Chapter 12, Progressive Dehumanization: The Comfortable Concentration Camp Summary

The voices of professionals beginning to recognize the retreat home showed the pendulum swinging the other way. Signs could be seen that the daughters of the women living the feminine mystique were having a more difficult time moving in the world. Educators and social scientists saw the passive and bored behavior in American children. They appeared to be incapable of overcoming pain and frustration.

Friedan describes these young people as having a sleepwalking quality. One boy explained that he dropped out of college because it was a waste of time. Other kids were failing or just barely passing, although they had sufficient intelligence. Educators reported that kids were just not interested in anything anymore: in or out of school. Sociologists explained the change as being a change in the character of...