Generation Me - Chapter 7

Jean Twenge has written a very interesting book studying today's youngest generation to have come of age. In these postings, I will begin to provide key quotes and references that have stood out to me. From that, I have posted a few questions for reflection. For more information on this book, I encourage you to explore her website: generationme.org

Also see my article: Me, MySpace and iPod: Tales of a Culture Stuck in the Mirror Phase of Development and Its Moral Implications

INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1:

YOU DON'T NEED THEIR APPROVAL: The Decline of Social Rules
CHAPTER 2:

AN ARMY OF ONE: Me

CHAPTER 3:

You Can Be Anything You Want to Be

CHAPTER 4:

The Age of Anxiety (and Depression, and Loneliness): Generation Stressed

CHAPTER 5:

Yeah, Right: The Belief That There's No Point in Trying

CHAPTER 6:

Sex: Generation Prude Meets Generation Crude

CHAPTER 7:
The Equality Revolution: Minorities, Women, and Gays and Lesbians

NOTABLE QUOTES

"In just four decades, the United States has undergone a transformation of attitudes about women, minorities, and gays and lesbians. The revolution of equality was, without question, the largest social change in America in the last half of the twentieth century. No other trend has had such a colossal impact on every aspect of our lives" (p.181).

Chris Colin in What Really Happened to the Class of '93: "'Tolerance' and 'acceptance' might have become buzzwords in the '90s, but my generation had dealt in those concepts since Sesame Street..." "We are less likely to believe in moral absolutes, so we are tolerant and accept diversity in all its forms" (p.181).

"During the 1980s, however, black Americans' self-esteem increased until it was noticeably higher than whites'. By the 1990s, 58% of blacks, and 61% of black college students, displayed above-average self-esteem. This is surprising given the usual belief that ethnic minorities will have lower self-esteem; clearly, young black Americans feel good about themselves... Black GenMe kids grew up hearing that Black is Beautiful, seeing people who looked like them play doctors and lawyers on TV, and (particularly if they were middle class) expecting to go to college - why shouldn't they feel good about themselves" (p.185)?

"These stories clearly show one of the upsides of individualism: young people who appreciate their culture and can take advantage of opportunities their parents never had. Although economic pressures still limit the goals of many minority youth, their race or ethnicity is no longer an automatic disqualification... But is the upswing in minority kids' self-esteem an unmitigated good? ...It's certainly good for young people to take pride in their ethnic identity, no matter what their background; feeling comfortable in your own skin is obviously important. But like the general self-esteem programs, ethnic self-esteem programs often take things too far and focus on the wrong causes. Raising children's self-esteem is not going to solve the problems of poverty and crime. it doesn't do much good for a child to have high self-esteem if his grades are poor, he gets in trouble in class, and he has no concrete plan for the future" (p.187).

"The feminist message for women is inextrivably linked to the individualist message, and whether girls heard the call of independence from their family or only from the outside culture, they listened. Gender equality is so taken for granted now that these trends are unlikely to reverse; girls growing up right now will become the most liberated generation of women in history - until their own daughters outstrip them" (p.192).

"GenMe girls have also seen their mothers work outside the home more than any other previous generation. In a 2000 survey, 82% of 18-to-22-year-olds said their mothers worked outside the home at least some of the time when they were growing up, compared to 65% of the mothers of Boomers and only 34% of the mothers of the World War II generation. Studies have found that giels with working mothers are more likely to embrace traditionally masculine traits like ambition and independence. Seeing Mom go off to work provides a daily role model for girls, showing them that women have roles outside the home. Many GenMe women - and men - take it for granted that mothers will work at least part of the time" (p.195).

"...today's fathers are clearly more involved than those of previous generations... Married fathers spent three times as much time interacting with their kids in 1998 as they did in 1975" (p.197).

"There is little question that American society has grown more accepting of homosexuality recently, and nowhere is that more evident than among young people... Some teens find their experiences at odds with their religious upbringing. For many, this means that they see gays as sinners, and/or believe that gays can change to be straight. Others find themselves questioning their beliefs" (p.207 & 209).

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

1. It is interesting that Twenge follows a common pattern and groups ethnicity, gender and sexuality as parallel civil rights issues. Does it seem that there is a difference between generations perception of these issues?

2. Twenge talks about the rise in self-esteem of GenMe's who are part of the African American community. Is this a fair assessment - particularly when considering the current state of many inner city (and largely African American) communities?

3. With the shift in roles toward more egalitarian approaches to both work and parenting, how should institutions begin to redefine their understanding of the role of men and women in both of these settings?

4. Considering the exponential increase of media representations of celebrity and displays of homosexual activity via reality show, sitcom and teenage drama (p.208f.); is it possible that this is contributing to the increase in social experimentation of sexual identity among GenMe?