Continuing the previous Posts, coming back to a socio-cultural perspective[1], we were saying that a consequence of a cultural change in subjectivity was a change in the basic sense that emotional stability came together with social stability. This “new world” of unstable references could be best defined by its transitory purposes- paths and relationships-, which goes hand in hand with much more expanded individuals, who are full of information and more possibilities of interaction online. We have also said that another aspect of such change is present in the way people feel and understand their professional success, i.e, that it should not be a way of promoting happiness, as it seems to have been before, but, instead, it should be, in its own, meaningful (associated with their happiness/existential satisfaction)[2]. And, finally, that this unstable psychological ground is connected, in some way, with new kinds of anxiety. In order to talk more specifically about them, we will briefly mention two aspects present in today’s societies that are associated with how people perceive themselves and feel emotionally connected. Centennials (generation Z- from ‘Zoomers’- born between 1995 and 2010) are the generation of contemporary young adults and teenagers. By the time they were born, the internet already had a crucial role in people’s ordinary life- professional, social and affective relationships-. It is fair to say it has been even incorporated in their identities. In Brazilian reality, the last Millennials age group (beginning of 90s) have gone through the migration from stability aspiration (of being civil servants) to new job contracts, basically related to Software area, following the world trend[3]. We have gradually witnessed the shift from the desire for searching for stability to becoming entrepreneurs. The ways to learn how to do it are found in searching channels, such as Google that offer step by step guidelines. Roughly speaking, tutorials teach almost anything, and business models teach how to be an entrepreneur. This context has had a huge influence on the way people started to perceive their role in the management of their careers and on the one designated to specialists. A subtle, though interesting aspect, is how the new “do it yourself” culture has been incorporated by new generations regardless of their areas of interest and their competences. Despite not being directly linked to directions in life, this unpretentious aspect has had a role in the development of new personalities and contributed to a new social psychological ground, i.e, what is considered taken for granted by later generations. Therefore, being your own boss, working on something that is gratifying and/or meaningful and “doing it yourself” (ask Google whenever you are in doubt), are personalities attributes and are also what drives people in life from generation Z on. Well, to me, it doesn’t look to me as if they were lost among many possibilities (as I may have agreed on a few years ago, in my previous posts on this theme). Today’s adults are digital nomad’s, i.e, they work online, and they live temporarily in different places-, and many of them fall into a job hopping category, which means they keep changing jobs form time to time, mostly in search of quality of life. As Rafaela told the Folha de São Paulo newspaper: “I can’t see myself working in the same company until I am 44 years old…it’s something that makes me anxious cause… what about the world outside? What about other opportunities?[4]”. It is interesting to see how values have been reversed in the last few decades. And, of course, trying new things, starting new positions and enterprises brings expected anxieties that, however, cannot be considered pathological per se. They are proportionate to the new challenges and risks they are prone to take. To be continued in the next Post [1] We will switch form cultural perspectives to clinical ones in order to make a link between them and the new forms of anxieties/emotional disorders. [2] For more details see Post 9 – The transition from Millennials to Centennials- New aspirations for life, in: Cultural Influences on Identity. In: www.ceciliapsicologa.org [3] In http://en.wikipedia.org [4] Understanding what job hopping is and why young adults are joining this movement. October 31st, 2022. In: Folha de São Paulo newspaper.
Comments