ABSTRACT
[Abstract] Chapter 8 takes as its subject the nature of the adolescent experience as understood from both the phenomenological and psychoanalytical perspectives and its implications for character education. Adolescence is defined here as a transitional period marked by the physical changes of puberty, the breaking of primary ties with parents or carers and a restructuring of personality referred to as ‘individuation’. The intense emotions and conflicts experienced in adolescence call into question the techniques of emotions work that removes the need to understand complex social and emotional dynamics. The chapter draws on the work of Deborah Britzman to reveal the weaknesses in the ‘static’, neo-Aristotelian approaches to character education that seek to eliminate paradox by denying the ambivalent, ‘bothered’ experience of the adolescent self. Erich Fromm’s theory of social character is also applied to argue for the importance of seeing adolescent development as located in dynamic, situated relationships with peers, parents and teachers, as well as the wider society.
