Spot the Generational Trend
Back in the eighties, when I was in school, students were widely described as being apathetic and conservative. Two decades later, and yet another study has come out, showing that the young are, guess what, apathetic. Oh, and college students are reportedly more conservative.
Well, now, shiver me timbers...Meanwhile, Julian Sanchez tries to look deeper, arguing that these claims misconstrue the generational trend. At the university level, at least, students aren't apathetic -- the current crop is much more engaged politically than, say, the Gen-Xers. However, it is also more reactionary and conformist.
Sanchez thinks that what some are taking for a resurgence of campus conservatism really amounts to a herd mentality. The primary concern is shoring up group identity against various threats, and the preference is for tribalism over independent thinking. While he's talking about right-leaning students, what he says might also apply to the left -- same dynamic, different enemies.
Standing out is out; fitting in is in. Can we expect a passion for autonomy and civil liberties from a generation that's spent years in schools that look like airport security lines? As [William] Strauss observes, Boomers and Gen Xers were "raised not to follow Hitler or Stalin; Millennials were a post-consciousness raising generation." As those cautionary examples begin to fade, so does the skepticism of power that they engendered.
He sees a connection between the new groupthink and changes in parenting -- millennial kids, in contrast to their Gen-X predecessors, lead more regimented lives, with their days divvied up into blocs of purposeful activity. The emphasis on structured upbringing reflects social Darwinism (gotta get those high scores or young Josh or Jenna will be left behind...forever!), plus a a reaction against me-generation neglect. All this has had some good effects (fewer teen pregnancies...too busy), but it's also creating new tribes of lock-step thinkers -- preoccupied with order and security, reluctant to examine their beliefs, stressed out and angry, and at the same time politically vocal.
Douglas Rushkoff calls it "fascism in youth culture."
9:32:47 AM 
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