富裕社会延长了青春期

八九年六四学生抗议被军队镇压后，有老军头骂学生“端起碗来吃肉，放下筷子骂娘”。这句话除了忘恩负义的意思，还有一层意思是，学生缺乏历练，少不更事。美国的longshore philosopher Hoffer在196
0s对当时风起云涌的左派抗议活动作过类似评论和分析。他的意思是美国富裕阶层和靠福利生活的穷人，没有做过男人的工作，领过男人的报酬，没有从少年进入成人的经历，所以需要群众运动来弥补成人仪式缺乏。

wide spread affluence "is robbing a modern society of whatever it has left of puberty rites to routinize the atainment of manhood." 他认为这些puberty rites as essential for self-esteem,认为 mass movements and juvenile mindsets tend to go together to the point that anyone, mo matter what age, who joins a mass movement immediately begins to exhibit juvenile behavior.比较符合六四。

他说60年代美国工人阶级没有参加抗议运动及其亚文化，因为他们参加有意义的劳作，劳动才是走出青春期有效的仪式，而那些富裕青年和靠福利生活的穷人则没有这样的机会，滞留在延长的青春期当中，这样他们就容易参加群众运动弥补这方面的欠缺。

Hoffer wrote: "the routinization of the passage from boyhood to manhood would contribute to the solution of many of our pression problems. i cannot think of any other undertaking that would dovetail so many of our present difficulties into opportunities for growth".

One of Eric Hoffer's hero is Michel de Montaigne, will come to him next time