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Mike A. Males

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The Scapegoat Generation: America's War on Adolescents Paperback – January 1, 1996

by Mike A Males (Author)

4.3 10 ratings

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Presents myths and facts about social problems confronting American adolescents, offering a perspective on crime, violence, drugs, teen pregnancy, suicide, and more

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About the Author

Mike Males is a doctoral candidate in social ecology at the University of California, Irvine. He serves on the California Wellness Foundation Adolescent Health Advisory Board, and has written extensively on youth and social issues in publications such as The New York Times, The Lancet, Phi Delta Kappan and In These Times. His most recent book is "Framing Youth: Ten Myths About the Next Generation."

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Common Courage Press; First Edition (January 1, 1996)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 330 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1567510809
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1567510805
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,510,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #92,299 in Politics & Government (Books)
- #126,439 in Social Sciences (Books)

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John Avellar

A good transaction ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2023

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The book is in great shape and came well packed.

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2007

Mike Males' book is a sobering analysis showing how teenagers are blamed for our society's ills as though they live in a vacuum, unaffected by the behavior of adults around them. Males makes the point, in hundreds of footnoted references, that we, as a nation, spend less on services and support for our young people than we do on any other group. He also reveals in his exhaustive research that it is youth poverty--not gansta rap, drugs, TV violence and "innate" youth savagery--that explains violent youth crimes.

In the first chapter, "The Scapegoat Generation" gives an overview of how teens are set up to take the blame for teen pregnancy, violence, smoking, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and suicide. In each of these areas he compares the teen and adult statistics, finding that in most cases, teen incidence of these behaviors parallels that of adults; teens don't do anything more than their parents and other adults around them do. In subsequent chapters, he visits each of these issues in depth and and shows, in example after example, how our politicians, private interests and popular media make these behaviors seem out of control among our adolescents.

For example, Males found that the problem of teen pregnancy is not the result of teenagers having sex with each other. Rather, it is the result of adult men past their high school years have sex with teenage girls. This, Males says, is a complex issue that we refuse to address. And, even though this dynamic is well understood and acknowledged among so-called experts, it is ignored by the media in favor of the easier target: teen mothers on welfare. "Facing adult-teen sex means dismantling the Great Wall between 'adolescent' and 'adult' that advocates of all stripes have erected to keep the argument from intruding on taboo topics of grown-up values, grown-up maturity, grown-up behavior and grown-up sex."

In the area of drug abuse, by focusing media and government attention on the relatively harmless effects of teen marijuana use, the bigger issues of racism, poverty and the adult use of hard drugs can be sidestepped. Males found that "A black teenager is only one-fifth as likely to die from drugs, but is ten times more likely to be arrested for drugs than a white adult."

Males raises the question, "Do we love our children?" when he ends the book with this suggestion: "What is needed is not a revolution of fiscal policy or remedial plan, but one of fundamental attitude. Nothing good will happen until elder America gazes down from our hillside and condominium perch and identifies the young--darker in shade as a rule, feisty, lustful as we were, violent as we raised them to be, no different from us in any major respect--as our children. All of them."

If you think America loves her children, this book will open your eyes to the many many ways our actions as a wealthy, powerful society belie that thought.

What Kids Really Want to Ask: Using Movies to Start Meaningful Conversations

9 people found this helpful

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Sailor Barsoom

READ THIS PLEASE! but keep in mind that all these teens are in their thirties now.

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2011

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As others have pointed out, this book shows that a lot of the things we assumed were up (teen pregnancy, teen drug overdoses) were actually down, and a lot of the things we knew about what caused problems (sex on TV, heavy metal music) were in fact dead wrong.

I already knew that many adults are willing to believe any idiocy about teenagers some fear-mongering "news" anchor cares to foment. Remember rainbow parties and vodka-soaked tampons? Yeah, both lies. But it's much more extensive than I thought. Males shows how this is done, and done consistently over decades. He shows how Franklin D. Roosevelt had to deal with accusations of youth out of control, and how scapegoating youth played in the lead-up to (and the aftermath of) Prohibition.

I for one didn't mind his stats and graphs. How am I to know he's not just saying what he'd *like* to be true instead of what *is* true if he doesn't back up his claims with real numbers? Well, he has numbers a'plenty, and from sources I would expect to have the data, like the FBI for crime stats.

But. I did have to keep reminding myself that this book is out of date. It is from the 1990s, and all those teenagers are in their thirties now. How are they doing now? And what are TODAY'S teenagers and early-twenty-somethings like? I'll be getting Males' more recent books, and then I'll know.

3 people found this helpful

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Edward Cichowicz MD

A must for those working with adolescents.

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2002

Mike Males' books, The Scapegoat Generation, and Framing Youth, rank among the must-reads for any public health professional, community worker, or politician dealing with adolescents. Mike will help you see through all the myths and all the [stuff] that's out there regarding adolescents, much of it coming from what one would think are "unimpeachable" sources. If you're a health professional like me, wondering why all the "tried and true" strategies to reduce adolescent pregnancy, violence, drug use and smoking in your community are just not working, you need to read this book.

6 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Wasted hours

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2000

I read this book for a class and was thoroughly disappointed. Males' writing is repetitive and poorly edited, yet incredibly pretentious at the same time. He manages to insult conservatives, liberals, and just about everyone in between, simply tossing about sarcastic assumptions. In the end, I wasn't convinced of anything he said, and regretted the hours I had spent plowing through far too many statistics.

6 people found this helpful

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MarieV

finally some truth out there

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2000

I've always been the kind of person who broods in the sociology section of bookstores for finds like this. It's an amazing book, and one that finally contradicts the feeling that my generation is the problem in America. Youths in other developed countries are given more freedoms and yet commit less crimes, this tells about that. If you aren't afraid of reading the truth, this is definately one for you.

10 people found this helpful

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Brendan Perez

Excellent book.

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2003

A little wordy, but very detailed.
My copy of this book, like Mike Males other book "Framing Youth", is very worn out. They are like encyclopedias when it comes to youth issues in this country.
Well worth the read.

4 people found this helpful

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Robert C.

A great bok revealing a part of American social reality.

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 1998

Males is a trenchant statistical arguer. He overlays graphs and makes other unexpected comparisons to break many stigmatic myths about American youth. A real eye-opener!

One person found this helpful

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