Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before |
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| Title: | Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before |
| Author: | Jean M. Twenge |
| Publisher: | Free Press |
| Type: | Book / Paperback |
| Publication Date: | 06 March, 2007 |
| ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0743276981 / 9780743276986 |
| List Price: | $14.95 |
| You Save: | $4.43 |
| Amazon Price: | $10.52 |
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Called "The Entitlement Generation" or Gen Y, they are storming into schools, colleges, and businesses all over the country. In this provocative new book, headline-making psychologist and social commentator Dr. Jean Twenge explores why the young people she calls "Generation Me" -- those born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s -- are tolerant, confident, open-minded, and ambitious but also cynical, depressed, lonely, and anxious.Herself a member of Generation Me, Dr. Twenge uses findings from the largest intergenerational research study ever conducted -- with data from 1.3 million respondents spanning six decades -- to reveal how profoundly different today's young adults are. Here are the often shocking truths about this generation, including dramatic differences in sexual behavior, as well as controversial predictions about what the future holds for them and society as a whole. Her often humorous, eyebrow-raising stories about real people vividly bring to life the hopes and dreams, disappointments and challenges of Generation Me. GenMe has created a profound shift in the American character, changing what it means to be an individual in today's society. The collision of this generation's entitled self-focus and today's competitive marketplace will create one of the most daunting challenges of the new century. Engaging, controversial, prescriptive, funny, Generation Me will give Boomers new insight into their offspring, and help those in their teens, 20s, and 30s finally make sense of themselves and their goals and find their road to happiness.
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Customer Reviews:
• Not The Genme I Teach
11 September, 2009
With GREAT interest I picked up a copy of Twenge's book. It is clearly a work for a mass audience, not academics, though the author employs a research procedure documented in her appendix and cites a range of sources. Though it seemed a "popular" work, I wanted to read a different perspective of these youngsters I've been teaching for several years.
Sadly, the title of the book is a giveaway of authorial bias: Twenge spends too much time on the narcissism of these young people (as if all generations of teens since the 1920s, at least, have not been that way). In the process, she neglects research that corroborates the more optimistic picture painted by Strauss and Howe in their book released in 2000, Millennnials Rising. Twenge notes carefully, and quite effectively, why she disagrees with those authors' portrayal of Millennials (those born since 1982, and hence becoming adults with the turn of the Millennium).
Her evidence does not convince. My campus and my colleagues' campuses may not be representative, but we find that Post-Gen-X students are more deferential to authority, close (perhaps too close) to their parents, less likely than students a decade ago to "lawyer" grades as long as clear standards and clear instructions are provided. I'm seeing more of a sense of self-responsibility, not less, than I did a few years back. I rarely hear "It's not my fault," a term common with students in the 90s.
As Strauss and Howe point out, Millennials crave authenticity and honesty above all. They tend to be optimistic--perhaps too much so, given the economy and planetary environment we old folks are leaving them. Yet for an old geezer like me, who came along in the Punk era of the late 70s and early 80s, the Millennials' idealism, ethos of community service, collaborative work, and comfort with diversity of race, gender, and sexuality are rather heart-warming.
If these kids seem a bit conformist (and that is at odds with some of Twenge's claims), too tethered to their social network, and too timid about sticking out in a crowd, that may be a small price to pay for a generation with a sense of mission. They will, as Strauss and Howe claim, have to change our nation once again.
In short, my bias shows: I like these young people. Twenge paints a darker picture, one that may appeal to the doom-sayers and aging cultural extremists (left and right) who think American children are all wrecks.
And while Twenge does capture very well the anxieties, depression, and penchant for too many piercings in this demographic, she misses other areas.
There are, for instance, few references to HOW Millennials work online (collaboratively but not very adventurously). The author also overgeneralizes about the teaching of courses in college that employ technology: in fact, students tend, on my campus, to very much depend on faculty expertise and, while they work in teams well to solve problems, still regard the faculty member as the source of final answers.
They may not have WWII ahead of them, but they'll be a Great Generation.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Look At Them-what They Say And Do: Book Assigned At A University Fall 2009
19 January, 2010
I found that this book had several references to TV shows and movies to illustrate or get a point across about Gen Me. I was hoping to see comparative results from information gathered from her research mentioned in the introduction.
On p37 "that young people will readily share their salary numbers with others, the disclosure of which once carried a strong taboo"
What I have noticed is that salary is shared as well as specific details of the actual position. A job title may be equal in compensation, but the skills obtained are different between departments or even division within the same corporation.
I thought these two statements in the book were odd. I was not sure how this adds as a reference or an input for Gen Me.
1. p82 in the Chapter You can do anything- "uh-huh. But you might have to live in your car."
As a comment from a quote mentioned in the book from Quarterlife. "she says that if a young person 'never gives up, then he or she will never have to admit to failure'."
2. Chp 8 Applying our knowledge in the section the delicate art of predicting the future p215 the author states "if women in conservative religious groups have significantly more children than other women, the political leanings of the country will begin to shift. This may be happening already, although it does appear that young people as a group are liberal..."
Nevertheless, I thought that Chp 8 Applying our Knowledge for Employers p217-219 beginning with "They will be frank and might have a few qualms that sharing information you might consider sensitive or private" was informative. As well as Chp 6 "...Generation Prude meets Generation Crude" was definitely an eye opener.
- Amazon Customer Review
• The Me Generation
31 January, 2010
I thought this book was very insightful. I am part of this generation, and it was eye-opening and explains a lot of the inconsiderate rudeness I experience on a daily basis. This book was especially helpful, being a teacher, to understand from where many of the parents I now deal with are coming. There is a lot of finger pointing from many parents when their child has negative consequences at school for their behavior or work habits. I think all educators should read this book and rethink the focus on the "self-esteem--you're special just because you breathe" practices.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Are Young People Narcissistic Nowadays? Is The Pope Catholic?
19 September, 2009
As is the case with many books, the best chapters are the ones in the beginning, where the author makes her main points and sums up her research and its implications. After making many sharp observations about the devastating emotional fallout from the dating scene and the wounds of severed live-in relationships, she returns to the same theme in the chapter "Generation Crude Versus Generation Prude". Here she describes the casual attitude toward sex, called "hooking up" these days, yet she poses the question "Is this a good thing or a bad?" -only to answer it "It depends on your point of view." Of course it does -as does every other issue- but what conclusion does she draw about it in terms of psychological health and social well-being? The implication seems clear enough: it is destructive narcissism manifesting itself again in a cheapened outlook on privacy and physical intimacy. It seems to me that this is a moral cop-out for a writer who had not hesitated to criticize the same phenomenon in another context. She continues on with the same PC conventional wisdom in the next chapter on equality (meaning feminism and gay rights, mainly). Much of her research confirms conservative critiques of the permissive, multi-cultural, relativistic society, yet she inconsistently clings to the same discredited social liberalism that gave birth to the problem she addresses in her book. This makes the book uneven. However, it deserves a lot of points for bringing some interesting evidence forward to show the great changes in the outlook on oneself that have occurred in the last 30-40 years, along with clear evidence of the great harm that the educational world's and pop-psychology's promotion self-esteem has done.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Great Example Of How Statistics Can Be Manipulated
28 July, 2009
I've taught high school students for 15 years and was hoping for some insights that could help me better understand my kids' motivations, reactions, etc. (I'll freely admit that I've had to bite my tongue on MANY occasions when listening to teenagers tell me why everything should go their way all the time.) While Twenge's book has an engaging voice, I found myself thinking she leaped to unsubstantiated conclusions a large portion of the time.
One example is an instance in which Twenge presents data proving that "childless married couples were, on average, more satisfied with their marriages than those with children." Okay, no surprise there. Then she states that recent generations "experience a 42% greater drop in marital satisfaction after having children" than previous generations. She comes to the smooth conclusion that this is a result of too much focus on the self. But I couldn't help wondering how she could ignore gender issues here. Previous generations lived according to longstanding "rules" about gender roles and child rearing, so even if things were totally inequitable, couples lived with it. Now, no one knows exactly where he or she stands; it's no surprise that the demands of child-rearing added to the uncertainty of who has to do/gets to do what causes friction and dissatisfaction. Too much focus on the self? That's just too simplistic for me.
Okay, enough on that...this is only one example of the way Twenge manipulates data. Discriminating readers will be frustrated with this book--maybe so much so that (like me) they'll look for a more credible source.
- Amazon Customer Review
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