The condition known as ‘adolescence’ is largely an artefact of advance industrial societies. How, then, do those who are labelled as ‘adolescent’ conduct their everyday lives, and what are their values? Originally published in 1980, this book seeks to provide some answers, amplified with a great deal of illustrative material, and many detailed observations.

The first chapter outlines a theoretical position, based on the conception of the person as essentially perceptive and active. The development and application of the research method is then described: this consists of an informal and loosely structured interview, by means of which the participants were able to give lengthy and vivid accounts of their experiences. Four broad topics are examined in detail: family life, relationships with other adolescents, formal and informal work, and the development of ‘self-values’. One of the most striking findings of the research is the fact that many boys and girls, denied the possibility of deep involvement with other areas of activity, have attached an almost obsessive importance to their immediate social world: here, at least, it is possible to gain some degree of control. The author indicates that social class differences are evident at many points, and expresses his belief that such differences among adolescents are likely to intensify rather than decrease during the coming decades.

The book concludes by relating the social-psychological findings to the broader social and historical context. In contrast to the common view of adolescence as a period during which identity is discovered, contemporary adolescence might be viewed as a struggle for psychological survival under conditions where for many the development of a strong personal identity is scarcely possible.

Espen Dahl is Professor of Systematic Theology at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. His research interests mainly focus on the intersection between twentieth-century philosophy (phenomenology and ordinary language philosophy) and theology. His publications include Stanley Cavell, Religion, and Continental Philosophy (2014); In Between. The Holy Beyond Modern Dichotomies (2011); The Holy and Phenomenology. Religious Experience after Husserl (SCM Press 2010). Dahl has published numerous articles on theology and philosophy, such as "Job and the Problem of Physical Pain – a Phenomenological Reading," Modern Theology 2016, 32 (1); and "Humility and Generosity: On the Horizontality of the Divine Givenness," Neue Zeitschrift für systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 55 (nr 3) (2013).

Cassandra Falke is a Professor of English Literature at UiT-The Arctic University of Norway. Her books include Intersections in Christianity and Critical Theory (ed. 2010), Literature by the Working Class: English Autobiography, 1820-1848 (2013), and most recently The Phenomenology of Love and Reading (2016). She has also authored articles about Wordsworth, Byron, Coleridge, liberal arts education, contemporary phenomenology and the portrayal of violence in literature.

Thor Eirik Eriksen has a PhD in Philosophy and holds a position as senior adviser at The University Hospital of North Norway and Assistant Professor of Community Medicine, at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. His main research interests are philosophy of science, existential philosophy, phenomenology and the borderland between philosophy and medicine. He has been a contributing author on such articles as: "At the Borders of Medical Reasoning: Aetiological and Ontological Challenges of Medically Unexplained Symptoms" in Philosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine (in press), "The Medically Unexplained Revisited" in Medicine Healthcare and Philosophy (2012), "Patients' 'Thingification', Unexplained Symptoms and Response-ability in the Clinical Context" (2016).