Arrested Development: Pop Culture and the Erosion of Adulthood (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Calcutt suggests that the counterculture of the fifties and sixties provided a verbal and visual language for today's victim culture and the authoritarian politics he sees as arising from it. He views the consequent erosion of adulthood as a social problem which must be overcome.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Cassell (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0304339555
• ISBN-13: 978-0304339556
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,225,540 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding analysis of contemporary society., September 28, 1998

By A Customer

'Arrested Development' is a brilliant critique of the relationship between popular culture and today's society. Politicians with little to offer in the way of vision, turn to popular culture to try and look for a dynamism that they haven't got.

Calcutt's book exposes the superficiality of this embrace and the divisive consequences it has for today's society. The author also writes with great honesty about his own forays into pop culture and all of it's follies which many of us have fallen for in our youth.

The book puts forward the case for adulthood in an environment where it appears more desirable to remain a Peter Pan character espousing throwaway 'popstar' type attitudes rather than develop the critical faculties and reflective capabilities that come with maturity.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, November 5, 2003

By	D. Chesnut (Murphys, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was hoping for some insight into the reasons behind what appears to be an increasingly narcissistic attitude behind modern culture. Instead I found a frustrated pop star wannabe who rails at everyone and everything that prevented him from becoming a superstar. Calcutt is not a sociologist and this book prooves it. Rather, he comes across more like a pulp writer hacking away at a tell-all.
While there may be a shred of value in this poorly written attempt at explaining modern culture's woes, readers would be better served to look into James Cote's work, Arrested Adulthood.