Crunch Time

The cultural consequences of unemployment

David Brooks, an editorial writer for the New York Times, referenced a powerful essay in The Atlantic.  He broke down its main ideas into the societal segments who are disproportionally effected by the current recession and the subsequent cultural consequences:

Men: Last November nearly a fifth of all men between 25 and 54 did not have jobs, the highest figure since the labor bureau began counting in 1954.  We are very close to marking the moment when there will be more women in the work force than men.

Cultural Consequence:

Long term unemployment is one of the most devastating experiences a person can endure equalling the death of a spouse. Men who are unemployed for an extended length of time are more likely to drink, abuse their children more, and suffer debilitating blows to their identity.

Young People: High School and college grads are entering a miserable job market.  College grads who entered the job market during the recession of 1981 earned 25 percent less than grads who entered when times were good. 

Cultural Consequences:

Over a lifetime, recession kids can expect to earn $100,000 less than their luckier cohorts.  They are less likely to get professional level jobs through life. They are less likely to switch jobs later in their career, even in pursuit of greater opportunity.

These are challenging times and our social fabric needs a tightly woven response. As a christian, I'm convinced that the church is gathered for such a time and place. It's people need to gather in those who are impacted; providing meals, rental payments, or job search services.  It also needs to provide places of meaning for unaffiliated and disenfranchised 20 somethings - giving them an intergenerational community of care beyond the network sites of Facebook and Twitter. 

Every solution will entail inconvenience, but the call of faith has never been free from it.

Parents who stalk their children

Here is an hilarious video highlighting attempts to connect across the generation gap. Enjoy:

The lens of youth culture

For years I have subscribed to the Hedgehog Review: critical reflections on contemporary culture.  Published by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, each volume is always intriguing and worth reading cover to cover.  The following is taken from the introduction for the Spring 2009 issue focused on "Youth Culture". The quandaries it explores and the questions it raise need to be explored by all of us.

The radical and rapid transformation taking place in America and global culture are keenly seen when viewed through the lens of youth culture.

Take technological changes, for example. Young people are at the forefront of the use and adaptation of these developments, and their day-to-day experiences--their modes of being, if you will--have been markedly transformed. The way they interact with their peers, and present themselves to others is unlike that of any generation that came before them... How have these technological changes affected what it means to be human?

The cultural changes of late modernity have produced pressures to adapt to, and succeed in, an increasingly complex social sphere. This is felt acutely by the young, particularly in relation to their academic achievements...  In an effort to cope with the world around them, young people are taking more and more medications. The increase in the use of medications to negotiate these demands affects the way young people see themselves and the world around them. How does a young person understand what it means to be human or to be good when she views her struggles through a medical model?

Changes in the meaning of adulthood in contemporary life is in a state of confusion... Once a stage of life towards which to aspire, adulthood has come to be seen by many as neither inevitable nor necessarily desirable...What happens to a culture when people don't want to grow up?  What does this say about our ideals for what it means to be human and for what it means to be good?

Young people are often the first to adopt to new cultural forms, and we often express our anxieties about those new cultural forms as concerns about the young... They are the ones ultimately who will reap the benefits or the deficits of how we negotiate the cultural changes of contemporary life.

Relating in the ecotone

We see examples of it all the time.  The transitional zone between ocean and land, forest and grassland, sidewalk and yard, even hairline and forehead.  The area of transition between two adjacent communities is called an 'ecotone'. It is a fertile place, containing species characteristic of both communities as well as species occurring only within the particular zone - ie, head lice and bacteria.

There are five generations alive today in the United States.  This has never happened before in the history of our society. As such we find ecotones in offices, classrooms, families, churches, and other places that contain not two, but five different species of human beings.

These transitional zones are fertile generational communities that require behavioral nutrients for them to thrive in healthy, dynamic, and organic ways. Work them in to your daily life:

Revisit Assumptions: You need to be in constant vigilance of your stereotypes. We all have them (blondes are dumb) but are they accurate? Constantly test your assumptions about other generations by prefacing your interactions with, "Help me understand".  It is a precursor to rich conversation and understanding.

Relax Control: Life is messy. Relationships are tough. Managing is stressful. 90% of the problems middle managers and above face are ambiguous. It usually is not clear what the problem is or what the solution should be.  So lighten up with one another. As that great philosopher of our age Jimmy Buffett intones, "If we all couldn't laugh we would all go insane".

Return to core values: You are who you were when. That is to say, the values that shape your behaviors, attitudes, and expectations were set by the time you were a sophomore in high school.  Some cultural values change over time, but what about you personally? What hasn't changed?  What are you really all about? What are your 'nos'?  Clarify your values so they aren't muddled for others.

Model the highest standards: This behavioral nutrient interfaces closely with core values. Behavior is ten times more important than words in building respect. Does your behavior align with your core values? In other words, how is your brain, mouth, and hand coordination?

Engage the other: This is easier said than done. It requires you to stretch and expand your behavioral repetoire. By expanding your engagement across the five age groups you become more effective across a larger number of situations. I always say everyone has the gift of eating. Invite someone younger or older than you to lunch today.