Show feeling the pressure to make a living CPS EACH generation fervently strives to establish the separation between young and old In the it was the Beats the produced hip hip- pies Now Generation X is groping for recognition in the The generation is comprised of 48 million Americans ages 20 to 30 Shaped by their parents who came of age in the radicalism this generation is an enigma full of conflicting desires and needs shun materialism yet they seek the comfort that it brings they are suspicious of the status quo but unsure how to change it They are media savvy sophisticated sophisticated sophisticated open to change and scornful of the excesses of the Torn between the opposing opposing opposing ing forces of making money and doing philanthropic work Generation X recoils to a simpler life and a closer relationship to the land Many in their postpone growing up leaving home and starting careers When a career move is made job satisfaction is at least as important as a paycheck perhaps more more so Students feel things are different different dif dif- dif dif- ferent feren t now They feel pressure to make a living said sociologist Wini who teaches a class on the at Northeastern University in Massachusetts Theres still that and nostalgia about abou t the when people had more time to act on social problems Yet share many of the same frustrations frustrations frustrations as the youth in the In that decade the Vietnam War created a counterculture that proclaimed contempt for mainstream society Activism ne new control birth-control methods and later marriages resulted in declining birthrates As a result ings have been overshadowed by the 72 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 a group whose sheer numbers have defined social institutions as they squeeze through them In 1991 author Douglas Coupland nd published Generation Generation Gener tion X X It was the first novel to capture the irreverent ir it- reverent reveren t angst of the II genera generation tion faced with defined as paying low lobs jobs low status low future Now TV newspapers and magazines voice the discontent discontent discontent discon discon- tent of the new generation Movies like Singles and TV shows such as Melrose Place Going to Extremes The Round RoundTable RoundTable RoundTable Table and The Heights are examining examining examining ex ex- ex- ex attitudes about marriage careers education and politics r |