Youth movements as agencies of cultural transmission. The emergence of youth movements at the beginning of the twentieth century

Youth movements were a popular phenomenon in the beginning of the twentieth century. They were popular with youth itself, as well as with adults who wanted to organize and mobilize youth. In this article I will give an explanation of this popularity.Instead of the common approach, I will not emphasize the differences between the several movements, but the similarities, such as time and place of origin, youth idealism and the characteristic style and culture. Such an approach enables us to overcome the common view of youth movements as counter cultural movements. In my view, the youth movements emerged from the youth care of the nineteenth century. Important factors were the depression of traditional youth community life, the “invention” of adolescence and the educational practices in secondary schools, the growing concern for youth delinquency and the rise of the youth associations. The youth movements can be seen as the result of a mingling between the (youth) association system and elements of traditional youth community life.An important aspect of all youth movements was the generational idea. “Youth has the future”, was the common motto. However, we have to realize that the ideas and ideologies youth strove for, actually came from adults. Adults and adult organizations made a strong appeal to the willingness among youth to dedicate themselves to their cause. How could one better socialize youth into the ideas and values of adults than by letting them believe that they were their own ideas? Therefore, youth movements proved to be excellent institutions for cultural transmission.