Text and Turbulence

This article examines constructions of adolescence and pathology and their relation to human service intervention. The author locates a history of discourses of adolescence and pathology along a trajectory of 20th-century capitalism. Particular attention is paid to racialized, gendered and classbased aspects of this history. The historic context sets the stage for a close reading of representations of youth pathology used to market treatment facilities to human service professionals. The author argues that the youth treatment industry may not be preparing adolescents for healthy adulthood but rather for their place in a continuum of care, control and containment.