The Infantilization of the Postmodern Adult and the Figure of Kidult Cover Image

The Infantilization of the Postmodern Adult and the Figure of Kidult
The Infantilization of the Postmodern Adult and the Figure of Kidult

Author(s): Jacopo Bernardini
Subject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Editura Lumen, Asociatia Lumen
Keywords: Adulthood; kidult; Infantilization; adult; youthful; immaturity; postmodern; postmodernity

Summary/Abstract: Being young today is no longer a transitory stage, but rather a choice of life, well established and brutally promoted by the media system. While the classic paradigms of adulthood and maturation could interpret such infantile behavior as a symptom of deviance, such behavior has become a model to follow, an ideal of fun and being carefree, present in a wide variety of contexts of society. The contemporary adult follows a sort of thoughtful immaturity, a conscious escape from the responsibilities of an anachronistic model of life. If an ideal of maturity remains, it does not find behavioral compensations in a society where childish attitudes and adolescent life models are constantly promoted by the media and tolerated by institutions.

  • Issue Year: 05/2014
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 39-55
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: English