In Defense of Anagorism

political economy in the non-market, non-state sector

Social expectations rot

I think my age cohort (so-called generation “X”) was the canary in the coal mine. I’m over 50 and haven’t yet managed to land a job that’s not part time and/or temporary. Maybe it’s because I’m from a working class background and didn’t know any better than choose a liberal arts major. Maybe it’s because I’m something like fifth percentile in communication skills. But now upper middle class kids, even ones with communication skills, are settling for precariat jobs, or worse, piecework gigs. So the problem gets attention. Whether that attention will include public policy action, I do not know. It may already be too late. Usually when something becomes a problem for the upper middle class it gets recognized as a problem, but we may have reached the point where the threshold for having an opinion that matters starts in the upper upper class range.

Comments

2 responses to “Social expectations rot”

  1. Arthurian Avatar
    Arthurian

    “Maybe it’s because I’m something like fifth percentile in communication skills.”
    If you are in the fifth percentile in communication skills, it can only be the very top five percent.

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