Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials

by Malcolm Harris

Overview

In Kids These Days, early Wall Street occupier Malcolm Harris gets real about why the Millennial generation has been wrongly stereotyped, and dares us to confront and take charge of the consequences now that we are grown up.
Millennials have been stereotyped as lazy, entitled, narcissistic, and immature. We've gotten so used to sloppy generational analysis filled with dumb clichés about young people that we've lost sight of what really unites Millennials. Namely:

We are the most educated and hardworking generation in American history. We poured historic and insane amounts of time and money into preparing ourselves for the 21st-century labor market. We have been taught to consider working for free (homework, internships) a privilege for our own benefit. We are poorer, more medicated, and more precariously employed than our parents, grandparents, even our great grandparents, with less of a social safety net to boot.

Kids These Days is about why. In brilliant, crackling prose, early Wall Street occupier Malcolm Harris gets mercilessly real about our maligned birth cohort. Examining trends like runaway student debt, the rise of the intern, mass incarceration, social media, and more, Harris gives us a portrait of what it means to be young in America today that will wake you up and piss you off.

Millennials were the first generation raised explicitly as investments, Harris argues, and in Kids These Days he dares us to confront and take charge of the consequences now that we are grown up.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316510875
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	261,446
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Malcolm Harris is a freelance writer and an editor at the New Inquiry. His work has appeared in the New Republic, Bookforum, the Village Voice, n+1, and the New York Times Magazine. He lives in Philadelphia.

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Chapter 1 Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine 13

1.1 The Pedagogical Mask 15

1.2 Kid-Shaped Capital 21

1.3 Risky Child-Rearing 26

1.4 Helicopter Parents, Vigilante Moms, and Zero Tolerance 32

1.5 Xtremely Sad Teens 38

1.6 I Guess This Is Growing Up 40

Chapter 2 Go to College 42

2.1 The Average Student 43

2.2 Anyone Can Afford a Brand-New Diploma 46

2.3 Why Is College So Expensive? 49

2.4 Failing Reform School 58

2.5 When Is a Default Not a Default? 61

2.6 The Student Debt Time Machine 63

Chapter 3 Work (Sucks) 66

3.1 The Changing Character of Work 69

3.2 Getting Paid 71

3.3 Polarization 75

3.4 The Feminization of Labor 78

3.5 Precarity 82

3.6 Nice Work If You Can Get It 85

3.7 Deunionization 89

3.8 Just Get an Intern 91

3.9 Owners and Profiteers 96

Chapter 4 The Feds 104

4.1 Not-So-Entitled Millennial 107

4.2 The Juvenilization of Poverty 110

4.3 Left Behind in the Race to the Top 114

4.4 Cops 120

4.5 Pens 125

4.6 Murderers 129

Chapter 5 Everybody Is a Star 131

5.1 Post-Soviet Training 133

5.2 Trophies and Moneyball 136

5.3 Big Workers on Campus 140

5.4 Toddlers in Tiaras 147

5.5 The Birth of Tweens 153

5.6 YouTube and Fruity Loops 156

Chapter 6 Behavior Modification 164

6.1 Bad Brains 166

6.2 Pills 173

6.3 Social Media 177

6.4 Good Habits 188

6.5 Porn 195

Conclusion 199

Seven Signs of the Bad Future 200

1 Human Capital Contracts 201

2 Professionalization of Childhood 202

3 Climate Privilege 203

4 Discrimination by Algorithm 204

5 The Malfunctioning 206

6 Misogynist Backlash 207

7 Fully Tracked 208

Bop It Solutions 210

Buy It! 212

Vote It! 215

Give It 219

Protest It! 222

Put It Down! 225

Final Word 227

Acknowledgments 231

Notes 233

Graph Credits 249

Index 251

What People are Saying About This

New York Times bestselling author of Excellent Sheep - William Deresiewicz

"Malcolm Harris's thesis is the kind of brilliantly simple idea that instantly clarifies an entire area of culture: Millennials are the way they are—anxious, harried, and 'narcissistically' self-focused, though hardly lazy or entitled—because the neoliberal economy has made them so. When we raise children in a world that reduces people to 'human capital', then bids down the price of that resource, what else should we expect? Kids These Days is deft, witty, unillusioned, and brutally frank. Read it and weep, puke, scream."

Editorial Reviews

07/31/2017
American millennials—roughly speaking, those born between 1980 and 2000—are arguably the nation’s best educated generation ever, but also one with the unfortunate distinction of having come of age just as the American dream was beginning to fade. Harris, a New Inquiry editor and millennial, contends that the rich human capital (as demonstrated by high GPAs, AP classes, enrichment courses, advanced degrees) his generation represents has been exploited by educational institutions and employers. What awaits millennials is precarious employment, student debt, and global warming, rather than the suburban McMansions and ever-increasing salaries their labor was supposed to secure. Harris makes powerful points: health insurance, pension plans, job security—the American laborer’s one-time birthrights—are no longer guaranteed. And yet throughout the book, Harris seems to assume that millennials are somehow entitled to a risk-free return on every human-capital investment they make. He focuses on how interns, student-athletes, and even grade-school students doing homework perform demanding but unpaid labor. Harris gives the off-putting impression that he expects nearly everything in life to be remunerative. Readers will come away agreeing that millennials have gotten a raw deal but unconvinced that they represent the new proletariat. Agent: Chris Parris-Lamb, Gernert Agency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"A landmark...Harris is a peerless observer of the harrowing economic costs of 'meritocracy'."—n+1

"Malcolm Harris offers up an exciting, persuasive argument that young people are not, in fact, monsters. An excellent gift for NPR-listening elders who appreciate a good debate and could use a little sympathy for the millennial."—New York Magazine

"The first major accounting of the millennial generation written by someone who belongs to it."—Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker

"When will someone stick up for millennials? We have been sheltered by our parents, swindled by our universities, deadened by our therapists, and for all this our reward has been glib condescension from the boomer press. Rising to our defense is Harris, a familiar provocateur from the internet's left flank. Harris contends that America has stiffed our generation...He brings a fresh, contrarian eye to some of the usual data points...As generational advocates go, we could do worse than Harris."—New York Times Book Review

"Malcolm Harris's thesis is the kind of brilliantly simple idea that instantly clarifies an entire area of culture: Millennials are the way they are-anxious, harried, and 'narcissistically' self-focused, though hardly lazy or entitled-because the neoliberal economy has made them so. When we raise children in a world that reduces people to 'human capital', then bids down the price of that resource, what else should we expect? Kids These Days is deft, witty, unillusioned, and brutally frank. Read it and weep, puke, scream."—WilliamDeresiewicz, New York Times bestselling author of Excellent Sheep

"Kids These Days is the best, most comprehensive work of social and economic analysis about our benighted generation. Malcolm Harris matches Naomi Klein for depth of research and Jane Jacobs for systemic vision. If you're a millennial who feels economically jinxed and unfairly spat-upon, but can't say why, cram this book in your brain; if you think millennials are lazy and entitled, cram this book in your mouth. Fascinating, infuriating, and bulging with receipts, Kids These Days shows us why no space is safe."—Tony Tulathimutte,author of Private Citizens

"This fiercely smart book is not just another 'millennials killed chain restaurants' kind of thing. Instead, Harris dives deep into the ways that the millennial generation has been shaped by the capitalist economic forces at work now in America. . . It's a must read for anyone who cares about the future of our society."—Nylon

"It is difficult to believe nobody has written this book before, although it is fortunate that Harris—who manages to be quick and often funny without sacrificing rigor—is the author who ultimately took up the task. In fewer than three hundred pages, he surveys the myriad hot takes on millennials-they're lazy, they're entitled, they're narcissists who buy avocado toast instead of homes, slacking on Snapchat at their unpaid internships-and asks, 'Why?'"—Bookforum

"Malcolm Harris restores a good deal of precision to the business of defining the millennial and generational discourse in general. Adhering to a Marxian and behaviorist account of society, Harris argues that you cannot understand millennials - those born between 1980 and 2000, which include him, and me for that matter - without examining the political, economic and social institutions that nurtured them... Through this lens we get a sweeping sketch of the bleak, anxiety-ridden lives of young Americans."—Financial Times

"A methodical deconstruction of one of the stupidest tropes to degrade recent discourse. The 'millennial' is created, not born, as Harris shows, and as is true of all creations, her qualities reveal more about her makers than they do about her... Kids These Days answers a political moment defined both by youthful outrage and by the patronizing responses to it, which deny that it is informed by lived experience."—The Nation

"Harris writes clearly and thoughtfully on key issues facing this generation today. . . [he] reveals the political, cultural, and economic climates that millennials need to navigate, along with the new issues, never seen in previous generations, millennials must address. Readers interested in sociology of class, economic history, and the millennial generation will find plenty of fascinating food for thought here."—Booklist

"An informative study of why the millennial generation faces more struggles than expected, despite the hard work they've invested in moving ahead."—Kirkus

"Harris offers a potent rebuke to the idea that neoliberalism is an ideology of freedom and movement, showing instead how lives have become increasingly surveilled, managed and even endangered as corporations attempt to push drive for profit to the absolute limits."—The Forward

"A crucial work of generational analysis...In prose that is precise, readable, and witty, [Harris] explores the economic, social, and political conditions that shaped those of us born between 1980 and 2000. Harris's central contention is that millennials are what happens when contemporary capitalism converts young people into 'human capital'. After reading his book, it seems ill-advised to understand millennials any other way."—Dissent Magazine

From the Publisher

06/15/2017
Millennials are frequently portrayed as self-indulgent slackers, a patently ridiculous notion to anyone who's lived or worked with them. Freelance writer/editor Harris reports from the inside when he offers the portrait of a generation that's never been better educated, never worked harder, yet must scrape by in an economy that isn't prepared to employ them full-time. He argues that millennials are regarded as expendable human capital whose prospects are less rosy than those of their parents or grandparents, and their argument should be heard.

Library Journal

Harris exposes listeners to a damning critique of neoliberal capitalist culture and how it has wreaked havoc on his generation, the Millennials. Narrator Will Collyer understands Harris’s tone and viewpoint and channels it consistently. His youthful voice carries the energy and emphasis of Harris's prose, bringing each point home. Collyer is particularly skilled at delivering snarky comments in a tone that can sound somewhat berating or smug but still seems on point. In his quest to illuminate the problems he sees, Harris tackles numerous topics, including education, work, health, and technology. Throughout, he repeatedly shows that despite the blame and disdain that Millennials receive, they are coping with a system that seeks to all but strangle them. L.E. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2018 - AudioFile

Harris exposes listeners to a damning critique of neoliberal capitalist culture and how it has wreaked havoc on his generation, the Millennials. Narrator Will Collyer understands Harris’s tone and viewpoint and channels it consistently. His youthful voice carries the energy and emphasis of Harris's prose, bringing each point home. Collyer is particularly skilled at delivering snarky comments in a tone that can sound somewhat berating or smug but still seems on point. In his quest to illuminate the problems he sees, Harris tackles numerous topics, including education, work, health, and technology. Throughout, he repeatedly shows that despite the blame and disdain that Millennials receive, they are coping with a system that seeks to all but strangle them. L.E. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2018 - AudioFile

2017-08-29
A millennial writer talks about the coming crises his generation will face.Millennials—defined by the author as those born between 1980 and 2000—have been sold on the idea that if they work hard in school, forfeiting play and creative time for work and sports, and go on to a four-year college, where they continue to work hard, then a solid, well-paying job awaits them once they graduate. But as Harris (b. 1988), an editor at New Inquiry, points out, many in that age group have discovered there is no pot of gold at the end of that particular rainbow. In today's competitive economy, he writes, "young households trail further behind in wealth than ever before, and while a small number of hotshot finance pros and app developers rake in big bucks…wages have stagnated and unemployment increased for the rest." Those who manage to attend college are often burdened by high student-loan debts, forcing them to work any job they can to pay the bills. Athletes who attend college on a sports scholarship pay with the physical wear and tear on their bodies and the stress of high-stakes games alongside a full academic schedule. Harris also evaluates how millennials interact with social media (a topic that could warrant an entire book on its own), which creates a never-ending link to nearly everything every day, never giving anyone a chance to unwind. Professional musicians, actors, and other performing artists face strong competition in a world where anyone can upload a video to YouTube, so those with genuine talent have to work that much harder for recognition. After his intense analysis of this consumer-based downward spiral, the author provides several possible remedies that might ease the situation—but only if millennials step forward now and begin the process of change. Harris still has plenty to learn, but he provides an informative study of why the millennial generation faces more struggles than expected, despite the hard work they've invested in moving ahead.

Kirkus Reviews