Infantilised: How Our Culture Killed Adulthood

An enlightening, if rather disturbing, read. Hayward makes a convincing and very neatly argued case for what many of us are already aware of - either consciously or unconsciously - as happening in our Anglo-American culture. His arguments open one's eyes to just how simplified, simplistic and juvenile some of our culture has become.While his arguments for the errosion of adulthood as a desirable state are neatly laid out (and convincingly argued), I found that in some instances he simplified issues to suit his point.The first example is his simplification that the recent walk-out-of-school protests by school children regarding climate change is seen by Hayward as both a childish excuse to get out of school and an interference of show more children in adult matters. I disagree: school aged children will be the ones to deal with the climate disasters brought about largely by their parents and grandparents, and so their attempts to be heard shouldn't be reduced to an act of childishness. That said, his point that the adult sphere has, in many instances, been eroded with a false reliance on young, inexperienced, and uniformed people is still relevant.Another instance is of his critique of young people living at home until quite late in life (this is in comparison to earlier generations, where moving out was considered perhaps the first step into adulthood). Again, some of this is certainly down to lack of willingness to engage in 'adult' life. However, Hayward fails to note that a significant number of young people cannot move out due a combination of factors, including housing shortages, ridiculously inflated rental markets, lack of reliable jobs, etc. Something has to be said for comparing adulthood rites from previous generations that saw reasonable economic, environmental and cultrual stability with a generation that has inherited none of those. Yes, instability in all those areas is consistent historically but the global nature of today's world is new. Hayward fails to note that the growth of infantilisation is down to the generation he sees as still making a distinction between child- and adulthood. The marketing and economic factors he notes as being central to these changes were enacted by that very generation that still followed those generational rites.A note about the writing: in my mind, it's barely in the realm of being for an educated lay audience; rather, it's very close to the academic style commonplace in the humanities. This might make it a challenging read for some. show less