The Problem of “Extended Adolescence” in Japanese Society Today

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  • 現代社会と後期青年期問題
  • ゲンダイ シャカイ ト コウキ セイネンキ モンダイ
  • The Problem of ^|^ldquo;Extended Adolescence^|^rdquo; in Japanese Society Today

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Among the so-called “young adult” generation (approximately 20 to 35 years old) there are people who do not (or cannot) a place in real society, even when they have completed the period of social moratorium. It is certain that this problem of “extended adolescence” is structured by the economic system and labor market of Japan. However, it involves more fundamental issues, which cannot be simply linked back to economic problems.<BR>The aim of this paper is to elucidate the reality of the individual process of “self -socialization” our contemporaries living within their own lifestyles in the extra period of extended adolescence, buried under a postmodern situation characterized by an “unfinished individualization process” and “breaking up of grand narratives or metanarratives.” In that case, there is a group of key words that can provide clues to answering the question, and which are interrelated; they include the freedom of choice, virtual reality, the sense of “fear of landing, ” and difficulty of social maturity.<BR>Modern youth tend to hesitate to land in the real world, as a result of the enlargement of the idea of freedom in a land of individual freedom of choice, and the pursuit of pleasure or comfort in a virtual world. However, the youth in question are not simply lazy individuals trying to avoid becoming independent. Although they may be like a magnetic substance completely engulfed in the magnetic field of contemporary society, each one still gropes honestly for a way of living their own lives. We should look within their “immaturity” for clues to promote the increasing maturity of our own society.

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