The differences between the generations of Baby Boomers and X and Y have been studied for more than a decade. While it is undeniable that younger generations are characterized by a slower transitioning through the milestones that are generally considered important for successful growing into adulthood, it is crucial to examine the socioeconomic factors that shaped these trends. The application of the concept of social generation to recent Australian socioeconomic history demonstrates that the intersections of different modes of inequality have been exacerbated for younger generations in the country.
While this perspective is rather reductive, Youth and young adulthood are frequently viewed as a transition period, during which humans are expected to reach maturity and adulthood. Some of the features that are commonly associated with these two characteristics include separate living (not with one’s parents), successful employment, and starting a new family (Wyn, Lantz & Harris 2011). In other words, successful transitioning is supposed to result in the young generation’s independence from the previous one and the starting of a new cycle. One of the trends in the younger generations (Generations X and Y) is that these milestones are cleared later than was typical for prior generations (for example, Baby Boomers) (Wyn, Lantz & Harris 2011). This issue tends to result in a longer period of dependency on parents, as well as intergenerational conflicts. As can be seen from the literature on the topic (Cuervo & Wyn 2016; Woodman & Wyn 2015), this fact has led to many unflattering comparisons. This approach, which condemns Generations X and Y without attempting to uncover the reasons for their “underperformance,” lacks the critical thought necessary for resolving the challenges that the Australian society faces.
When describing the patterns of younger generations as “delayed” adulthood or “postponed” adulthood, it is very important to consider the factors that cause these trends to manifest. In this respect, the concept of a social generation can be helpful. Social generations are defined by the existence of particular behavioral patterns, practices, attitudes, and modes of thinking that are peculiar to a group of people who grew up under specific socioeconomic conditions (Woodman & Wyn 2014). A very important fact is that belonging to the same social generation does not presuppose homogeneity. In fact, within the generation, there exist important other factors that can modify an individual’s experiences, including features like gender, class, and ethnicity (France, Roberts & Wood 2018; Woodman & Wyn 2015). However, certain events in the life of Australians do unite younger social generations, and they are mostly socioeconomic in nature.
While it is tempting to focus on one particular issue that younger generations have to deal with, they tend to be interrelated, which is why a scoping overview is justified. Since the 1990s, higher education became an important requirement for many job options, which lead to many youths extending their time in educational institutions (France 2017; Landstedt et al. 2017). Aside from having to go without a full-time job for longer periods of time, younger Australians invest in their education more, which further increases their dependence on their parents. According to France (2017), the change was also reflected in the perspectives and attitudes of younger generations. While the idea of proceeding to find a job without higher education used to be generally appropriate for prior generations, it is not considered acceptable anymore.
Furthermore, the labor market has been changed, which is partially attributable to the recent financial crises. Specifically, unemployment rates for youngsters and young adults were rather high during that period, and their increase has not been visible in all fields or regions (France 2017). In addition, depending on the field of work, there may be a tendency for senior leadership positions to be occupied by older people, which reduces the likelihood of younger people to advance in their careers (Howard & Williams 2017). Finally, it should also be noted that despite the general understanding of the importance of education for the younger generation, this viewpoint may not be fully correct. France (2017) reports that the levels of underemployment (having a job below one’s skill level) have been rather high for younger generations all over the world. Education has been marketed to younger generations and promoted, among other things, by the government (Cuervo & Wyn 2016). However, it does not appear to be as helpful in securing employment as was originally intended. As a result, younger generations experience difficulties with finding jobs.
The latter issue, in turn, results in young adults having to postpone other adulthood milestones. It can be reliably claimed that younger generations do not find housing to be easy to secure, which results in them living with their parents for extended periods of time (Australian Council of Social Service, 2018; Wilkins, 2017). Consequently, they may also postpone starting families (Australian Council of Social Service, 2018). Thus, the complex interrelation of cultural, social, and economic shifts in Australia results in younger adults changing their patterns of growing into adulthood when compared to previous generations.
It should be noted that individual experiences within a generation can vary. For example, class remains a major factor in the well-being of an individual, which is reflected in both indirect wealth transfer and indirect benefits that wealthy parents can afford (Woodman & Wyn 2015). Thus, education in more high-status schools proceeds to result in significant advantages related to employment, especially in the modern-day economic environment (France & Roberts 2017; France, Roberts & Wood 2018). High-status schools are expensive, which means that only people born into relative privilege can make use of them. Similarly, having more resources for part-time jobs, unpaid internships, and other transitional working opportunities that produce helpful experience is more common for people from the middle or upper class (Woodman & Wyn 2015). Therefore, depending on one’s class, younger people may experience additional difficulties or, conversely, have more opportunities for dealing with the challenges of their generation.
Naturally, inequality perpetuation mechanisms can be encountered with other factors. Some of them include race and gender, as well as geography (France & Roberts 2017; Howard & Williams 2017; Woodman & Wyn 2015). For instance, indigeneity is often associated with marginalization; crucial services frequently remain relatively inaccessible to rural areas, and women remain overburdened with unpaid labor (France & Roberts 2017). Therefore, younger generations proceed to experience inequality within their own ranks, as well as intergenerational inequality, and the ongoing socioeconomic processes that put them at a disadvantage in the first place are not helpful in this regard. In fact, while income inequality is generally very persistent in Australia, it is especially quickly increasing among younger generations (Australian Council of Social Service, 2018; Wilkins, 2017). In other words, inequality among the younger generations is even more pronounced than it is in older generations, and it increases at a more rapid pace.
It is noteworthy that low socioeconomic status has a tendency to perpetuate itself. Among other things, it is reasonable to expect low socioeconomic status to have a negative impact on one’s mental well-being, which, in turn, tends to make the achievement of better statuses more difficult due to the diminished ability to work and increased healthcare spending (Landstedt et al. 2017). Landstedt et al. (2017) report that among younger-generation Australians, the stress that is related to financial problems, as well as trying to combine job and studies, tends to have a negative impact on mental well-being. Therefore, the challenges that younger generations experiences are harmful in more than one way and can have lasting effects on the current and future generations.
To summarise, the observation that younger generations tend to have extended young adulthood is correct but incomplete. Importantly, younger generations are forced into such situations by the current socio-economic and cultural landscape of Australia, which leaves them with diminishing opportunities. They also proceed to suffer from intersections of inequality, which is exacerbated by the challenges of their generations. This analysis demonstrates the utility of the concept of social generation and the importance of recognizing its lack of homogeneity for a more critical approach to generational differences.
Reference List
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France, A & Roberts, S 2017, Youth and social class, Palgrave Macmillan, London.
France, 2017, ‘Youth, social change and inequality, Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 87-94.
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Wyn, J, Lantz, S & Harris, A 2011, ‘Beyond the ‘transitions’ metaphor’, Journal of Sociology, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 3-22.