Youth were integrated into traditional African society through assignment to specific tasks in the village collective. Modern Africa has translated this youth policy into the assignment of youth to roles in the social development of independent African countries. The heart of the youth problem in Africa is rooted in contradictions. Although development is extolled as the fundamental social value, society cannot offer youth the job positions required for their participation in socioeconomic development. Society promises youth the possibility of acquiring a new status, but youth are unable to attain it. Also, society offers youth numerous new models of consumption, but denies them the chance of sampling any. More generally, society presents youth with a value system derived from other cultures that do not correspond with their own. This value system is transmitted via the mass media, which portrays the enticements of the developed world while youth must cope with underdevelopment in their own countries. If the youth problem is to be resolved, African leaders must create workable socioeconomic and educational structures that provide youth with the sense of contributing to and profiting from socioeconomic development. 71 notes.