The Myth of the Age of Entitlement: Millennials, Austerity, and Hope

We are said to be living in the age of entitlement, and millennials-those in their late teens to early thirties-are declared by scholars and pundits to expect special treatment more than any prior generation. The Myth of the Age of Entitlement peels back the layers of the entitlement myth, exposing its anti-democratic faults and offering a more nuanced understanding of the millennial generation. Cairns argues that the majority of millennials in fact face bleak economic prospects and mounting ecological disaster. In lively prose, and punctuated with insights from millennials rarely profiled in mainstream media-including indebted university students, young retail workers, Indigenous youth, and supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement-he offers a passionate defense of how this generation is bravely addressing a legacy of inequality and social and ecological injustice. It is this kind of action that can precisely reinvigorate democracy and bring about a new era of universal entitlement.