Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials

Summary

A millennial’s groundbreaking investigation into why his generation is economically worse off than their parents, creating a radical and devastating portrait of what it means to be young in America

Millennials have been called lazy, entitled, narcissistic, and immature, but when you push aside the stereotypes, what actually unites this generation? The short answer: They’ve been had. Millennials are the hardest working and most educated generation in American history. They have poured unprecedented amounts of time and money into preparing themselves for the twenty-first-century workforce. Yet they are poorer, more medicated, and more precariously employed and have less of a social safety net than their parents or grandparents.

Kids These Days asks why and answers with a radical, brilliant, data-driven analysis of the economic and cultural forces that have shaped millennial lives. Examining broad trends like runaway student debt, the rise of the intern, mass incarceration, social media, and more, Harris shows us a generation conditioned from birth to treat their lives and their efforts—their very selves and futures—as human capital to be invested. But what happens when children raised as investments grow up? Why are young people paying such a high price to train themselves for a system that exploits them? How can millennials change or transcend what’s been made of them?

Gripping, mercilessly argued, deeply informed, and moving fluidly between critical theory, political policy, and pop culture, Kids These Days will wake you up, make you angry, and change how you see your place in the world. This is essential reading, not only for millennials but also for anyone ready to take a hard look at how we got here and where we’re headed if we don’t change course fast.