"Controlling" Adolescents

Rebecca Raby’s article, “A Tangle of Discourses: Girls Negotiating Adolescence” is not an easy read. There were times when my thoughts were tangled up as I struggled to create meaning out of the text. Fortunately, I was able to understand enough of the article to garner its main ideas.

In her article, Raby discusses five dominant assertions about adolescence (discourses) that she feels accompanies the adolescent experience: the storm, becoming, at-risk, social problem, and pleasurable consumption. My understanding of these discourses is that they are imposed upon the adolescent experience from the outside by “professional positions who hold a particular authority and thus create knowledge about certain subjects” (430). These professionals wield the power (very similar to the concept of dominant ideologies expressed in class) and in essence control how teens in general are viewed by the public.

Another aspect of this article that was abundantly clear to me is the pervasive theme of control. Throughout the text, phrases like, “social control,” “subjugated people,” “dismissal and control,” “paternalistic regulations,” “insufficiently controlled,” and the “ungovernability of teens” to describe adolescence suggest that this is a time that must be managed closely.

During “the storm,” the adolescent’s turbulent and unpredictable behavior must be “managed” and ultimately dismissed as a part of a phase. To be dismissive is an act of control because it minimizes or ignores what an adolescent is going through, thus rendering the individual powerless.

“Becoming” is a time when adolescents exert independence and strive for self-identification. When I read this part of the article, I am reminded of a song that my sixteen-year-old daughter plays in the car. The song is “Perfect Day” by Hoku. I used to be irritated when I heard this song, but now after reading this article, I get it. The theme of the song is let me enjoy this time in my life, don’t control me, don’t ruin this for me… Nevertheless, authority in the form of parents, institutions, and the media do exert control over teenagers. The media is extremely manipulative as it encourages adolescents to express their independence and individuality through the consumption of goods, yet at the same time enslaves their free will and seduces them into being like everyone else.

“At-Risk” and “Social Problem” are discourses that do not apply to all teenagers; however, they are thrown over the entire group like a blanket. The common response is to presume that all teens need to be controlled because it is in their best interest. “A discourse of teens at risk, like the discourse as teens as social problems… justifies mechanisms of social control” (435). Some examples of social control indicated in the article are uniforms, curfews, boot camps, zero tolerance policies, and incarceration.

Lastly, control is evident in “pleasurable consumption” when marketers target and “brand” teenagers. I associate branding with brainwashing. If marketers brainwash teens into believing that shopping is pleasurable, and said shopping does elicit pleasure, then teens will shop. They will be programmed into believing that certain products are cool and they will develop a loyalty to those products into adulthood. The result is that adolescents are robbed of their free agency, although it will seem like they are in control.

Can adolescence really be controlled? Personally, I do not think so. Nor do I think adolescence can be predetermined exactly...

As mentioned at the beginning of this blog, I did find some aspects of this article confusing. For example:

• What does the author mean when discussing rebellion and resistance?
• Are adolescents victims or agents of change?
• Why do teens, in the search for individuality, conform to their peers?
• What came first… the teenager or the diagnosed behavior?
• Do teens act the way they do because it is built in or because it is predetermined by society?