Main purpose of this article is to scrutinize the method to investigate “Adolescence” from the standpoint of sociology of education. As the student of sociology of education, our interest should be focused on the process of socialization in adolescence, not on the psychological or physiological phenomena peculiar to adolescence.
Adolescence is the transitional step from childhood to adulthood, and its span is determined by the socio-cultural context in a given society. As an index of attaining to adulthood, we may use “adult competence” concept which means success in adult roles. But which component of adult competence is dominant, differs from one society to another, and also age fit for adult competence is not constant. Furthermore, the span or sphere of adolescence depends upon the participation in youth group and social class position which the youth occupy. Among other things, according to whether the youth have the opportunity of the secondary or higher education or nct, the youth are at least divided into two groups, namely, working youth group and student group. It can be said that there are two kinds of adolescence.
In order to grasp positively these many aspects of adolescence, and to account for the process of socialization in adolescence, it is rather necessary to analyze specifically the structure and function of youth group. It is not so productive to discuss generally the over-all phenomena of adolescence as problems of generation. Essentially, youth groups are typed in relation to the age grading system of community or society, A type linking with age grating system and type B not linking with it. And both groups are further divided into six (or eight) types. The socializing processes in these youth groups are determined by three variables, that is, (a) external system, (b) institutional value and (c) internal organization, of youth group. The more detailed theoretical model for analyzing the socialization in adolescence needs further exploration.
