Each generation defines itself not only by its politics, pop culture, fashions, slang and innovation. From the white picket fences of the mid-50s to the McMansions of the early 2000s, the striving and successful created the ideal aspirations that served as the benchmarks of achievement for their eras. So what is the American Dream for the Gen-Y/Millennial crowd?
The recession seems to have shifted the focus away from material possessions to personal fulfillment. Where once a loft decked out in the latest desirables from the IKEA catalog (circa the beginning of Fight Club at the turn of the century) would have been a noble goal, Millennials have warmed to the idea of boomeranging back to Mom and Dad. A new car may have been the symbol that one had arrived during the Dot Com Boom, but now it’s based around Facebook and Twitter friends.
The collapse of the housing market has made many wary of obtaining their own homes. Soaring unemployment rates have made job whoring to pay the bills socially acceptable. Digital communication has forever changed the way that people interact. And the American Dream, once a tangible obsession with material things, has undergone a metamorphosis.
Millennials aren’t looking for solace in the same things that their parents, grandparents, and even older siblings had. Instead of focusing on the external, the dream for Generation Y is internal. Though it’s still developing, their American Dream, their hopes and aspirations, are more personal. Concerns about keeping up with the Joneses are mitigated – it’s all about personal definitions.
And those definitions might lead this generation into a dream that no one has ever had before.
