Generation Y

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Generation Y
Image with the data of generations Y and Z.

Generation Y ( Gen Y for short ) or Millennials (in German about “millennia”), more rarely Generation Me , describes the population cohort or generation that was born in the period from the early 1980s to the late 1990s .

The term Generation Y first appeared in the Advertising Age marketing magazine in 1993 . The characteristics that can be ascribed to members of the generation are widely discussed in specialist literature and other media.

Due to the chronological classification, it is considered the successor generation to the Boomers (until 1965) and Generation X (until 1980). The letter Y is pronounced in English why ("why"), which is intended to refer to the tendency to question what is sometimes described as characteristic of Generation Y. The next generation is called Generation Z by those who have no problem with it, those born in the 1980s or 1990s as Generation Yto call. According to some scientists, it covers the years of birth 1995 to 2010; others let the “generation” begin with younger birth cohorts (especially those according to which people born in 1999 still belong to Generation Y). The delimitation of time periods is often done differently in German and American literature.

In 2015, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office, around 22 percent of the total population and around 20 percent of the workforce were born in 1980–1999.

The term Generation Y , like most other names for people born in the 1980s or 1990s, is mostly applied to residents of Europe and North America. In 2016/2017, under the leadership of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation , young adults in Arab countries were surveyed for the first time.

Cognitive interests

There is a particularly strong interest in finding out what “typical” characteristics future “decision-makers” will and should replace today's managers. The “ Zukunftsinstitut ” makes this clear in a “portrait” of Generation Y: “Now a new generation is about to jump into key positions: Generation Y. As in previous generations, today's managers are about demands, desires, needs and motives and to know the goals of the new generation in order to guarantee entrepreneurial success despite changing management attitudes. ”As a result, many German studies focus on candidates for the next generation of managers in Germany.

In January 2017, IG Metall asked itself and the readers of its text the question: “What makes today's young generation tick?” According to their own statements, the trade unionists are interested in finding out how big the chance is that young workers will become union members, actively participate in trade union work and are ready to participate in warning strikes or strikes.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation promoted an event on September 3, 2018 with the title: “Y [Generation Why] - Between the search for meaning and security request” with the words: “The group of 18 to 38 year olds today is the first generation in Western societies, which grew up without any system alternative, according to the great ideologies. As Generation Y [WHY] they are said to want to combine meaningful work and leisure with a high degree of social security. In the eyes of this generation, everything seems to be a matter of individual prioritization. Are these young people living a dream that earlier generations dreamed without being able to realize it? Or is it just the latest form of capitalism that needs non-conformism, cosmopolitanism and an affinity for technology? And how does the dialectic of high expectations of meaning in work, on the one hand, and retreat into private leisure time, on the other, affect political life? "

Sociological characterization

Generation Y is generally considered to be well educated, and their relatives often have a university degree. She is characterized by a tech-savvy lifestyle . In particular, it is the first generation that grew up largely in an Internet and mobile communication environment . The business journalist Kerstin Bund has tried to describe the work behavior of members of this generation in Germany, based in part on the Shell youth study : According to Bund, they prefer to work in teams rather than in deep hierarchies. The joy of work is more important to them than status and prestige . More freedom, the opportunity for self-fulfillment and more time for family and leisure are central demands of Generation Y: They no longer want to subordinate everything to their work, but instead demand a balance between work and leisure and strive for a job that gives them meaning. It embodies a change in values ​​that is already taking place on a social level, but which the young employees are now also carrying into the professional world. A “trump card in hand that is withheld from earlier generations: the trump card of demographics serves as a lever for the implementation of these goals, which others before them would have sought (often without results). The power of scarcity in a country that is slowly running out of skilled workers. This changes the relationship of dependency. "

Other authors deny that Generation Y can be understood as a sociological phenomenon at all. Fuzzy “times that no one can explain give the impression that something big must have happened.” But that is not the case; Generation Y is a myth. Such generational concepts can hardly be confirmed empirically: A sociological treatment of the topic is "too risky and complicated". What is noticeable, however, is an “affinity for copies”, an aversion to breaks. Typical Ypsiloners did not shape social and technical development, they limited themselves to consumption. That is a zeitgeist phenomenon.

Germany

The Berlin youth researcher Klaus Hurrelmann draws attention to the multi-option society and limitlessness in which, in his opinion, “Generation Y” grew up. It goes with this that a strikingly high number of young professionals of this generation - 60% in 2014 compared to 48% in 2002 - raise demands for management positions and consider themselves experts.

In their book The Secret Revolutionaries - How Generation Y Changes Our World from 2014, the sociologist Klaus Hurrelmann and the journalist Erik Albrecht give the first systematic overview of previous studies on this topic, supplemented by authentic statements from members of the generation. Hurrelmann and Albrecht describe the central characteristics of the career-oriented in Generation Y as follows:

Dealing with crises
Generation Y have the in the sensitive and formative period of their adolescence terrorist attack in New York experienced and global wars and crises, especially the financial and euro crisis , also in Germany to stringent problems for young people in finding good work had led . She is therefore used to dealing with uncertainties and uncertainties in life planning. She has learned to make the best of obscure situations, to sound out and to maneuver in order to always keep as many options open as possible. For this reason, she feels that life in uncertainty is completely normal.
Improvisation and life planning
The Ypsilonians are masters in improvising. Her curriculum vitae has lost the straightforwardness that was typical for her parents. For Generation Y, life is much less plannable than it used to be. Despite all the stress that they felt, the Ypsilonians would also enjoy the low straight lines because it made them independent and free. According to this, they are “egotactics” who assess all important life decisions based on the immediate advantages and disadvantages for themselves and their well-being.
education
In politically and economically troubled times, when the job may never be there for life, young people invested more time and money (especially in the form of lost income) in their education and training than ever before. A high level of education becomes the most important ammunition in the fight for a place in society. But it is also the key to a self-determined life. More members of Generation Y than members of earlier generations had completed their school education with the Abitur and flocked to the universities in order to keep as many options open as possible. Almost 60 percent of them were successful in doing so, setting themselves apart from the other 40 percent of their generation who could not or would not keep up with this development. Klaus Hurrelmann, however, limits: They are primarily concerned with the certificates. “The 'Ypsiloners' have the support of their parents, who think: the main thing is that the Abitur. What you really learn doesn't matter in terms of content. What counts is the good report. "
Professional independence
Once at work, the 60 percent well-educated wanted to exchange as much fulfillment, joy and recognition as possible for their valuable human capital. They rejected hierarchies and regulations and wanted to have a job in a team in which no one could control them and where they could demonstrate their skills. Intensive work and lifelong learning are a matter of course for them, but they have also learned to manage their energies. They would have something like a built-in burn-out lock. Of course, the researchers cannot prove that empirically: 33 percent of all respondents between 20 and 35 years of age consider themselves at risk of burnout in a study by the Zukunftsinstitut.
Family and equality
Generation Y consistently demands new family models. When planning and structuring families, she focuses on equality, paternity leave, same-sex marriage and breaks previous taboos . The Ypsilonians wanted children, but if the conditions in partnership, private life and work were not right, they preferred to remain childless. They are allegedly vehemently pushing for the compatibility of family and career . In fact, around 80% of working fathers in Germany only take parental leave for two months .
Leisure and new media
Leisure time is the “training camp” for Generation Y. This is where the so-called egotactics learn to find their own way through the jungle of options. The Internet is always there - be it on the computer, tablet or smartphone. Above all, social networks are important to them for their personal development. New media are the area in which they feel socially superior and set their own accents.
Politics and Lifestyle
Generation Y is not apolitical. However, you define politics differently than usual. For the Ypsilonians, many topics that were previously defined as “political” are now more a question of consumption, ethics or lifestyle. Generation Y is not fighting for a new social order like other generations before them. She wants to live according to her own ideas and is not tied to political organizations. Regular participation in and support of political parties is not desirable for most Ypsilons.

It should be noted critically about the first thesis that the academically qualified people born between 1980 and 1990 in Germany during and after the financial crisis of 2008 - except perhaps in the financial sector - hardly suffered from unemployment themselves if they had already finished their studies. In 2012 only 2.5 percent of all academics were unemployed, in 2014 it was 2.6 percent. Despite the relatively low risk of unemployment, other studies show that Generation Y students have a massive striving for security. According to a survey by Research now on behalf of Ernst & Young , 61 percent of the students surveyed cite a secure job as the most important motive when choosing a career. 30 percent of those surveyed (36 percent for women) want to go into civil service later. The start-up rate in Germany reached a record low in 2017; In 2001 it was almost three times as high.

The increased need for security and the increased number of private and professional choices compared to previous generations are often associated with an increased susceptibility to stress. The experience of uncertainty, poor predictability and uncontrollability of situations occurs when there are no adequate knowledge structures or clear interpretations to cope with them. If professional or personal success does not materialize after a short period of time, the risk of depression increases. A Hamburg recruitment agency carried out a representative survey, according to which two thirds (according to other sources 75%) of the representatives of Generation Y, i.e. those born between 1980 and 1999, complained about psychological stress at work and did not feel comfortable in their job. In other age groups this value was significantly lower. According to the Barmer GEK from 2018, 17 percent (around 470,000 people), mainly older students, were affected by a psychological diagnosis of the students who were previously considered a relatively healthy group .

According to Lukas Rietzschel , the acid test of Generation Y is to overcome the “stoic attitude” of the “silent majority” towards the growing right-wing extremism in Germany, in whose groups members of Generation Y are also active. The democratically-minded people within the generation are capable of doing this, since they are the first generation across Germany and, based on shared experiences, are able to overcome thinking in terms of “East” and “West”.

USA and UK

If Hurrelmann and Albrecht claim that the members of Generation Y are "secret revolutionaries" who subvert and change traditional patterns of life almost imperceptibly, studies from the Anglo-Saxon region suggest that this is an extremely conservative and socially less committed generation in the Compared to the earlier post-war generations act.

As early as 2000, the sociologist and political scientist Robert Putnam noted in his book Bowling Alone a progressive collapse of social capital in the USA. Voluntary social engagement, participation in team sports and political activities declined, for which he suspected the individualization of media reception and the breakup of families as the cause: Many people of Generation Y could no longer build social bridges to other ethnic groups or people with different interests ; they no longer have any confidence in acting together. Claude S. Fischer , a network researcher from the University of California, Berkeley , accused him of ignoring the Internet's supportive function for people in isolation, which, however, seems to confirm rather than invalidate Putnam's analysis.

Also in 2000, the psychologist Jeffrey Arnett pointed out the phenomenon of emerging adulthood : 25- and 30-year-olds did not feel like adults either. An extended training period would no longer pay off economically and would only serve to extend the adolescence phase . A 2012 study by the American College Counseling Association reported a relevant increase in student crisis interventions over five years. 44 percent of the students showed symptoms of depression; the suicide rates rose. Therapists blame this on the uncertainty due to the devaluation of degrees, but above all on the parents' tendency to immediately satisfy needs in adolescents, who do not allow the development of frustration tolerance and make them emotionally underachiever (s) .

A study by the large British market research company Ipsos MORI , which also conducts the annual British National Student Survey , identified attitudes of Generation Y in 2013 that suggest a preference for “ libertarian Thatcherism ”. Only around 20 percent of those born after 1980 would agree that the government should increase taxes in favor of social compensation. B. to enable higher education for the poor. The supporters of the British welfare state created in the 1940s and now partially dismantled are just as poorly represented, at 20 percent . These are the lowest approval ratings among all those born after 1945. In another study by YouGov in 2014, 40 percent of British 18- to 34-year-olds surveyed admitted to being inconsiderate in order to “get ahead”, in contrast to those over 55, for whom this proportion was only 17 percent .

As the downside of the frequently diagnosed libertarian elbow mentality in the struggle for minimal advantages in the education system and for jobs, the high vulnerability , increased sensitivity and ease of influencing Generation Y through social media have recently been highlighted; their loved ones tended not to want to hear bad or irritating news. In the USA and Great Britain, the cohort is therefore referred to with mostly negative connotations as the Snowflake generation .

According to the 2015 US General Social Survey (GSS), the number of Americans (mostly male) who say they have no close friends has tripled since 1985. This is accompanied by a loss of social support and an increasing susceptibility to psychological problems. According to an analysis of interviews conducted by a recruitment firm for over 18 months, one in five of the Millennial generation (those born between 1978 and 1999) is depressed. In the case of Generation X and the baby boomers , on the other hand, it is “only” 16 percent, compared to 10 percent in the US average.

Generation Y in the workplace

Also with regard to behavior in the workplace, the characteristics assumed by Hurrelmann and Albrecht are not unreservedly confirmed by empirical research. The hopes placed in Generation Y as workers are now often questioned. In many studies, relatives appear to be highly adapted, stressed, competitive and insecure - with a tendency to retreat into the private idyll (“Neo- Biedermeier ”) and an exaggerated desire for security, permanent feedback and recognition (“Generation Me”). Christian Scholz speaks of “Darwiportunism”; the Austrian youth culture and trend researchers Heinzlmaier and Ikrath even describe them as “amoral egoists” who subordinate every decision to its individual benefit.

A more differentiated picture shows a literature report by Karen K. Myers and Kamyab Sadaghiani on the attitudes and behavior of Americans born after 1979 in the workplace. They see the membership negotiation processes , which have never been completed, as typical of the generation, i.e. the constant renegotiation of the membership role to be assumed in the organization, which one no longer simply accepts when joining the company as it used to be, and the refusal of a work ethic that was still cultivated by the baby boomer generation with a simultaneous desire for more intensive communicative relationships with superiors, from whom they constantly request feedback. They have a much shorter time horizon than the baby boomers, which is expressed in very short-term advancement expectations. They prefer teamwork, but often overlook the pressure and control that not only individual supervisors but also groups can exert. They promote the use of digital technology and often feel hindered by the elderly. They are used to being coached by parents and influenced by marketing experts . They are also more dependent on rewards, but want to make an important contribution to the company. As a generation used to travel, they are usually more open to cultural diversity in the workplace.

In view of these contrary findings, there is often talk of a split Generation Y: In addition to risk aversion , narrow-mindedness , striving for fixed rules, perfectionism and the search for security in the team or in the peer group as an expression of the need for stability in the face of globalization and its crises, there is the desire for self-realization , even economization, Multioptionalismus , rejection of traditional "puritanical" work virtues with increased self-awareness. These needs are evidently group- and gender-specific within Generation Y - quite apart from the not inconsiderable proportion of young people who, often frustrated by constant experiences of failure, refuse the education system or the world of work (“Generation Chips”) - and they also differ in the international comparison.

Because of the strong increase in the number of graduates, it is often only years after graduation that it becomes clear which members of the generation are "winners" in the sense of a job that corresponds to the course with an earlier income or "losers". For example, the glass ceiling effect in women or the desire for a better work-life balance often leads to a late rejection of the desire to achieve top positions in business or administration, although they are e.g. B. are initially significantly more ambitious than men with regard to their motives for further training and almost as often as men see themselves potentially in a role as independent entrepreneurs or executive employees.

Generation Y in politics

Demonstration in Berlin for Edward Snowden

According to Camilla Kohrs, Generation Y is said to have a more “left” orientation because “left positions are mainstream” in Germany. According to Kohrs, however, this has to be differentiated, since the conditions are different in every country in Europe. In France , Slovakia , Hungary , Poland and Austria, the majority of Ypsilonians are very sympathetic to right-wing populist politicians.

Austrian author Sylvia Szely speaks in terms of the young political leaders of Europe like Sebastian Kurz , Luigi Di Maio or Thierry Baudet who come from the Generation Y, from a light populism . They grew up with the Internet and mobile communication, with advertising and marketing. They “witnessed the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York and other global crises at a young age and are therefore relatively resistant to feelings of insecurity; They are also masters at improvising ”and manage their parties and governments“ like a CEO his company ”. With this style they set themselves apart from right-wing hardliners.

Media and political influences

The studies by IPSOS Mori and von Heinzlmaier and Ikrath suggest that the years of dissemination of stereotypical political and neoliberal slogans, as well as media influences, which have been different in different countries in Europe and the USA, have serious effects on the attitudes and preferences of Generation Y. Casting shows such as “ Deutschland sucht den Superstar ” also contribute to this, through which candidates are specifically developed into independent brands. According to Heinzlmaier and Ikrath, the thought figures of the market now also apply in the spheres of the family, education and the social system.

Michael Serazio notes that the products of the entertainment industry were specifically adapted to the needs of Generation Y in the 2010s and played with their fears by depicting actors who are caught in gloomy moods (e.g. in the USA the Fear of debt). He diagnoses emotional contagion from the media and speaks of online hypersociality . Fittingly, a series like Mr Robot paid $ 100,000 to indebted fans.

Formative historical events

The events that particularly shaped the members of Generation Y in their socialization process include the rampage at Columbine High School (1999) and subsequent school shootings , the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , the war in Afghanistan (from 2001), the introduction of the euro (2002) and the expansion of the European Union, the Iraq war (2003), the tsunami disaster (2004) as well as various economic crises and stock market crashes.

criticism

Criticism of attribute attributions

The thesis that cars in particular have had their day as status symbols for Generation Y, that they use public transport more often and have a high affinity for the sharing economy , in which cars are only rented when needed, and that the cause of these changed preferences is a change in values, is contested by Christopher Knittel and Elizabeth Murphy in a US study in which they compare pairs of millennials with people born up to 1964. They even cover longer distances with their own cars than the baby boomers, even though they have less income and assets when they are young, adjusted for inflation. If they do without a car, it is mostly for this reason, not because of changed preferences.

The Hamburg education researcher Rolf Schulmeister doubts that members of the age groups born in the 1980s and 1990s are particularly media-literate. The age groups called Generation Y also mostly consumed media in a passive form; Television and mobile phone use would dominate the use of other media.

Some authors “doubt that Generation Y has the necessary amount of energy and motivation to secure a permanent place in the labor market.” Other authors attest Generation Y is hostile to theory and a preference for manual labor.

Doubt the existence of a Generation Y

Rolf Schulmeister even goes so far as to doubt that members of the above Years “typically” had characteristics that clearly differentiated them from those of other years and justified speaking of “Generation Y”.

In a chapter heading of her work “Myth Generation Y? A historical and institutional economic perspective ”provide Bernhard Dietz u. a. the question: "Generation Y - real phenomenon or just a marketing gag?" There are indeed many phenomena describing the age groups in question, but “in fact, only middle-class young people are addressed and their characteristics are generalized across the entire age cohort. The Generation Y trend researchers do not have an eye on secondary school leavers, immigrants and those employed in the low-wage sector ”.

If there is a third generation in East Germany (who should still be born in 1985), then those born in the GDR from 1980 to 1985 cannot be part of an all-German Generation Y. With the younger generation, the question arises whether any “East German identity” calls into question their status as a “Ypsiloner”.

Rudolf Novotny, Paul Blickle, Julian Stahnke and Sascha Venohr stated succinctly: "Generation Y does not exist!" Significant differences between the attitudes and behavior of older and younger people could not be empirically confirmed in Germany. The majority of all age groups answered almost all of the questions that were asked in the “Zeit-Legnisstudie”. In this respect, German society is "generationless". Germans did not differ according to age, but according to education, income and circle of friends. The sociologist Martin Schröder comes to the same conclusion : “Today's young people go through changes in the course of their lives like everyone else. They tick like young people 30 or 40 years ago. ”Differences between the generations can therefore mainly be explained by the fact that the respective young people are in a different phase of life than their observers. “We are all different when we are young. All of our attitudes change as we get older, ”says Schröder.

In the “Generation Y” series from “ Zeit Campus ”, Hannes Schrader claims that talking about generations primarily serves to generate clichés: “According to Google, we are: work-skeptical, work-addicted, lazy, unpredictable, a myth, precarious, boring , grew up in an insecure world, well educated, highly adapted, stressed, stuffy and egotactic. ”It is true, according to Schrader, that many Ypsilonians no longer have cars, no houses and no long-term employment contracts. But that's not because they wanted something like that. Rather, “[we] don't drive a car and don't have a house because we can't afford it.” The generation term is “misused by researchers who finally want to be interviewed again. From journalists who want to write soulful texts. You make assumptions that cannot be verified anyway and will always apply to someone. "

Christian Scholz warns HR managers against the assumption that young applicants will be judged: “Not different from what they have been in the past 50 years”. Anyone who puts forward arguments in job interviews with members of Generation Z that would have had a motivating effect on applicants from Generation X or Generation Y will most likely not achieve any positive results for the company. In particular, the cynical argument is: "Young Germans who want individual development opportunities right now in the job interview, who demand the compatibility of work and private life as well as special leave and an early evening, could actually have a lot of free time in the future - unpaid of course." increasing shortage of skilled workers is no longer effective.

There is also the possibility of building on content-related statements about “Generation Y” or “Generation What?” Without using these or other “names” or adhering to predetermined boundaries between the generations. So published z. B. the Social Science Institute of the Evangelical Church in Germany the results of a survey of young adults born in 1991 to 1999, carried out in August 2018. They ignored the question of who of the respondents belonged to "Generation Y" and who belonged to "Generation Z", as knowledge about the youngest adults in Germany should be acquired. The most striking result of the survey is the internalization of the sentence: “Everyone is the maker of their own happiness.” 87 percent of those questioned stated that life revolves around them and that they are responsible for everything that concerns them. When those concerned said “we”, they only meant their family and close circle of friends besides themselves, but not society, the economy or politics. Only 24 percent said they believed in God. One interviewee said literally: “I cannot believe in God, because if I think about it right, I am God myself. I am responsible for everything that happens in my life. There is nothing else. "

Alternative names

Generation chips

In 2007, the journalist Susanne Finsterer and the clinic and social manager Edmund Fröhlich in the book of the same name describe the Generation Chips as the “opposite pole” or loser of this “generation”, who consume too much media, eat one-sidedly and are largely excluded from participation in society. Generation Y threatens to become "Generation D" (D = diabetes mellitus, type 2 ) due to the increase in the proportion of overweight people . A third of Generation Y members in Australia will probably develop type 2 diabetes by 2030 , primarily as a result of an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. According to the WHO, almost half of women and two thirds of men in Germany would be overweight by 2030. The thesis that members of Generation Y are “health freaks” is a myth.

Generation Maybe

Parallel to the term Generation Y, the term Generation Maybe was also established in Germany . The originator of the term is the journalist and author Oliver Jeges . He defines the Maybe generation as born in the 1980s and as a generation without characteristics and without a profile. The generation is well educated, but without a plan or courage to make decisions and keeps all options open.

Jeges derived the term from a controversial advertising campaign for a cigarette brand.

Generation What?

In November 2016, Bayerischer Rundfunk , Südwestrundfunk , Second German Television and the Sinus Institute presented the “final report” “ Generation What? “Via an intermedia project of the same name, in which 1,000,141 people in several countries of the European Union took part who were 18 to 34 years old at the time of the survey. The initiators of Generation What? -Study prompted surveys of young Arab adults (2017/2018).

The study's major strengths are

  • that hundreds of thousands of people were interviewed (with the right to be representative ),
  • that no members of the age groups to be examined were disregarded from the outset as supposedly "atypical",
  • that the situation in completely different European countries has been investigated and
  • that the economic interest in gaining knowledge about current and future workers or consumers is not in the foreground.

The Sinus Institute summarizes the results of the Europe study in the following theses:

  • Young Europe retains an optimism about coping.
  • Young Europe has little confidence in state institutions.
  • Church and religion hardly play a role anymore.
  • The concerns of the young generation are country-specific.
  • Immigration is perceived as a cultural enrichment and nationalist ideas are mostly rejected.
  • The European Union appears useful to young Europeans, but it is not an affair of the heart.
  • The relationship between the generations is good.

Above all, critics doubt that the study is meaningful. There were no identity checks. "Even as a Swiss woman over 34 you could log into the Irish country mask [and] claim that you are a 21-year-old Irishman [,] and then answer totally incompetent questions about Irish politics". It is also not clear how seriously answers (e.g. about the sex life of the respondents) should be taken.

Generation crisis

Kerstin Bund certifies Generation Y to be a "Generation Crisis". “We grew up in a world in which everything is constantly changing. Since September 11, 2001 we have known nothing but crisis: Afghanistan crisis, Iraq crisis, climate crisis , economic crisis, education crisis, financial crisis, euro crisis. The feeling of crisis that accompanies us has raised insecurity to our attitude to life. Everything is possible in our world, but nothing is permanent. Life partners became life mates. The place of birth became the adopted home. And there is no such thing as a job for life or a secure pension. The constant uncertainty forces us to make constant adjustments. It ensures that we remain open to new things. "

The meaning of the term used by some media and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung becomes clear when reading the manifesto “We, the Generation Crisis” from the youth magazine “Futter” of the Graz newspaper “Kleine Zeitung”. The generation is used to crisis-like escalation in politics, but was downright shocked by the Brexit decision of the majority of British people. Young people across Europe were shocked that the 64 percent of Britons between the ages of 18 and 24 who stayed away from the Brexit referendum helped ensure that the “Brexiteers” obtained a slim majority, although they were also 64 percent of young Britons who took part in the vote had voted for the UK to remain in the EU. The impending failure of the “European Union Peace Project” has shaken many young Europeans awake. The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States had a similar effect . The time of "lazy optimism" is over.

iGen

Jean Twenge emphasizes the fears and narcissism of what she calls the highly networked iGen born in 1995 or later .

Novels

The historian Tanja Martina Kasischke calls the novel “Swimming” by the author Sina Pousset, born in 1989, a “farewell to the visionaries”, which describes the image change of young people and draws “a coherent portrait of Generation Y”.

Movies

Series

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Generation Y  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carrington Clarke: Why are Millennials worried about the future? In: ABC News . February 8, 2017 (English, net.au [accessed on February 22, 2017]): “Millennials is a slightly imprecise term, the cohort also goes by Generation Y or Generation Me, but effectively they are those that came after Generation X, born after 1982 but are currently older than 18. ”
  2. Kerstin Bund: We are young ... and we need luck . In: Zeit Online , March 10, 2014, accessed February 8, 2015.
  3. Weiguny, Bettina: Generation Weichei . In: Faz.net , December 22, 2012, accessed February 8, 2015.
  4. RP-Online: Generation Y - Luck beats money. Retrieved April 25, 2014 .
  5. Christina Scholz: Generation Z. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2014, p. 31
  6. Beverly Kaye, Sharon Jordan-Evans: Love 'Em or Lose' Em: Getting Good People to Stay. 4th edition. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco 2007, p. 236.
  7. Destatis: Population pyramid 2015. February 25, 2017, accessed on February 25, 2017 .
  8. Generation Y as employees and clients - Do you speak “Millennial”? October 11, 2016, accessed February 24, 2017 .
  9. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: The MENA youth study of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
  10. Youth in the Middle East: Better educated than ever and connected to home . handelsblatt.com. January 3, 2018, accessed October 7, 2018
  11. Generation Y - The self-image of tomorrow's managers . Zukunftsinstitut.de. 2013. p. 14
  12. Verena Horstmann: Generation Y - workers of the future. Human Resource Management Challenges . University of Hanover / Faculty IV - Business Administration Department. June 19, 2012
  13. IG Metall Jugend: What is that for 1 generation? What makes today's young generation tick? . January 25, 2017
  14. ^ Heinrich Böll Foundation: Y (Generation Why) - Between the search for meaning and desire for security . 2018
  15. Peter Sheahan: Generation Y: Thriving and Surviving With Generation Y at Work. Hardie Grant Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1-74273-139-2 , p. 7.
  16. ^ Daniela M. Weise: Recruiting the Net Generation. E-recruiting with the help of Web 2.0 tools. Diplomica-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8366-9680-7 , p. 15.
  17. Kerstin Bund: Luck beats money. Generation Y: What we really want. Murmann Verlag, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-86774-339-6 .
  18. "Generation Y is not lazy at all." Interview with Kerstin Bund. In: The European , August 26, 2014.
  19. Marcel Schütz: Generation Y is a myth. Interview in www.zeit.de , February 29, 2016.
  20. Jean Heuser, Anne Kunze: Do they want to work too? In: The time . Online, accessed December 10, 2013.
  21. Applicant motto: "It's not about you, it's about me."
    Online: Recruiting job interviews with a Y factor. (No longer available online.) Federal Chemicals Employers' Association , July 9, 2014, archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; Retrieved July 11, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Leaves for Superiors ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Federal Chemical Employers' Association ; Print: BAVC - Bundesarbeitgeberverband Chemie e. V., issue 7/2014, p. 5. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bavc.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bavc.de
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  53. Rolf Schulmeister in the chat about the concept of generation
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  65. Lisa Möller: Does Generation Y get fat with age? . vice.com. May 7, 2015
  66. ^ L Generation Maybe - court overturns Marlboro advertising ban Die Welt
  67. "Generation Maybe" by Oliver Jeges In the Maybe Trap Der Spiegel
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  83. We, the Generation Crisis Kleine Zeitung . 2nd July 2016
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  85. Florian Schillat: Open your mouth!”: DEMO founder Mareike Nieberding dares to do the balancing act between journalist and activist . meedia.de. February 7, 2017
  86. Jean Twenge: iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy - and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood - and What That Means for the Rest of Us. Simon & Schuster, 2017.
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