Sociology 2105A/B Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Symbolic Interactionism, Reductionism, Behaviorism
12 Jan 2016
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Societal definitions of the youth period vary widely over time and place. Psychologists prefer the term adolescence and emerging adulthood. Youth can be anyone from the ages 14 to 30 depending on the society in question. One way to grasp the complexity of the youth question is to think in terms of the memory aid w5: who, what, wear, when. Another way to approach this question is identify the key debates over the century. The most fundamental starting point in this sort of enquiry is ontological in nature. Ontology is a threshold meta concept from metaphysical philosophy referring to the question of reality, the basic nature of an entity"s existence and what form it takes. In ontological terms entities may be defined to exist along a continuum ranging fro abstract to concrete. Before the modern era in the west, there was not a sharp distinction between being an adult and a non adult.
