Although Millennials may occasionally feel targeted by stereotypes and ridicule from older individuals, this issue is not specific to the current generation. It is rather a conflict that has existed between age groups of multiple eras.
Pop culture evolves as each group seeks to distinguish itself from the previous generation. This change may present a threat to the identities of previous groups, who answer with criticism. How can different generations respond to one another’s culture in a positive way that cultivates growth rather than feeding a generational divide?
Ball Bearings spoke with the associate dean of fine arts, Michael O’Hara, sociology department chairperson Melinda Messineo, and fashion merchandising major and Millennial Samantha Hunt to discuss the causes and impacts of this phenomenon.
Ball Bearings: Why do you think young people are so often ridiculed and stereotyped by the generations that came before?
MO: The generational divide is
usually not between all members of each group, but rather with more
conservative members of the older generation and with more progressive,
change-oriented members of the younger generation. There are always
significant numbers of young people who are lauded by members of the
older generation, and members of the older generation who laud the
progressives. But the phenomenon you’re actually talking about occurs
because, generally, people fear change. When youth redefine
relationships, terms, ideas, and expectations, that can force an
uncomfortable change in older generations. It violates what they want,
expect, or believe out of the world, so they resist and try to suppress
it.
MM: We are socialized within a
specific experience that gets set as the normal state. Early adolescence
to young adulthood stabilizes a lot of our values and beliefs, so those
become very much connected to what we perceive as our identity. When we
have these cultural shifts, we find them threatening to who we are and
how we conceptualize ourselves. The reality is that culture is
constantly changing, and we are merely coming in at certain points in
time that seem bracketed by our own life experiences in ways that are
rather arbitrary. There’s a concept in sociology of “cultural lag”, when
one part of society is changing at a different rate than another. Older
individuals are often responding to that experience.
SH: When older generations become
smarter and more experienced, much of what younger generations do
starts to seem immature. For instance, I see high school students and
think that they act immature, but I know I did the same things at that
age.
BB: What generalizations have been made about Millennials and their pop culture?
MO: I think most of the
generalizations that have been placed on today’s Millennials are in fact
the failings of the Baby Boomers themselves. The Baby Boomers are an
entitled generation. Their parents are the ones who went off to World
War II, and
they
grew up reaping the benefits. They were the largest single population
to move through the demographic, and they caused the entire world to
change to accommodate them. In criticizing Millennials for being lazy or
expecting things, Baby Boomers are not looking honestly at their own
experiences. They’re not recognizing that a significant number of
Millennials are in fact working very hard. This also relates to pop
culture. I mean, I’m not a fan of rap, and “Hamilton” is the most
important musical on Broadway right now. But rock and roll was demonized
when it first came out, which is of course the Baby Boomers’
revolutionary music that was poo-pooed by the then older generation.
MM: I think there is this
overemphasis on the technology reliance and self-centeredness of
Millennials. People think about the selfie and similar trends as being
particularly narcissistic in some ways. But I suspect that other
generations would have acted similarly given the same technology. That
behavior is being documented and preserved today in a way that it had
never been, but I think it’s much more about how young adults develop
their own identity and understanding of who they are. So what will be
the test of time is to see how Millennials mature. Do they mature out of
these behaviors and experiences or does that get carried along?
SH: People think that we’re lazy,
we care more about material things, and we care more about ourselves
than others. Stereotypes have also been made about the emphasis we place
on pop culture, and that we base our whole lives around what the media
tells us rather than forming opinions and identities of our own.
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