Comments on: Generation Y – Do they really hate authority?

By: weakness

weakness — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:25:56 +0000

I just have a really hard time submitting myself to doing something I really don’t want to do, and nine times out of ten feel like I’m being exploited.. :/

By: boomerlife

boomerlife — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:31:41 +0000

Steve,

I remember very well the rallys to burn the selective service cards and the “Hell no! We won’t go!” slogans. Definitely different from the attitude during WWII and Korea.

Regards,

boomerlife

By: boomerlife

boomerlife — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:26:28 +0000

Hello vinuodo,

Thanks for visiting my blog. That is a very interesting observation you make about ‘deconstructing.’ Your comment almost sounds like a ‘perfect storm’ – a group that wants to decompose traditional authority, has basically never been told ‘no’ and has the access and knowledge to technology that has already changed the way we do business and live.

Regards,

boomerlife

By: vinoduo

vinoduo — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:08:35 +0000

GenY doesn’t hate authority – but they are deconstructing it along many of the lines drawn above (information recency & relevance, relating as peers, etc.). The fact that they’ve not been told “no” isn’t their doing though – it’s the preceding generation of Xers who wanted to live life to the fullest and let their children do that too. Combine these two trends and you get Yers who aren’t familiar with the traditional politics of relating to adults, most noticeable in organizations where traditional authority is often found. In my observation, this isn’t a wholesale revolution of an entire generation, but there are enough Yers who bring this culture of relating to authority to make a noticeable impact – not to mention the enhancing effect internet technologies have in exploring and using these new norms of authority.

By: Steve Rosenbaum

Steve Rosenbaum — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:38:18 +0000

I was in the lottery so I know it well. Actually, I think more us were concerned less about why we couldn’t vote and more about why we couldn’t by a beer.

But you could definetly see a change in attitude about being drafted from the generations that went to WWII and Korea.

By: boomerlife

boomerlife — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:41:34 +0000

Hello Steve,

Thank you for your comment.

I completely agree with you about the erosion of authority over the last 50 years or so. Concerning the military, keep in mind that until 1972, the army was mandatory / obligatory. In those days, when you reached your 18th birthday you had to go to the local Selective Service board and get your selective service card.

Every month the military would have a “raffle” and the numbers that were pulled corresponded to the number in your selective service card. If your number was pulled, you were going into the military for a minimum of two years. During the Vietnam war, the Baby Boomers successfully argued – “how is it that we are old enough to die for our country but, not old enough to vote for the leaders that are sending us into harm’s way?”

By: Generation Y - How do they define privacy? « The Baby Boomer Experience

Generation Y - How do they define privacy? « The Baby Boomer Experience — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 07:59:52 +0000

[...] Y – How do they define privacy? Posted on December 30, 2007 by boomerlife In my article Generation Y – Do they really hate authority? I talk about some points that the Generation Y makes on why they are how they are. One thing [...]

By: Steve Rosenbaum

Steve Rosenbaum — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:37:11 +0000

I think there’s has been a systematic and ongoing destruction of authority and those institutions going back to the early 1950s. Just look at the difference in the authority structure in schools in the last 50 years. They’ve become more and more informal, and the ability to discpline has eased significantly.

Up until about 1970 a large number of males entered the military. It’s only a tiny fraction of the population now.

I mean just take a look at what’s happened to the boy scouts.

As Gen Yers enter the workforce, it’s the first time that anyone may have said “no’ to them or do it or else. It’s really a shock.