For what reason have millennials been complaining? They are headed toward becoming the richest generation in history, not wallowing in poverty as society’s forgotten stepchildren. This is in line with a forecast from estate agency Knight Frank, which states that there will be a “seismic” shift of wealth assets over the next 20 years from older cohorts to those born between 1981 and 2000.
Has generational injustice been resolved? Well, obviously not. The distribution of these assets to millennials will be based only on their parents’ wealth. This is going to exacerbate a major issue for this cohort. Which is that having a wealthy upbringing is becoming a less important element in determining millennial success.
The decline of peer competitiveness and meritocracy
This issue is far too little discussed. Notably, headline statistics on this cohort’s overall performance or its performance relative to older adults often overlook a crucial point: people are inherently concerned with their well-being as well as that of their peers. Our concern is relative success. Working hard and getting on a social contract is a contract about peer competitiveness. The most gifted and diligent members of any cohort ought to be at the top, according to this theory. It’s a meritocracy concept. And now they’re tearing this apart.
This is significant. Boomers would expect to do better financially than their peers if they excelled academically, went to a good university, and worked long hours (14 hours a day) at a gloomy financial rock face during their 20s. However, the same millennial may be surpassed in their 30s and 40s by less gifted peers, friends who opted for a pleasant, balanced lifestyle, or friends who picked a poorly compensated creative vocation and were fortunate enough to inherit money from their parents.
Shifting attitudes toward success and external factors
There are no longer any hard-and-fast guidelines on the way to financial success. It has grown increasingly unjust and capricious. The influence this change in justice will have, and is already having, on society cannot be overstated. Let’s make an example. Imagine if A-level grades were determined by an algorithm that gave students from wealthier backgrounds a greater score rather than individual achievement.
We don’t have to try too hard to imagine ourselves in this situation now that it temporarily occurred during the Covid epidemic. For a brief while, the socioeconomic makeup of the students’ schools was reflected in their A-level scores rather than the calibre of their work.
After much indignation, this policy was swiftly changed. But what if it had taken off and this became the standard method of assigning marks for A-levels? How might that affect test takers’ mindsets? Would they have to work harder or less hard as a result? Would kids grow up with positive, optimistic attitudes about their capacity to overcome challenges, make the most of their abilities, and accomplish goals?
Or would they become hopeless (for the already impoverished) or complacent (for the already wealthy), realising that the system was rigged and that there was nothing they could do to change it? Would they be less likely, or more likely, to experience burnout, despair, or anxiety?
The economic and political consequences
Let’s go back to the millennial generation. There is mounting evidence that younger generations are adopting a very different mindset than previous generations when it comes to achieving economic success.
The economist Ben Ansell’s examination of the 2022 England-wide survey on fairness and social mobility, for instance, reveals these discrepancies. He demonstrates how younger generations are more inclined than older ones to believe that external factors are to blame for economic success rather than individual work.
Not surprisingly, the main difference was housing. Of those under 30, less than one-third thought they had a good chance of becoming homeowners. Less than two-thirds of those over 70 believed they had this opportunity. “The old think they did it on their own (or at least that others should),” Ansell writes. “The young think success is outside their control.”
This goes beyond psychological prejudice. Every group is correct. The boomer generation profited from both economic good fortune and a more meritocratic society. Indeed, the most skilled and diligent of them would be able to inherit the wealth at the expense of their colleagues. It was each person’s work that determined their success. Not in the case of Generation Z and millennials.
This very reasonable adjustment in perspective clarifies a variety of perplexities regarding the younger generation. In the UK, it has been connected to the millennial generation’s extraordinary support for the Labour party, defying the trend of younger generations growing more conservative with age.
However, the societal ramifications go well beyond this and are still little understood. For example, it can be difficult to maintain motivation and mental health when you believe that the system is biased against you. Is there a possible explanation for why the rates of sadness and anxiety among millennials and Generation Z are significantly higher than those of their parents?
The depressing notion that extra effort goes unrewarded is probably bad for the economy as a whole. There is evidence to suggest that younger generations are not as inventive and enterprising as their grandparents were. After all, the foundation of every prosperous society with contented individuals is the idea that life is fair.
It will be further eroded in the ensuing decades as older generations transfer their riches into the pockets of their offspring.
Concepts for resolving the issue are circulating. David Willetts, a Tory peer, proposed this week that we give a £10k “citizens inheritance” to every 30-year-old. However, as the majority of millennials are now older, this won’t help them or narrow the wide gaps in wealth that exist between them. It is possible to understand the matter exclusively in terms of raising the inheritance tax. Of course, politically, that isn’t viable, but it might be the only solution.
(Tashia Bernardus)