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As a member of Generation Y, it is hard to have much sympathy for the "plight" of GenY compared to pretty much any other generation in world history. We haven'

As a member of Generation Y, it is hard to have much sympathy for the "plight" of GenY compared to pretty much any other generation in world history. We haven't been drafted into foreign wars or had to suffer through a real depression. A third of us didn't die in an influenza epidemic. Our women and minorities haven't had to face entrenched and legally immovable workplace discrimination. We have had to face no real looming foreign threat, let alone a nuclear one. Most of us (who are called "GenY") didn't have to escape persecution or immigrate with $1 in our pockets with a chance of being turned back at the border, or get spat on by natives when we arrived. With the help of technology, the Pax Americana and a stable world order, improved healthcare, reduced social barriers and relative economic stability, the generation born in the 80's to 90's is probably the most privileged. Generation. Ever. In history. For 15,000 years of human civilization. I mean, it's now considered normal (and even a human right by some) to take 2-3 weeks vacation every year. So when I read that "I got a $150,000 education and now I have to work for only $40,000," or (as I've heard before), "I have a college education, I shouldn't be working at Pier One," I just want to vomit. My immigrant grandparents would have killed for the chance to work at Pier One. The world doesn't owe you a living because you graduated from a top tier school with a degree in Environmental Studies, or even took out a loan to go to law school. Look, it's not like Generation Y--or, specifically, individuals in Generation Y like in every generation--don't have any problems, but you have to have a sense of perspective. Success for any generation has always been about hard (productive) work, to better one's self and one's family. The American Dream has always been about being born into rags and working into to riches, not from being born into riches and being owed something by the virtue of your privilege, which is what this "death of the American Dream" nonsense is about. By this article's own admission, we've been so warped by our parents' relative privilege that it's hard to see the big picture. Look at the big picture.

koralatov 14y ago
Not that I'm defending grumblers, but I think a lot of the upset and anger comes from the fact that the opportunities aren't as readily available as they once were. The developed world is a much more regimented place than it once was, with fewer employers will to take chances on the people they employ. The classic trap a lot of Gen Y find themselves in is that they're not considered for jobs because they don't have experience, and can't get experience because they can't get the jobs. It's a pretty good catch-22.
- bmmayer1 14y ago
  I don't know. There have been a lot of stories how young people are just a lot less willing to take risks than they used to be. I can tell you for a fact there are wide open $120k jobs in North Dakota and they are desperate for young up-and-comers, but no one wants to move to North Dakota. Older generations just didn't have that privilege. A generation ago, Gen Xers would leave home and move across the country just to have opportunity. Now, people are living with their parents til the age of 30. It's partially a change in culture and partially a consequence of not needing to really take risk to get ahead. The prevailing attitude is "I deserve this, so I'll just wait and it will come to me." At least that's the attitude among many of my peers.
  - HarryHirsch 14y ago
    One wouldn't doubt that there are well-paying jobs in North Dakota, but with a total of 700K people living in the whole state one immediately ask just how many $120K jobs there are, and how many applicants there are for each such job.
    - bmmayer1 14y ago
      Lots. The fracking boom makes it the fastest growing economy in the country.
      - HarryHirsch 14y ago
        Lots? The whole state has about as many people living in it as the Columbus metro area, and the price of housing has been bid through the roof. ND isn't going to make a dent in the national unemployment statistics, and with a 2-bedroom apartment going at USD 2500/month no one moving there is going to get rich either.
    - prostoalex 14y ago
      He's right http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/28/pf/north_dakota_jobs/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/28/pf/north_dakota_jobs/index.h... Even liberal arts majors qualify.
mrxd 14y ago
You're saying that every generation starts with nothing, as if they were new immigrants to this country. If so, then the American Dream is dead. Most immigrants worked hard because they believed that they could pass on a better life to their children. They saved to put their kids through college so that their future generations could have a nice life, white collar jobs, take vacations, etc. But if they knew that future generations would be worse off, they probably wouldn't have bothered.
- bmmayer1 14y ago
  I totally agree--the whole point of the American Dream is to pass on better opportunity to your children. The fact is, that GenX largely accomplished this (for maybe the first time in history). In terms of being able to create even a marginally better life outcome, GenY is largely a victim of our parents' success. My only point is that our "victimhood" has to be put in historical perspective.
bmmayer1 14y ago
Another thing occurred to me, which is that the identifier of "GenY" usually comes with the implied notion that we are the children of GenX--in other words, that our parents were boomers, a very specific socioeconomic group that is mostly made up of the white, educated, middle class of the 60's and 70's and excludes large swaths of the American populace: both those who immigrated post-1970 and those whose ascendence didn't take place in earnest until the mid-70's (most African Americans and Hispanics). The idea that all people of our age group are members of GenY is a very GenX-centric notion, based on our supposed genealogical link to the boomers and the Greatest Generation, and the term itself is prone to subtle prejudice. Many people of our age group are not a member of this genealogy, and thus probably (although I can't say for sure) don't identify as "GenY." The obvious implication is that for GenYs to claim persecution by the system they may not be realizing that they subconsciously exclude people that often are much more persecuted than they are, adding another myopic layer to their solipsism.
- greenyoda 14y ago
  the identifier of "GenY" usually comes with the implied notion that we are the children of GenX -- in other words, that our parents were boomers... GenX were not the boomers, they were the children of the boomers.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X
  - bmmayer1 14y ago
    Sorry, my bad. Semantics aside the point still stands.
- bmmayer1 14y ago
  Correction: in this post when I said GenX I meant Baby Boomers.
eli_gottlieb 14y ago
I mean, it's now considered normal (and even a human right by some) to take 2-3 weeks vacation every year. Feudal peasants didn't work for months at a time each year.
- angersock 14y ago
  Along similar lines, we aren't in factories building widgets. The concept of a fixed-hour working day, as opposed to "What shit needs to get done?", is something that should at least be open to question, especially in information industries. If I can reduce the runtime of billing routines by half across the board, why the hell shouldn't I take a month off? When things are time-sensitive they're on such small scales (milli-, micro-, nano-) that you need a machine--everything else is just humans being nitpicky. People should be able to work however much or little they need to get their work done, whenever is best for the work.

koralatov 14y ago

Not that I'm defending grumblers, but I think a lot of the upset and anger comes from the fact that the opportunities aren't as readily available as they once were. The developed world is a much more regimented place than it once was, with fewer employers will to take chances on the people they employ. The classic trap a lot of Gen Y find themselves in is that they're not considered for jobs because they don't have experience, and can't get experience because they can't get the jobs. It's a pretty good catch-22.

bmmayer1 14y ago
I don't know. There have been a lot of stories how young people are just a lot less willing to take risks than they used to be. I can tell you for a fact there are wide open $120k jobs in North Dakota and they are desperate for young up-and-comers, but no one wants to move to North Dakota. Older generations just didn't have that privilege. A generation ago, Gen Xers would leave home and move across the country just to have opportunity. Now, people are living with their parents til the age of 30. It's partially a change in culture and partially a consequence of not needing to really take risk to get ahead. The prevailing attitude is "I deserve this, so I'll just wait and it will come to me." At least that's the attitude among many of my peers.
- HarryHirsch 14y ago
  One wouldn't doubt that there are well-paying jobs in North Dakota, but with a total of 700K people living in the whole state one immediately ask just how many $120K jobs there are, and how many applicants there are for each such job.
  - bmmayer1 14y ago
    Lots. The fracking boom makes it the fastest growing economy in the country.
    - HarryHirsch 14y ago
      Lots? The whole state has about as many people living in it as the Columbus metro area, and the price of housing has been bid through the roof. ND isn't going to make a dent in the national unemployment statistics, and with a 2-bedroom apartment going at USD 2500/month no one moving there is going to get rich either.
  - prostoalex 14y ago
    He's right http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/28/pf/north_dakota_jobs/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/28/pf/north_dakota_jobs/index.h... Even liberal arts majors qualify.

mrxd 14y ago

You're saying that every generation starts with nothing, as if they were new immigrants to this country. If so, then the American Dream is dead. Most immigrants worked hard because they believed that they could pass on a better life to their children. They saved to put their kids through college so that their future generations could have a nice life, white collar jobs, take vacations, etc. But if they knew that future generations would be worse off, they probably wouldn't have bothered.

bmmayer1 14y ago
I totally agree--the whole point of the American Dream is to pass on better opportunity to your children. The fact is, that GenX largely accomplished this (for maybe the first time in history). In terms of being able to create even a marginally better life outcome, GenY is largely a victim of our parents' success. My only point is that our "victimhood" has to be put in historical perspective.

bmmayer1 14y ago

Another thing occurred to me, which is that the identifier of "GenY" usually comes with the implied notion that we are the children of GenX--in other words, that our parents were boomers, a very specific socioeconomic group that is mostly made up of the white, educated, middle class of the 60's and 70's and excludes large swaths of the American populace: both those who immigrated post-1970 and those whose ascendence didn't take place in earnest until the mid-70's (most African Americans and Hispanics). The idea that all people of our age group are members of GenY is a very GenX-centric notion, based on our supposed genealogical link to the boomers and the Greatest Generation, and the term itself is prone to subtle prejudice. Many people of our age group are not a member of this genealogy, and thus probably (although I can't say for sure) don't identify as "GenY." The obvious implication is that for GenYs to claim persecution by the system they may not be realizing that they subconsciously exclude people that often are much more persecuted than they are, adding another myopic layer to their solipsism.

greenyoda 14y ago
the identifier of "GenY" usually comes with the implied notion that we are the children of GenX -- in other words, that our parents were boomers... GenX were not the boomers, they were the children of the boomers.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X
- bmmayer1 14y ago
  Sorry, my bad. Semantics aside the point still stands.
bmmayer1 14y ago
Correction: in this post when I said GenX I meant Baby Boomers.

eli_gottlieb 14y ago

I mean, it's now considered normal (and even a human right by some) to take 2-3 weeks vacation every year. Feudal peasants didn't work for months at a time each year.

angersock 14y ago
Along similar lines, we aren't in factories building widgets. The concept of a fixed-hour working day, as opposed to "What shit needs to get done?", is something that should at least be open to question, especially in information industries. If I can reduce the runtime of billing routines by half across the board, why the hell shouldn't I take a month off? When things are time-sensitive they're on such small scales (milli-, micro-, nano-) that you need a machine--everything else is just humans being nitpicky. People should be able to work however much or little they need to get their work done, whenever is best for the work.