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In the lean and anxious years following World War II, Munich society became obsessed with the moral condition of its youth. Initially born of the economic and social disruption of the war years, a preoccupation with juvenile delinquency progressed into a full-blown panic over the hypothetical threat that young men and women posed to postwar stability. As Martin Kalb shows in this fascinating study, constructs like the rowdy young boy and the sexually deviant girl served as proxies for the diffuse fears of adult society, while allowing authorities ranging from local institutions to the U.S. military government to strengthen forms of social control.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction PART I: DELIQUENCY IN THE CRISIS YEARS, 1942-1948 Chapter 1. Constructing the Delinquent Boy and the Sexually Deviant Girl
Chapter 2. Controlling Juvenile Delinquents in the Crisis Years
PART II: AMERICANIZATION AND YOUTH CULTURES IN THE MIRACLE YEARS, 1949-1962 Chapter 3. Constructing the Halbstarke and the Teenager
Chapter 4. Controlling Youth and Society in the Miracle Years
PART III: POLITICAL ACTIVISM IN THE PROTEST YEARS, 1962-1973 Chapter 5. Constructing the Student and the Gammler
Chapter 6. Controlling Protestors in the Protest Years
Conclusion Bibliography
Index
About the author
Martin Kalb is an Assistant Professor of History at Bridgewater College in Virginia. His research on Modern Germany and its empires, with an emphasis on the histories of everyday life (
Alltagsgeschichte), youth, and environmental history, has appeared in academic journals, edited volumes, and other venues.
Summary
In the years following World War II, Munich society became obsessed with the hypothetical threat that youths posed to postwar stability. This fascinating study shows that constructs like the rowdy young male and the sexually deviant girl served as proxies for the anxieties of adult society, while allowing authorities to expand social control.
