Youth´s Situation with Materialism

Youth materialism

   Nowadays, youth considers that “the good life is the goods life” (Chee). This is an interesting sentence that Chee uses to describe the current youth´s materialism, in spite of it could bother some religions or ideologies. She is based on the Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin that uses a sample of 355,000 USA high school students conducted from 1976 to 2007. In the Generation X students, analyzed from 1976 to 1978, 48 percent thought that to have a lot of money is very important, but in the 2005 to 2007 sample, 62 percent had the same idea. Another interesting aspect, that shows how materialism have increase, is described by Catherine Pearson in the web “Huff Post Parents”. She says that “In the 1970s, nearly 49 percent of teens said they expected to earn more than their parents; by the 2000s, that had jumped to 60 percent” (Pearson). This change about earnings could be considered as an improvement in the current generation but, is it really an improvement? Rick Nauert describes in the PsychCentral web that “as for work ethic, 39 percent of students surveyed in 2005-07 admitted they didn’t want to work hard, compared to only 25 percent in 1976-78” (Nauert). It seems like a fallacy the idea of earn money without a hard job.

Youth money management

   On one hand, the current youth seems to be more realistic accepting the important role of money in life. Actually, I consider that money is the most powerful thing in the world, because it helps to buy whatever you want, it helps to go wherever you want, it helps to be with the person that you want, it helps to change a manner of think of people (manipulate people), and in some aspects, it helps to “improve your health”. Some of these monetary advantages were hidden by religions and old society in Generation X, but nowadays the youth are able to realize them. However, on the other hand, the change that Nauert describes about the current youth´s admission to work hard, could be an obstacle for youth to get their goals as materialistic people. Therefore, the consequences for youth could result in “the lack of good life without the goods life”. In worse cases such as in Mexico, youth are involved in dangerous strategies, such as drug and murders to get an “easy money”, easy money that ends in easy death. 

References

Chee, Beth. San Diego State University. 2012. <http://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news.aspx?s=74179>.

Nauert, Rick. PsychCentral. 02 05 2013. <http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/05/02/for-many-young-adults-fantasy-gap-between-materialism-work-ethic/54379.html>.

Pearson, Catherine. Huff Post Parents. 05 01 2013. 05 01 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/teenagers-values-materialistic-work_n_3193782.html>.