Infantilised

Keith Hayward's Infantilised diagnoses a cultural shift in which adulthood has been weakened by marketing, educational changes, social media, and political styles that encourage perpetual youthfulness.

Drawing on examples from advertising, universities, politics, and popular culture, Hayward argues these forces produce life-stage dissolution and an ‘adult-child’ amalgam that undermines responsibility and civic agency.

The book examines causes—advertising targeting adults as perpetual consumers, therapeutic educational practices, and infantilised political performance—and the social and political risks they create.

Hayward balances critique with sympathy for the appeal of playfulness and concludes with practical recommendations to reclaim mature public life.

The work functions both as a theoretical study and a manifesto with an epilogue of ten rules for fostering a more grown-up society.