Caught in the Crossfire: Kids, Politics, and America's Future

By Lawrence Grossberg

Book Overview

Caught in the Crossfire reveals how the United States has been gradually changing from a society that celebrates childhood into one that is hostile to and afraid of its own children. Today kids are often seen as a threat to our social and moral values. In schools, some behavior is criminalized, and growing numbers of kids find themselves in penal and psychiatric confinement. This breakdown is often too readily attributed to bad parenting, the crisis of the family, or the greed of capitalism. Grossberg offers a new and original understanding of the changes transforming contemporary America, and of the choices Americans face about their future. He documents the relations between economic ideologies and economic realities and explores what is going on in the "culture wars" as well as on the Internet and other new media. Caught in the Crossfire argues that all of these changes and tn struggles, including those involving the state of kids, only make sense as integral parts of a larger transformation to define America's uniqueness and to develop its own sense of modern culture. Part of the Cultural Politics and the Promise of Democracy Series.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594511136
• ISBN13: 9781594511134
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 406 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An Extraordinary Critique of Politics, Economics, and Culture

"Caught in the Crossfire" is a contemporary critique of the current political climate of the United States. Grossberg situates his argument in what seems to be the collective and growing dissatisfaction with our children, e.g. the "war" against kids. The first third of the text addresses how kids have been treated in the past three decades both literally and figuratively, with emphasis upon the latter. It is certainly no secret that children (especially teenagers) are misrepresented often in the media, leading to the demonization and criminalization of our youth. One need not search very far to find glorifying examples of this, take for instance the current status quo on rap music. Nevertheless, Grossberg provides a compelling argument to the contrary, arguing that the current claims about the behavior of our kids are not only misleading, but also blatantly false. His claims are supported with rich data, including but not limited to media documents, government surveys and criminal data. Grossberg even goes so far as to purport that kids rather are very much like the generations that preceded them. Before reading this text one might be at odds with such a statement, as it seems to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, but wading through his presentation of the data one would be hard pressed to not only consider the statement very compelling, if not downright correct. Much of the blame concerning the deterioration of kids is placed upon faltering parents, racism, capitalism, the current "family crisis", and of course the media. Grossberg addresses all of the aforementioned. Although the brunt of the blame does not rest squarely upon one or the other, the current rhetoric espoused by political factions on both the right and the left can be largely attributed to a compliant and complacent news media. Grossberg provides us with a plethora of factoids that refute current and widely held assumptions, beliefs, and myths about kids. For instance, a child is three to four times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be a victim of violence in school (p. 41). Nevertheless, he is quick to note that we cannot merely blame the media (as many do) but opt for a more sensible approach, one that would factor the media into the general equation concerning our understanding of kids. Grossberg proceeds to connect the misrepresentation of the youth crisis to broader struggles and changes that have defined America (and modernity) for at least the past quarter century. The dialogue that follows contributes to a social commentary concerning politics in an entirely new and unique perspective. In the second third of the text Grossberg presents a stifling critique of politics, castigating both the right and the left (few scholars are capable of doing this well and with rigor). Perhaps some might criticize Grossberg for being too "in the middle" but this would simply be missing the point. Besides, he openly admits his preference for left politics (which makes