A Generation of Entitlement

ChristianCenturion said:

Some time ago, I happened to have done a report on what seemed to be a tangible social and psychological shift within our (the U.S., but I don't believe it to be restricted to that boundary) society. A slow shift notably changing from a generation who endured the great depression, being grateful for and making do with what they had... to a generation now gravitating to the temporary, disposable, and a sense of entitlement. A shift where it was not uncommon to see grandparents living within their children's home and being taken care of by their children; to now putting grandparents in a home and a necessity for laws protecting the elderly and vulnerable from exploitation and abuse. This current article, which uses the term "unprecedented," struck me as just another sample from the mindset of "life is all about the selfie."
"Student sues parents"

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America has been cultivating this attitude since the end of WW2; a long life of leisure and pleasure, unfettered by the hardships of the past. Go to any high school or college and you'll hear teachers preaching this vision of utopia: "Why seek a job when you can have a glamorous, rewarding career?". Open any science or business magazine and you'll get the same message. "There are no problems, only opportunities", is the drumbeat of education and of politics. It's the American Dream fulfilled.

This young woman is a bit screwy but she is only seeking what she, and millions of others, have been led to believe is their entitlement. If you don't believe this listen to the upcoming political speeches. Politicians from both sides will reassure the dream, which is most often stated in terms of the entitlement of higher education for the kids, paid for by their parents.

Yeah, income disparity across class is higher than ever, we can't hope to own property (never mind keeping our heads above water in the rental market), social mobility is worse than ever - we're SO entitled

Gadarene said:

Yeah, income disparity across class is higher than ever, we can't hope to own property (never mind keeping our heads above water in the rental market), social mobility is worse than ever - we're SO entitled

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I agree and income disparity has been growing by leaps and bounds since WW2.

I am all for a free market etc., but when you see CEO's getting fired for doing horrible jobs, and walking away with 30-40 million dollars, it makes one ponder a bit.

bhsmte said:

I am all for a free market etc

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Same. But we don't have a free market here in the US because large monopolistic corporations are too heavily tied up in politics.

selfinflikted said:

Same. But we don't have a free market here in the US because large monopolistic corporations are too heavily tied up in politics.

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Fascistic government policies protect political cronies in the business world from competition and from their own incompetence, claiming those businesses are too big to be allowed to fail. Keeping incompetents in charge of businesses, that ought to have gone belly up, keeps the economy stagnant , causes ridiculously large income disparity, as the incompetents continue to rake in money via government propping them and the stock market up. Both of which otherwise would have reached a realistic level at some point thereby redistributing wealth from incompetent businesses and greedy investors to competent businesses( smaller ones which it has been proven tend to compensate their upper management more in line with a reasonable rate in terms of how their regular employees are compensated compared to big businesses where upper management receive bonuses for harming the long term health of the company to achieve short term temporary stock gains and is shielded against their own incompetence or willful parasitism with a golden parachute) and sound investors that invest in companies that are stable and show stable growth rather than companies that use accounting tricks and cut labor costs beyond what is reasonable in order to manipulate their stock prices for huge temporary gains that, without government intervention, would be at the cost of long term viability .

Gadarene said:

Yeah, income disparity across class is higher than ever, we can't hope to own property (never mind keeping our heads above water in the rental market), social mobility is worse than ever - we're SO entitled

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Are we talking about actually being entitled?...or having an entitlement mindset?

In terms of the entitlement mindset, I'd say we definitely have a lot more of that now that we had even as recent as 30 years ago.

If you would say 30-40 years ago "A person has a right to live in dignity and have a livable income regardless of whether or not they work", you would've gotten some funny looks from people...

Now, this idea is offered up and there is a large number of people who seem to not only think that it's a good idea, but that it will solve other problems.

In terms of the income gap that everyone talks about...while the gap might be bigger, I pointed out in another post that the size of the middle class & the buying power they have with the money they earn hasn't really changed since the early 60's.

The definition of what it is to be middle class is what has changed.

I'll see if I can dig up my other post and edit this one and link it (if I can find it), but based on inflation data and data provided by the census bureau, the average home size of a "middle class home" has increased by 700 sq. ft. since 1960, the idea of having 3 TV sets in a home (plus a $150/month cable bill) wasn't a factor, people didn't have 4 cell phones in a household (each with a $40 data plan), people dined out about 1/3 of what they do now as opposed to eating at home which is much cheaper, people weren't taking vacations that cost 1/5 of their yearly income. etc... etc...

However, if you talk to people today, those things are all thought of as "middle class".

People always say they want to go back to the days of FDR (as if it's some form of Nostalgia for "the golden years of the middle class"), to which I say "fine, we can go back to doing things like we did in the 50's, but let's do it based on the 1950's definition of 'middle class', not today's definition".

The more and more things (luxury items) that we, as a society, categorize as middle class, the fewer and fewer people that are going to be able to afford them.

The number of people who can afford a 1,500 sq. ft. home, 1 TV set (without cable), and 2 dining out nights per month hasn't shrank, our redefinition of "middle class" has raised the standard to a level where fewer people meet our new criteria for what "middle class" is.

I think it was the generation ahead of me that was called the "me generation" so I need compelling evidence that this is not one of the old-as-rocks Kids These Days rants.

Joykins said:

I think it was the generation ahead of me that was called the "me generation" so I need compelling evidence that this is not one of the old-as-rocks Kids These Days rants.

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Precisely.

ChristianCenturion said:

Some time ago, I happened to have done a report on what seemed to be a tangible social and psychological shift within our (the U.S., but I don't believe it to be restricted to that boundary) society. A slow shift notably changing from a generation who endured the great depression, being grateful for and making do with what they had... to a generation now gravitating to the temporary, disposable, and a sense of entitlement. A shift where it was not uncommon to see grandparents living within their children's home and being taken care of by their children; to now putting grandparents in a home and a necessity for laws protecting the elderly and vulnerable from exploitation and abuse. This current article, which uses the term "unprecedented," struck me as just another sample from the mindset of "life is all about the selfie."
"Student sues parents"

Click to expand...

If we go back 200 years I am sure we can find some crotchety old British chaps complaining how a group of colonists think they are entitled to some selfish list of rights, like no taxation without representation.

What happened in the real world is that people found it immoral for a person to work hard their entire lives, and then at the end have the choice of working till they die or asking for handouts from family. They also found it immoral for the whims of an economy to leave someone on the streets begging for money.

Instead, we found the moral backbone to say that we need to help each other out as a community and as a society. Someday, that could be you getting laid off and needing some help until you can find a new job. Someday, that will be you with a chronic illness that prevents you from working. It isn't entitlement. It is morality.

Yeah, these kids now a days. Being born to late and into an age of depression and thinking they are entitled to being happy. They should rather care for their parents, who got rich making this mess in the first place, and work hard so that their children may have something resembling a human life. Don't they know that only every other generation gets to enjoy life, smashing the economy and environment in the process?

Im entitled to a millions bucks in my pocket and no work.

Work hard to do everything that we get told to do. Graduate high school. Go to college. Don't do drugs! Don't drink! Help others! Volunteer! Start own business using unique and in-demand skills!

Get shot down when trying to apply for any job that pays over $8 within 400 miles!

Can't afford to rent a one bedroom apartment! Keep living with parents!

Get told constantly that only lazy people still live with family! Get told that only lazy people don't have the incentive to get jobs that offer above minimum wage pay!

Very entitlement mentality! Such lazy! Wow!

Faced with increasing population our government had two choices; steer people into the work force, or steer them into college. They chose college, and by means of the student loan program even convinced students to abandon the practice of working summer jobs. Of course this gave the students a sense of entitlement in that they believed a great job was waiting for them upon graduation, and for a time this was true. However, there was a slowly growing flood of immigrants coming in to do those summer jobs, and they were forever lost to American kids. Worse yet the experience and opportunities that these summer jobs afforded were also lost as those hard-working immigrants proved their worth and were now actually preferred by many employers. Sadly, our kids have not developed a true work ethic, preferring to play on their electronic devices, which are paid for by credit cards, further removing them from the looming reality of impossible personal debt. Many even feel entitled to file for bankruptcy barely out of their teens.

ChristianCenturion said:

Compelling evidence... such as the news link in the opening post... such as it is a given fact that a growing proportion of the population is coming to a point of "need" and the majority of perpetrators are family members self-justified in their exploitation/abuse? If you can't tell what post is a rant, I'm sorry: I can tell.

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So it isn't a Kids These Days rant, it's a Middle-Aged-To-Elderly-These Days rant? I'm so confused. It isn't 18 year olds with parents in nursing homes. It's usually people 45 to 70 that have this issue. So I don't see how this is a generational thing? Maybe a certain proportion of the general population is just made up of jerks.

And, yeah, my 94-yo grandmother is in a home for dementia. Her own children are senior citizens and could not provide the care. It's a nice home (pleasant) and she is happy and well cared for. Family in the area visit her about twice a week, and sometimes she recognizes them, sometimes not.