3 ms·

I'm not Gen Z myself (millenial who graduated right before asking for pronouns became a thing on college campuses), but that's a question I've asked myself as I

I'm not Gen Z myself (millenial who graduated right before asking for pronouns became a thing on college campuses), but that's a question I've asked myself as I well. I get the feeling that it's simply because they believe they have leverage over the words people use on their campus, but no leverage over housing expenses or other economic issues that actually have broader appeal. Remember that neither Gen Z nor Millenials have ever witnessed significant economic change that was brought on by direct action of normal people. Unions have been utterly defanged and left-wing candidates never manage to win or drive change either. Occupy Wall Street was the closest thing we've ever seen to an economic solidarity movement, and that was widely mocked and derided as an utter failure. While the movement around language policing may give Gen Z the feeling of participating in successful direct action, it unfortunately is contributing to a schism between them and older generations who may be otherwise willing to ally with them on broader causes, but are fearful of mis-stepping and being called out publicly. Of course, maybe that very same fear of public call-outs ties back to what one of the professors in the article mentioned. The new generation is used to having every little thing they do be potentially subjected to being recorded, publicized, and criticized at any moment through social media. They are constantly self-managing themselves and their social media presence with that in mind. They don't see why older generations shouldn't be held to the same standards - even if they'd rather be exempt from that standard themselves, they accept it as reality. There's a mockumentary series on netflix called "American Vandal", which besides being funny, was surprisingly insightful about the challenges that young adults are facing in part due to growing up with instagram, twitter, etc. as part of their world. I have a lot more sympathy for them after watching that.

tracer4201 7y ago
>Remember that neither Gen Z nor Millenials have ever witnessed significant economic change that was brought on by direct action of normal people. Did you forget about the Great Recession and it’s economic impact? Do you believe it didnt bring significant economic change or is it that it wasn’t brought on by normal people? What exactly defines normal people in this context or better yet, how is that relevant? It’s confusing to me that despite the soaring costs of housing, the hyper competitive job market ( kids compete not just against other Americans but also students from other countries like India and China, where many of those immigrant kids didn’t have the crushing college debt), the shrinking middle class, and general deregulation that has shifted power to the wealthy - despite all these issues, your view point of what affects these kids is based around social media or more specifically, what standard these kids are held to on social media.
- sudosteph 7y ago
  Of course I remember the great recession - I mentioned Occupy. It was the banks which caused the great recession. The politicians then responded to the needs of the banks, not the people. There were some regulations around lending added to protect banks from themselves, and a small stimulus package that most of my generation didn't even receive. The average person though did not see anything change meaningfully to make their economic situation better. So both the change it brought was insignificant to the working class (aka "normal people"), and the working class had no say over what changes were even discussed (because Occupy was not taken seriously). I agree with you on the importance of all those issues. My point is that we have a large number of young people who are disillusioned with both the current economic situation AND lacking confidence in historic tactics (ie, direct action) that the working class used in the past to improve economic situations (ie, joining a union, going on strike, electing leftist officials). The neo-liberal philosophy that has been sold to Americans for the past few decades teaches people that you are supposed to be able to effect change by choosing with your wallet and advocating by mouth. This too is proving to be ineffectual for meaningful change, but the concept does relate to my greater point: the most powerful currency accessible to this generation is social capital. It accumulates fast and spreads to all corners when it resonates. Social capital is the only reason Trump could become president. It's making and breaking careers (see the rise of "influencers" and streamers), and it's playing out comparitively microscopic level as young people are using modern communication frameworks to define their success in their personal social spheres. I'm not saying this is a good development. It does distract and divide the working class from one-another. But I see why it happened, and don't think it's apathy or selfishness that has caused this way of thinking to become popular. Either the young generation will reject their hyper-connected "always-on" culture, or the older ones will get on board. Until then it will be hard to work together on bigger issues, and I doubt Gen Z can solve those alone.
tehjoker 7y ago
I somewhat agree that identity politics has come to the forefront because class politics has been in retreat since the 70s, but simply because we are increasingly recognizing the importance of class politics, doesn't mean that we shouldn't embrace the liberation of trans folk and other non-class based oppressions.

tracer4201 7y ago

>Remember that neither Gen Z nor Millenials have ever witnessed significant economic change that was brought on by direct action of normal people. Did you forget about the Great Recession and it’s economic impact? Do you believe it didnt bring significant economic change or is it that it wasn’t brought on by normal people? What exactly defines normal people in this context or better yet, how is that relevant? It’s confusing to me that despite the soaring costs of housing, the hyper competitive job market ( kids compete not just against other Americans but also students from other countries like India and China, where many of those immigrant kids didn’t have the crushing college debt), the shrinking middle class, and general deregulation that has shifted power to the wealthy - despite all these issues, your view point of what affects these kids is based around social media or more specifically, what standard these kids are held to on social media.

sudosteph 7y ago
Of course I remember the great recession - I mentioned Occupy. It was the banks which caused the great recession. The politicians then responded to the needs of the banks, not the people. There were some regulations around lending added to protect banks from themselves, and a small stimulus package that most of my generation didn't even receive. The average person though did not see anything change meaningfully to make their economic situation better. So both the change it brought was insignificant to the working class (aka "normal people"), and the working class had no say over what changes were even discussed (because Occupy was not taken seriously). I agree with you on the importance of all those issues. My point is that we have a large number of young people who are disillusioned with both the current economic situation AND lacking confidence in historic tactics (ie, direct action) that the working class used in the past to improve economic situations (ie, joining a union, going on strike, electing leftist officials). The neo-liberal philosophy that has been sold to Americans for the past few decades teaches people that you are supposed to be able to effect change by choosing with your wallet and advocating by mouth. This too is proving to be ineffectual for meaningful change, but the concept does relate to my greater point: the most powerful currency accessible to this generation is social capital. It accumulates fast and spreads to all corners when it resonates. Social capital is the only reason Trump could become president. It's making and breaking careers (see the rise of "influencers" and streamers), and it's playing out comparitively microscopic level as young people are using modern communication frameworks to define their success in their personal social spheres. I'm not saying this is a good development. It does distract and divide the working class from one-another. But I see why it happened, and don't think it's apathy or selfishness that has caused this way of thinking to become popular. Either the young generation will reject their hyper-connected "always-on" culture, or the older ones will get on board. Until then it will be hard to work together on bigger issues, and I doubt Gen Z can solve those alone.

tehjoker 7y ago

I somewhat agree that identity politics has come to the forefront because class politics has been in retreat since the 70s, but simply because we are increasingly recognizing the importance of class politics, doesn't mean that we shouldn't embrace the liberation of trans folk and other non-class based oppressions.