October 6, 2004
WELL, THAT DIDN'T WORK:
For younger workers, family matters: Generations X and Y placing less emphasis on careers, study says (Diane E. Lewis, October 6, 2004, Boston Globe)
Employers take heed: Baby boomers might have been content to put work above all else, but that's not necessarily true of Generations X and Y.A study released yesterday by the Families and Work Institute reveals that younger generations -- ages 18 to 37 -- are far more family-centered than older workers and, surprisingly, less focused on advancing in the workplace than their predecessors.
The study, commissioned by the American Business Collaboration, a consortium of eight top US firms, found that 52 percent of college-educated men were focused on career advancement in 2002, down from 68 percent a decade earlier. Additionally, 36 percent of college-educated women were interested in increased work responsibilities or advancement in 2002, down from 57 percent in 1992.
Stan Smith, national director of Next Generation Initiatives at Deloitte & Touche, which is a member of the business collaborative, said the message is clear: ''These are highly motivated professionals who want to get the job done but also want to honor their obligations to their families. So, it is important [for businesses] to offer informal work arrangements that permit reduced hours, compressed hours -- you name it."
Ellen Galinsky, president of the New York-based Families and Work institute, said the research reveals a profound shift in attitudes and suggests that working men and women are redefining their priorities.
''Baby boomer women were pioneers," Galinsky said. ''Boomer men grew up in an era when work was more a part of your identity. Their children -- the GenX and GenYs -- were the children of divorce, the children of people who gave their all to work and then lost their jobs. And, today, they don't want to be stick figures in their children's lives. They see that life can be fleeting and tenuous. So, they are more intentional about the way they want to live it."
With the exception of the very early Civil Rights gains (desegregation of public facilities and the right to vote), the 60s and 70s really need to be seen as a time of uniformly failed social experimentation. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 6, 2004 11:02 AM
Just more evidence that Christianity permeates our civilization like a perfume. If you have enough, why struggle--and distract yourself from happiness? How many SUV's do you need? Do you really believe that you win if you die with the most toys?
Posted by: Lou Gots at October 6, 2004 11:18 AMOJ
True, the experiments failed and their failure continues to extract a terrible price. But the experiments also squandered huge reserves of social capital the regeneration of which will be both painful and slow. Non-boomers realize we have been twice cursed and are beginning the work-out, to the evident horror of their boomer betters.
Posted by: luciferous at October 6, 2004 11:29 AMThe Civil Rights successes were only the completion of a process started in the 1940s and 1950s, delayed due to the Democrats in the Senate. And looks what happened when the 60s types got ahold of the Civil Rights movement— reverse discrimination, quotas, forced integration (busing), and racial gerrymandering and Jesse Jackson.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at October 6, 2004 11:58 AMThe pendelum swings... it's the way of history. But it's going in a healthier direction right now and it's nice to see it. Didn't we believe and hope that materialism wouldn't be the final decision of our culture?
Posted by: D. L. Meadows at October 6, 2004 12:17 PMSomebody explain to me how THE SIXTIES were the pinnacle of the entire cosmos for all of history?
In 1968 I was twelve years old and heavily into slot cars. And tracking every space shot by every astronaut.
I reached adulthood to find myself blindsided by the Sexual Revolution and both a perpetual virgin and as burned out by sex as a worn-out street whore.
Now all I hear is Political Correctness (Comrades), Woodstock, Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam, and sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex.
And, like false memories of Oceania being at war with Eurasia and the chocolate ration being twenty grams instead of ten, ghosts of the pre-1968 hopes and bright future still form like mists in the back of my mind -- all we threw away to screw in the mud at Woodstock and masturbate endlessly in our Angst Angst Angst about Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam.
I'm the wrong species, from the wrong homeworld, stuck in the wrong cosmos.
Posted by: Ken at October 6, 2004 1:42 PMI don't think that career consciousness, at least among men, was an outgrowth of the 60s social movement. That was about dropping out, not climbing up. Boomer men became career climbers despite the 60s influence. And how is career climbing a new episode in American life? It is just an extension of the Protestant Work Ethic. Lou, he who dies with the most toys has proven his inclusion in the Elect.
Prior to women entering the workforce, men were probably more work focused than they are today. Wives held down the home so men could devote themselves almost entirely to work. Men would spend "quality" time with their family if they valued that, but as long as they worked and provided for the family, society put no expectation on them "being there" for their wife & kids. Many would rather unwind at the corner bar after work than help their kids with homework.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at October 6, 2004 1:47 PMKen:
You're safe here at BJB. No one will molest you, and you can vent all that you need.
Posted by: ratbert at October 6, 2004 1:47 PMI bet David can think of something else in the '60s that was positive.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at October 6, 2004 3:52 PMThe Mets winning the World Series?
The Jets winning the Super Bowl?
Landing on the moon?
Not too much else.
Posted by: ratbert at October 6, 2004 5:23 PMOutlawing 'no Jews' clauses in realty deeds. David mentioned that the other day
Posted by: Harry Eagar at October 7, 2004 2:09 AMOrrin:
You support the right of minorities to vote, but not of women ?
Why is that ?
Ken, Ken, Ken:
Buck up, me hearty.
The future's far brighter than anything imagined in the early 60s. Look at the original Star Trek episodes; we ALREADY have better communications, computers, and opportunities for feminine advancement than depicted there, forty years later, not four hundred.
We didn't throw away the stars for Woodstock.
The stars have never yet been within our reach. The odds of any nation of Terra having a Mars base by now are also remote, even sans the social revolution. If getting to the Moon is the equivalent of walking from NYC to Atlantic City, getting from the Earth to Mars is the equivalent of walking from NYC to San Francisco... Via Phoenix.
If any 60s futurist fantasy got delayed due to the social revolution, it was a permanent Moonbase, which is in the works now.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at October 7, 2004 2:43 AMMichjael:
Male minorities over 25 who pass literacy exams and pay poll taxes, because they'll favor the Founders vision of the nation.
Posted by: oj at October 7, 2004 8:57 AMHarry:
They aren't outlawed. Most of the Supreme Court justices own property that has them.
Posted by: oj at October 7, 2004 8:58 AMTry writing a new one.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at October 7, 2004 4:05 PMTry excising one.
Posted by: oj at October 7, 2004 4:15 PMA Boomers Confession:
Job 42
Then Job replied to the LORD:
"I know that you can do evrything; no plan of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, 'Who is this that obscures counsel without knowledge?'
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
"You said, 'Listen, and I will speak; I will ask, and you will answer me.'
I had heard of you with my ears: but now my eye sees you.
Wherefore I abhor myself and repent, being but dust and ashes.
I don't know anybody ever bothered, since they are dead letters. But it shouldn't be a problem
Posted by: Harry Eagar at October 8, 2004 2:55 AMUp to 5 Rooms FREE, FREE Standard Installation, FREE Shipping, FREE Choice of DVD Player, Digital Camera or Luggage/Backpack, FREE HBO and Cinemax for 3 Months, the best freeking deal on the planet
Posted by: direct tv at November 4, 2004 3:43 PM