Every
era has some main characteristics, and they affect people who live in that time
period in every aspect from worldviews to daily activities, including social
problems. There is an excellently proper term, attributed to Hegel, about this
set of characteristics: Zeitgeist, which means ‘spirit of the time’. Starting
this point of view, it can be said that the problems experienced by teenagers
are closely related to the characteristics of the era. Modernity is also
another central concept to evaluate this issue. In terms of modernity, which is
our zeitgeist and is characterized by secularism, capitalism and nation-state, teens
have two fundamental problems: fatherlessness and consumerism.
First
and foremost, modernization caused the case of fatherlessness. Mustafa Özel says,
‘Modernity overthrowned three fathers: The father who in the sky, the father
who on the throne, and the father at the home.’ As we can recognise, the father
simply implies authority, which is an indispensable element of human life.
Throughout history, authority has been considered both as a necessity and a
problematic, because while human being have always needed it on the one hand,
sometimes they theoretically critisized, complain about or revolt against the
authority that exists in their time, on the other hand. No doubt, there is a
dichotomy between authority and freedom, but before the modernity, while
authority was taken as an essence, freedom was understood as something that was
conditioned and strictly subjugated to authority. In modern mindset, on the
contrary, authority is subjected to freedom. Freedom has been degenerating and blinding
the youth for about two centuries as a fake authority and a means of illusion,
In
the second place, regarding to fatherlessness, there is a huge consumerism
issue, originated from modern giving-meaning processes to the life, and these
processes are manipulated by capitalists, in the name of profit improvement
which is ultimate goal for them. For reaching this goal, the capitalist seems
to say, ‘Yes, you can do whatever you want, because you are free.’ At the same
time he says ‘You can do IT!’ Then he
gives us the means, tools, objects of desire, and so on, to do IT, which is
benecifial for them. At the and of the day, teens, liberated from the authority,
fall into hands of the capitalists, having become consumerists.
Shortly
and precisely, with modernity, classical authorities have been trivialized,
overthrowned, and replaced by illusionary pseudo-authorities, such as freedom.
Hereby, teens are easily being manipulated and canalized by the capitalists,
and are becoming consumerists.
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