by Chance Clever

Created on: March 22, 2010

Rites of passage take countless forms and cross all boundaries of class, culture, race and religion.  Whether it takes the form of a traditional bar Mitzvah or a debutante ball all cultures have a way of signaling the change from childhood to adulthood.  The question “Is a true 'rite of passage' a missing element in contemporary youth culture?” assumes that there isn’t a ‘true rite of passage’.  What defines collective social behavior as true or otherwise? 

Youth culture of today is more evolved than they generally get credit for.  From social networking to browsing the web in the palm of their hand today’s youth culture have more access to information than any other generation.  Certainly access to said information doesn’t make them smarter, they’re still teenagers after all.  But with the influx of young, highly sexualized pop stars who are barely of driving age and the explosion of products marketed to teens the power of American youth is immense.  Because of this I’d argue that the line between youth and adulthood has blurred beyond any reasonable level of recognition. 

If the line has blurred then what place do traditional rites of passage have in an advanced society?  Built into the fabric of our culture are numerous rites of passage such as driving, graduation, that first kiss, that first heartbreak, first job and others.  We’ve certainly added things: first cell phone, first computer, first friend on Facebook, etc.  Tattoos were once reserved for sailors, now they are quite common.  Because these are new and different does it necessarily eliminate them as ‘true’ rites of passage? Would we prefer that our youth be thrown back to the 1940’s where a rite of passage was going off to war, returning home, getting a job at a steel mill and marrying his high school sweetheart?  Is that a ‘true’ rite of passage or simply a condition of the times?

When a young man or woman turns 18 they may vote, an obvious rite of passage.  When they turn 21 they may imbibe themselves in the pleasures of adulthood.  Do these traditional rites count or are they no longer relevant because so many kids drink before they are of age and generally skip voting? 

The presumption that youth culture suffers without clear lines between adolescence and adulthood is unfounded and harkens back to the antiquated rituals of early civilization.  Tradition is nothing more than an excuse to be ignorant.  In America it was tradition that blacks and women couldn’t vote.  It was tradition single mothers be shunned for their indecency.  Tradition is overrated and often leads to segregation of subcultures.  Because of this I say that a youth culture lacking ‘true’ rites of passage is not a problem but rather a sign of the Zeitgeist. 

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