Why The Entire Way We Talk About Millennials Is Wrong

Joe Weisenthal (0:08)

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Joe Weisenthal.

Tracy Alloway (0:13)

And I'm Tracy Alloway.

Joe Weisenthal (0:15)

So Tracy, you know what's something that both of us have in common?

Tracy Alloway (0:19)

Oh God, it could be any number of things, couldn't it?

Joe Weisenthal (0:22)

Yeah, no, it's true. There's probably a number of things. Both of us are very old.

Tracy Alloway (0:27)

Wait, you're older than I am, so I'm gonna go ahead and say speak for yourself, Joe.

Joe Weisenthal (0:32)

Wait, you are, I am?

Tracy Alloway (0:33)

Yeah, you're like three years older than I am.

Joe Weisenthal (0:36)

Oh wait, really? I thought we were the same age.

Tracy Alloway (0:39)

Oh my God.

Joe Weisenthal (0:40)

I actually, I honestly thought we were the same age.

Tracy Alloway (0:41)

You don't know me at all. Thanks, Joe.

Joe Weisenthal (0:43)

Okay, so if that's the case, then that makes me not a millennial, but you are clearly a millennial because I've always heard that like 1981 or 1982 or something like that is the cutoff. And so you're clearly on the other side of the cutoff than I am.

Tracy Alloway (0:58)

I, yeah, I mean, people argue about the definition of millennials all the time, but by most definitions, I am included in that much maligned bracket. And you are not, I guess.

Joe Weisenthal (1:08)

I honestly never knew you were a millennial. Like, I'm sorry, I'm kind of blown away by this because I was expecting a whole intro of like, we can't relate to millennials. And I didn't realize I was co-hosting a podcast with a millennial.

Tracy Alloway (1:18)

I've hidden it well, haven't I? I've also ruined your intro.

Joe Weisenthal (1:22)

This is blowing my mind right now.

Tracy Alloway (1:25)

Why are we talking about millennials?

Joe Weisenthal (1:27)

Well, you know, like in the media, obviously, as you say, much maligned generation, the media has some very stereotypical ways of talking about millennials and these broad strokes. It's like millennials don't want houses. They just want to buy avocados or millennials are only interested in investing this way or whatever it is. And it's always very embarrassing sort of reductionist form of coverage.

And, you know, it's like, we kind of have to move on. It's kind of, there's gotta be a better way.

Tracy Alloway (2:00)

As a long suffering millennial, I completely agree with your analysis. And I would also say that one of my pet peeves is people writing about millennials as if we're somehow a separate subspecies of human beings with completely different desires and behaviors.

Joe Weisenthal (2:17)

It's still so weird to me that you said as if we're, I just was not, I'm sorry, I'm still having a hard time getting over that.

It's still weird to me, but I'll get it. Yes. As if you and your type are a different type of human.

Tracy Alloway (2:29)

Yes.

Joe Weisenthal (2:30)

So anyway, as you say, we should probably rethink it, totally bust up these impressions that we have about this subspecies called millennials.

And the ramifications of this are huge because of buying power, economic clout, political clout. Every time there's a new generation, things are going to change. So we should probably try to get it right.

Tracy Alloway (2:53)

I completely agree. So how are we, first of all, can I just say, I totally distrust you as a non-millennial to represent our best interests. So it's going to be up to me in this podcast.

Who are we having on then?

Joe Weisenthal (3:06)

Today, I'm very excited about our guest. His name is Malcolm Harris. He's a writer.

And he is the author of a recent book called Kids These Days, Human Capital and the Making of Millennials. Which, if I sort of interpret that title correctly, may imply that a lot of making of millennials, that there's an element of a sort of social construct here. That the way we talk about millennials is somehow forced and artificial and maybe there is a better way of understanding this generation.

Tracy Alloway (3:37)

Millennials as a construct of global capitalism. I love it already.

Joe Weisenthal (3:46)

Malcolm, thank you very much for joining us.

Malcolm Harris (3:48)

Thanks for having me, John.

Joe Weisenthal (3:51)

So I've mentioned in the intro that there is this sort of cliche way in which the media talks about millennials. I jokingly said, you guys all want to, you're a millennial, right?

Malcolm Harris (4:03)

I am, I'm 1988

Joe Weisenthal (4:05)

Great.

Malcolm Harris (4:05)

We outnumber you now on this podcast.