndicalism; it is labor invading the domain of management. No labor leader has entertained such a thought in our generation. Management has the "sole prerogative" to determine the products.”

MenWantJobsLeaderGenerationsProductsExerciseCapacityLaborManagementDetermineEnterpriseSoleDomainUtopianOur GenerationPrerogativeInvading
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“The aim is not to give human beings real goals that warrant belief, and tasks to share in, but to re-establish "belonging," although this kind of speech and thought is precisely calculated to avoid contact and so makes belonging impossible.”

GivingHumansKindRealBeliefGoalHuman BeingsImpossibleShareSpeechTasksAimContactBelongingBeing RealWarrants
Book:Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized Society
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