In Teenagers: An American History, Grace Palladino “attempts to compare and contrast teenage playing fields over time by tracing the twists and turns in teenage life (and adult attitudes) that transformed allegedly ‘sheltered adolescents’ into today’s ‘pragmatic, precocious kids’” (pg. xx). She argues, “The evolution of teenage culture over the past fifty years is a study of institution building, market expansion, racial desegregation, and family restructuring” (pg. xxi). The work begins with a study of high school students in the early 1930s and concludes in the 1990s, focusing in particular on the role of popular culture in both reflecting and shaping teenage attitudes.

Examining the role of moral entrepreneurs in the 1930s, Palladino writes, “Character builders took it for granted that adult-approved social standards would prevail as long as they were presented in flexible, commonsense ways. But adolescent group members, who tended to vote with their feet, could not be counted on to cooperate without good reason” (pgs. 23-24). Discussing cultural consumption, Palladino writes, “The roots of the teenage market reached back to the 1920s, when the high school population first began to grow. By mid-decade Scholastic magazine, the national high school weekly, regularly featured a few ads for goods and services that no discerning student could do without… Ten years later the variety of products, and the size and frequency of the ads, had grown along with the student body” (pg. 52).

Transitioning to World War II, Palladino writes, “The war cast new light on disaffected teenagers, elevating juvenile delinquency to a national crisis. Troublesome teenagers distracted parents from war work, threatened the health of potential soldiers, and drew unwanted public attention to the seamier sides of American life” (pg. 78). She continues, “By 1943, women’s clubs, church groups, PTAs, and community agencies were thrashing out the problem at public forums. Expert witnesses were testifying at congressional hearings. And the popular press was making juvenile delinquency a household concern – during the first six months of 1943 alone, twelve hundred magazine articles appeared on the subject” (pg. 81). Further, “The apparent epidemic of juvenile delinquency had as much to do with adult perceptions of teenage behavior as it did with a rise in crime, however. In some adult eyes, teenage disrespect and insolence were criminal offenses” (pg. 82).

By the 1950s, popular culture for teens was highly regimented, such as in the case of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. Palladino writes, “Wholesomeness was just a prop to get past adult censors, a fact of life that came as no surprise to teenagers. They were learning every day that appearance was nine-tenths of the law in the respectable adult world” (pg. 135). Returning to the theme of delinquency in the 1950s, Palladino writes, “Obviously, the interpretation of delinquent behavior was in the eye of the beholder: One man’s riot was another’s revelry” (pg. 161). Further, “According to the FBI, juvenile delinquency rose 45 percent between 1945 and 1953, and 55 percent between 1952 and 1957, but a closer look revealed that truancy and incorrigible behavior led the list in Jacksonville, Florida, for instance. In Chicago, it was curfew violations and disorderly conduct. In fact, according to police estimates, only one teenage gang in ten ever committed violent crimes, and only 1 percent of the teenage population ended up in court, despite an exceedingly broad definition of criminal teenage behavior” (pg. 161).

By the 1960s, “Critics would blame the usual suspects for the revolutionary change in attitude they perceived: popular culture, permissive parents, and short-sighted, hedonistic teenagers. But that only reflected the fact that they rarely paid attention to what was going on in their children’s world until trouble actually erupted. They were rarely as critical of their own behavior, or its consequences, as they were of teenage culture” (pgs. 204-205). Furthermore, “Although journalists spotlighted the ‘generation gap’ as if it were a new phenomenon, the distance between parents and children, or experience and exuberance, was built into the relationship. What was new was the frank expression of that distance – through popular culture, personal style, and political protest. Up until the 1960s, discretion had been a key component of middleclass teenage culture. After the 1960s, teenagers were much more willing ‘to let it all hang out’” (pg. 225). ( )