Generation Sell?

 
Could the new mentality for youth culture be something like entrepreneurship? In his late 2011 article,"The Entrepreneurial Generation", William Deresiewicz wrote about a new kind of attitude and drive forming in today’s youth: that of the entrepreneur. A world apart from the laidback, anti-mainstream virtues of hippies, punks and the children of grunge,  Deresiewicz argues that what drives today’s youth is the opportunity to market themselves, be open to new experiences and have their name on charitable business ventures.

Perhaps a stance against the aimlessness of generation X, the youth of today stand for ambition, open-mindedness, DIY and eco-friendly options. Today’s social form idealises itself in that of the small business and the salesman: whether it be 20 year olds with a market stall selling homemade goods or hand-drawn zines, opening food carts or boutique cafes, or starting their own fashion label.

A sort of ‘generation sell’, today’s youth want to make a difference on the micro level, with the ultimate goal of macro social entrepreneurship with their name at its foundation. With cultural heroes like Steve Jobs, ‘autonomy, adventure and imagination’, are virtues strongly sought after.

The other side to the coin is just as interesting.  With the ‘generation sell’ comes a sacrifice of self and opinion:  a businessman is amicable at all times and the customer is always right. As Deresiewicz states, “we’re all in showbiz now, walking on eggshells, relentlessly tending our customer base. We’re all selling something today, because even if we aren’t literally selling something… we’re always selling ourselves. We use social media to create a product — to create a brand — and the product is us. We treat ourselves like little businesses, something to be managed and promoted. The self today is an entrepreneurial self, a self that’s packaged to be sold.”

While there are a few flaws in this article, Deresiewicz makes an interesting argument about today’s affectation towards entrepreneurship. Perhaps not so much a generational trend, but a world-wide cultural attitude caused by an increase in digital social technology has bred the desire to ‘self-brand.’

Social entrepreneurship might be an ultimate goal, and being amiable or a good salesman certainly helps achieve that goal, but it’s superficial to say that all entrepreneurial ventures are driven by self-promotion. If the latter were true, it would be a sad world that we live in, indeed.