Working-Class “Adolescence” in Austria,1890–1930

Abstract

Building on previous work of John Gillis, Joseph Kett, Harry Hendrick and others, this article examines evidence from a country-Austria-included only minimally in the debate concerning adolescence and focuses on the conceptual aspects of the debate as reflected in the attitudes and actions of those authorities responsible for “creating” or “discovering” an adolescent life phase at the turn of the century. The argument is that the modern adolescent image was created as a result of authorities' attempts to institutionalize the offspring of the poor initially to remove a “threat” to society and later as a result of new social-scientific theories about youth development.