In the 1990s, both politics and pop culture have been dominated by the twin motifs of the victim and the child. This book traces the history of these motifs all the way back to their origins in the counterculture of the '50s and '60s, and concludes that the counterculture, far from being liberatory, has provided a ready-made verbal and visual language for today's victim culture and the authoritarian politics arising from it. The erosion of adulthood is discussed as a pop cultural phenomenon that requires demystification and as a social problem which must be overcome.
Former record producer Andrew Calcutt is currently a commissioning editor at web content providers Cyberia Online, and a contributing editor at LM magazine. As 'The Smoker', he plays in a satirical R&B band and hosts evenings of entertainment and debate in cafes and bars around London.
