>>>In a world where everything is
>>>permitted, we'd be robbed of that most wonderful joy--being naughty!
>>
>>All society, it sometimes seems to me, is a continuing experiment to
>>control adolescence.
>
>That's more-or-less what Freud said: civilisation is based on control of
>the basic drives, and in particular, the need of the older men to
>safeguard their own position by controlling the drives of the younger
>ones.
Hmmmm. I'd go one step, at least, against this cynicism, and pollyanna-like perhaps offer that not just the old men are involved, because I have a much more egalitarian view of society and even who gets to make decisions, and say that there is an actual proponent here, in the control of adolescence, to _direct_ these drives towards more productive modes, in a continuation (teacher/female) sense. Now, yes, returning to cynicism, this means that the young men are cajoled to wear ties and join the army and take wives and build houses and father children... and all the rest of the 'gender' role.
But, I ain't for one moment going to say it's just the old weak men who are doing the cajoling, or defining these roles.