Understanding the Adult-Child Relationship

Is there really more of a generation gap today than there was in the past? We believe there is. There has always been a struggle between the generations, just there has always been a struggle between the sexes. In the past, however--in an autocratic society--this rebellion could not come out into the open. With the advent of the state of equality which we have reached in the United States since World War II, however, this evolution has begun to change or emerge more rapidly. We now see a low-level rebellion of all those persons who were earlier in an inferior position. Said more generally, we cannot understand this change--including a rebellion of youth--if we consider it as an isolated phenomenon.

This quiet struggle of youth is part of a general, sometimes not so quiet rebellion of the disenfranchised in our society. Many women no longer let themselves be controlled by men, children no longer allow it by adults, labor no longer allow it by management, and minorities--especially Blacks and Hispanics--no longer accept the "supremacy" of Whites/Caucasians. So we have to understand that this struggle, on all fronts, is part of the same rebellion.

The goal of this book is to outline the dynamics and processes involved. The author's intent is to highlight the evolving relationship between adults and children as part of this process.