The objective of this paper is to discuss adolescence as a contemporary cultural ideal considering the idealization of adolescence that takes place in our society. Starting from a social and cultural view, we argue that the idealization of adolescence in contemporary society has been facilitated by consumer culture and the cult of freedom in such a way that today adolescence represents not only the ideal of freedom but also a style of life. Next we discuss, from a psychoanalytic point of view, the function of ideals in the building up of social bonds and its protective role against helplessness and cultural discontent, overwhelming as they became as a result of the fragmentation of modern ideals in today’s society. We conclude the paper by asking whether adolescence as a cultural ideal has been effective in its protective function against helplessness as well as in its ability to develop social bonds in contemporary society.
Adolescence; Cultural ideal; Consumption; Helplessness