前言 一般人都视“青年”只是生理的变化所产生的一个人生阶段。其实,“青年”这概念本身并不是一个一成不变的观念。它除了是一个生理上的阶段,还是一个“社会”观念。历史地看,“青年”这个观念随着社会的改变而起了很不同的含意。不同社会在不同的阶段对“青年”的定义,以至期望都不尽相同。不少社会理论家认为,“儿童”、“青年”、“老年”这些分类,以及因此分类而衍生出来的矛盾,皆是工业社会文明的产品。例如法国历史学家Phillippe Preface Most people think that “youth” is just a life stage created by physiological changes. In fact, the concept of “youth” is not in itself an immutable concept. Except it is a physiological stage, it is also a “social” concept. Historically, the concept of “youth” has taken a very different meaning with changes in society. Different societies have different expectations of “youth” at different stages. Many social theorists believe that the categories of “children”, “youths” and “seniors”, and the consequent conflicts derived therefrom, are all products of industrial social civilization. For example, the French historian Phillippe