The revolt of youth: some historical comparisons.

The existence of a youth problem appears to many a phenomenon peculiarly characteristic of our own time. In fact, in the United States over the past fifty years almost each generation has produced distinctive young rebels-the bohemians before and after World War I, the radicals of the thirties and forties, the beatniks and hipsters of the fifties, and the hippies and romantic anarcho-marxists of the sixties. The disaffection of groups of young people with their society is, however, not a specific phenomenon of the twentieth century. Other times and places have produced rebellious youth, social dropouts and alienated generations. It may be useful to look at such groups comparatively to see what aspects and elements they may have in common, particularly in terms of social circumstances, attitudes and behavior. For this purpose I shall examine the following groups: the wandering scholars and Goliard poets of the later Middle Ages; the generation of the German Sturm und Drang in the latter half of the 18th century ; the German Wandervogel at the end of the 19th century and in the early 20th century; and finally the American youth revolt before and after the first World War.t On the basis of such a comparison one may tentatively postulate social factors and changes involved in the rise of such groups and movements, psychological traits shared by their members, and possible psychopathological aspects they may entail. Vagantes, gyrovagi and Goliards Hedge priests, monks who fled the cloister because they were bored with monastic life or found it too harsh, men who for one reason or another left the schools and took to a nomadic life, had troubled the Church since the 5th century. When the universities were established and began to attract students from far and near, these vagantes or gyrovagi increased * Professor of the History of Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health. t Numerous other groups can be studied from the view point mentioned here. Examples are Russian youth in the 19th century, various nationalist movements such as Young Bosnia, and analogous groupings in developing countries. Space limitations preclude a more extensive approach, and a few references in the text must suffice.