ABSTRACT
Independence training in American society begins almost at birth— babies are held and carried less than in most societies and spend more time in complete isolation—and continues, despite occasional parental ambivalence, throughout childhood and adolescence. Most modern societies are a confused mixture of both systems, a fact that enables conservative spokesmen to attribute rising crime rates to permissive child-rearing techniques. The peculiarly exaggerated hostility that hippies tend to arouse suggests that the life they strive for is highly seductive to middle-aged Americans. Occupational specialization and plumbing have exerted a kind of censorship over our understanding of the world we live in and how it operates. The T.V. documentary presents a tidy package with opposing views and an implication of progress. Reports in popular magazines attempt to provide a substitute for actual experience. In stable societies, as many authors have pointed out, the control of human impulses is usually a collective responsibility.
