On the previous Posts we stated that socio cultural changes in the last 50 years resulted in changes in moral values and, therefore, in references that used to guide personal aspirations (life projects). From Millennials on, we find more liberal and indulgent parents, more information and transitory identity references. Parents are still the main models during childhood but infants’ identities, nowadays, are characterized by a boost of references and creative possibilities (own experiences) and a decrease in limits and values linked to struggle, discipline and restraint. This process had consequences in the development of what we called “Egos without contour[1]”. Kids are raised in a less rigid environment and this has had the resulted in less repressed Egos. Let’s bear in mind that the challenge of working with neurosis is to identify not only the consequences of bias and discrimination in peoples’ lives, but also how, eventually, they have been internalized and become part of themselves, i.e an “unkown part” of them. From that perspective, we could say that new generations are less neurotic, in Freud’s terms, once there is less internal conflicts coming from the impossibility of getting in touch with their true desire. Nevertheless, this comes with a higher level of existential anguish[2]. This anguish comes, in part, from the mitigation of introjected parents’ models during childhood and flexibility in children’s upbringing. When “recipe” came ready, social adaptation/ (profession and direction in life) happened in an easier and less conflicted way. Maturity would come from becoming aware and fighting for desires/conditions that were not aligned with social expectation and performances. It didn’t use to come, however, with the expense of finding direction in life. The Egos from 90s are less repressed, have multiple possibilities and there is a lot of more room for negotiation with parents. The generation of nowadays young adults (Centennials) are smarter regarding practical life and are used to being more accountable for their own interests and desires than Millennials were and, in this sense, have more self-continence. Nevertheless, Centennials are very akin to Millennials in other sense: can/want lots of things and have huge difficulty in finding out what they really want. Both generations are more dependent on growing up to find direction in life.
To be continued on the next Post
[1] To more details see Dias in Post 7- The Post-Superego and the crisis of authority, Post 8-The Contourless Ego and Post 9-Limits versus Contour, in 7th Essay – Cultural Influences on Identity, in: www.ceciliapsicologa.org [2] To more details see Dias in Post 5-Existential Anguish. In 5th Essay- Adolescence and Anguishes in: www.ceciliapsicologa.org
www.ceciliapsicologa.org
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