Is Gen-Y Redefining the American Dream?

by Jason Markow on December 5, 2009

富不过三代 (fu bu guo san dai) Is a saying that has been stuck in my head for quite a while (since my first reading of The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman to be precise). The translation closely works out to “Wealth does not surpass three generations”. The theory is simple; The first generation has their nose to the grindstone and earns a killing, the second generation holds it all together by saving it, and the third pisses it all away.

In many a context, Gen-Y has been perceived as the third generation, but I disagree (at least partially). I argue that Gen-Y entrepreneurs (like you and me) have actually come full circle, have their nose back on the grindstone and are fundamentally redefining the American Dream:

The Original Dream (1st Generation)

The first generation lived the American Dream well before it was called a “Dream”. These were the entrepreneurs who built this country, the original bootstrappers. They valued quality, hard work, and true opportunity. Barriers to entry were next to nothing so long as you offered a quality product, you could make a name for yourself. If you did that, you usually had the “freedom” to “settle down”, build a house on your acre of land, and plant your flag in your corner of the universe.

Old Dream, Old Freedom (2nd Generation)

The most common idea and ultimately misused definition of the “American Dream” is usually peppered with words like “freedom” and “opportunity”. In the old “American Dream” however, “opportunity” more than likely translated to having the opportunity to work at a large company, crawl up the corporate ladder, and put in your 25+ years. If you did that, you usually had the “freedom” to buy a house, settle down, send the kids off to college, own your house with the white picket fence (free and clear) and retire in time to get a few rounds of golf in before the big sleep.

New Dream, New Freedom (3rd Generation)

Call it the credit crisis, call it the economy, call it living beyond our means. There is no mistaking that “it” has been pissed away. So the saying is at least partially true, but what happens next is the important part. Since resources were eliminated, the stage is set to the same conditions we witnessed with the first generation, only this time the stage is digital. People with very little resources put their nose to the grindstone. They value quality, hard work, and true opportunity. Barriers to entry are next to nothing. And as long as you offer quality content, you can make a name for yourself. Sound familiar?

So when it comes time to cash in on that “killing” Gen-Y entrepreneurs are earning, what is it going to look like? The difference now is on this digital stage, and living this mobile lifestyle. With globe trotting opportunities abound, the old dream looks a lot less free and a lot more restrictive than it used to. I think the new “American Dream” will come to be defined as: Putting your nose to the grindstone, cranking out quality products/content, and earning a killing so that (and here is the kicker) we have the freedom to go anywhere, and create the opportunity to do truly anything. Now that is dream worth working towards.

Visit Authors Website | All Articles From This Author

Jason Markow

Jason Markow is an entrepreneur and the founder of The think (here) Blog, a site built to challenge the way you t(h)ink and, more importantly, act as an entrepreneur. He is a believer in life-long learning, a husband, a writer, a surfer (both on the internet and in the Pacific), and a bit of a film buff. Most importantly, Jason is determined to leave a profound and positive impact on this planet. Visit his website to learn more about all the projects he is involved with or to start a new one with him.

rynsa

Mr. Markow,

My apologies. I failed to include the link to a more thorough description of "fu bu guo san dai." This is from Baike, more or less the Chinese equivalent of Wikipedia:

http://baike.baidu.com/view/1514064.htm?fr=ala0...

Best,

rynsa

rynsa

Mr. Markow,

Thank you for this provocative article. However, I'm certain you've misinterpreted the Chinese proverb: "fu bu guo san dai." In fact, it's the second generation that, as you so colorfully put it, "pisses it all away." The third generation (both X and Y) merely follows in the ill-conceived footsteps of their predecessors (the baby-boomers). They are, in essence, late to the wasteful party that started years before their birth.

The statistical data proves this, as well. Neither X or Y have had nearly the social, economic and political privileges of the boomers, both in terms of real numbers (cost of living, education, material wealth, etc.) and anecdotal evidence. As an example, I will refer you to the rapid decline in absolute buying power starting roughly in the late-1970s. The US Department of Labor provides detailed numbers going back several decades.

In any case, here's a more comprehensive description of "fu bu guo san dai" (in Mandarin Chinese -- I'm sorry, I just don't have time to provide a full translation). But, to paraphrase, the original idea hails from a Confucian scholar named Mengzi (Mencius). "Fu bu guo san dai," is the last sentence in series of statements that, basically, break down into a hierarchy of human ideals: morality is more important than agriculture, agriculture is more important than scholarship, and scholarship is more important than trying to maintain monetary wealth... which never survives more than three generations. Hence, "fu bu guo san dai." Clearly, the early Confucian masters were trying to emphasize the importance of clarifying one's priorities. Economic prosperity is not nearly as valuable as moral prosperity.

Frankly, I've heard this very misinterpretation a lot among Western commentators, such as yourself, and usually accompanied by some implicit promotion of American "free market" fundamentalism. I'm afraid you have fallen into the technocratic trap -- one that says we can overcome our challenges simply by "putting our nose to the grindstone" and moving the culture forward. This Horatio Alger mythology (elevated to a nearly religious faith during the baby-boomer era) completely denies the exploitative characteristics of neoliberal capitalism and ignores all statistical evidence to the contrary. Therefore, I respectfully rebuke your premise. According to the wisdom of Confucian values, trying to regain economic prosperity is a fools errand.

I'll be writing about this later on my own blog, which will certainly include a link to your post. Thank you for the effort and insight, but I think you have made the mistake of laying the burden of irresponsibility, as it were, on the shoulders of the wrong generation (it's the baby-boomers who should also capture you're ire, not just X and Y), and for advocating yet more loyalty to an already defunct capitalist ideology.

Regards,

rynsa

Lis Carpenter

Wow, everything you said is true. But, not everyone gets it. So many people our age are just hiding their heads in the sand. We need a bigger platform. We need a global movement towards living life in the new economy.

TheBusinessCoachforMoms

Wonderful insight! This is truly an amazing time that we live in! I'm excited about the future for me and my children.

martin king

I can't help but think of the Net as the new frontier but this time its global rather than just American

Jason Markow

I agree Martin, perhaps I should have called the post something different. The very nature of the web implies a level playing field from any angle. Thanks.

aharonsmith

Interesting post. I have read the 4th turning which studies the cycles of generations. Will Strauss and his partner, Howe, have discovered a trend in history that lasts about 4 generations. They theorize that every 20-25 years, society goes into a different turning as things get better and then eventually fall apart. The fourth turning is the place where the crisis hits, and the people have to get together to fix it and create the next foundation, known as the first turning.

While the book was written in the late nineties, it predicted a crisis about to emerge and stated the traits that the rising generation would have, the ones that will be the workers in fixing the crisis and preparing for the foundation for the next century. That is you, the gen Yers. Keep up the good work! Help bring hope back to the Baby boomers and the Xers that there can be a future.

To learn more about that amazing book, go here:

http://www.fourthturning.com/

Jason Markow

Aharon, great resource! I wish I would have seen this pre-post. How did you stumble across it? Thanks for adding to the discussion and sharing!

t(h)ink on-

Jason

Jeff Stephens

What I love is that Gen Y has the most opportunity of all generations to-date to define its own idea of what that American Dream is...on a person-by-person basis...and then make it happen. I feel Gen Y has an unmatched ability to create our own circumstances. Sure, there were always entrepreneurs in other generations who made their own way and defined their own destinies, but they were relatively few and far between. Today, we as Gen Y have the tools, spirit and self confidence to make our own rules and pave our own paths, and aren't bound by the former definitions of success. Today, there is no formula for success--you can make it happen in a million different ways if you decide to.

Jason Markow

One part of your comment stuck out to me. It was how you said you said we define our "own idea of what that American Dream is...on a person-by-person basis". I think one reason we have the "most opportunity of all generations to-date" is because of that decentralized/person to person basis you talk about. Interesting observation. Thanks for commenting.

beanie72

To me Gen Y are defiantly redefining not just the American dream but the global dream.
The baby boomers although very hard workers were the laziest generation of thinkers that we have seen throughout history IMHO.
The boomers swallowed the whole work hard keep your head down and the government will look after when it comes time for your retirement.
We are now seeing a lot of bitter and twisted boomers that are just coming to the renationalisation that the government that they placed their trust in, don't have the money left to deliver on these promises
You will often hear the boomers complain that the younger generations X and Y don't want to listen to them.
That is because that we don't want the same results, ie work hard for 50 years plus and hopefully their will be some sort of pension at the end of it!!!!!!
Gen X and Y don't have the luxury of being able to rely on protected wages that the boomers enjoyed.
With the internet and the global community we now live in we have to come up with better and smarter ways of proving our income, as our jobs could be outsourced to a third world country tomorrow.
We have seen through watching our parents, that working hard and having a superannuation plan isn't enough to live a comfortable lifestyle.
I believe it is the entrepreneurial thinking of the next generations that can pull our economies back out of the mess that they are currently in.
So get out there gen X and Y and build your business it might just help save our economies!!!!

Steve Ungar

While I generally agree with Jason's originally comments about there being a lot of opportunities these days, I thought Beanie's comment about boomers expecting the government to look after them during retirement was kinda interesting. The current times, lead by gen-Y, has the lowest savings rate in history (or at least in the last 50 years - see link) while the boomers had the highest savings rate. On the flip side, consumer debt has soared. This has only changed since the current credit crisis.

I don't mean to say the gen-Y is the only reason for this as the trend has been going on for a while, but I think there are a lot of people in the generation that are looking for the easy way out - take out a big mortgage, and charge everything on my credit card and I may or may not pay it back. The people that are reading and commenting on blogs like this (including you and Jason) tend to be the more entrepreneurial so you see the opportunities. But not everyone does.

And no, I'm not a boomer. I'm gen-X, and I'm not planning on the government doing much to help me during retirement.

Steve Ungar

Looks like the link didn't come through:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3454/3956093939_...

Jason Markow

Steve,

I agree 100% that the 'grain of salt' this post needs to be taken with is the fact that it is written about entrepreneurs and I agree that too many people are looking for the 'easy way out'.

Also, that was a great link/graphic. Since the decline has been happening for a while it makes me question my statement about the 2nd generation really 'holding it all together'. Looking at the data provided shows me that perhaps instead of actually 'holding it all together', it was burned through much faster than anticipated and all they were really holding together was their own image (no matter how fabricated).

I think it is safe to add that as entrepreneurs (who are not looking for the easy way out) we have more than just the objective of earning, but also that of saving. If we do that, maybe, just maybe, will we be able to prevent the cycle from continuing.

Great comment! Thanks.

t(h)ink on-

Jason

Jason Markow

Great points here Adam. I had not considered the angle that we were looking for a different future than the boomers. My entire thought process revolved around the idea that "necessity is the mother of invention" and what we needed was a tangible and desirable future, but I really agree with your proposition.

I agree that if anyone is going to pull our economy out of this mess it will be the younger generations for the simple fact that we are the ONLY option.

Thanks for commenting.

t(h)ink on-

Jason

Chris Hughes

Jason, my roomate just recommended that I buy and read "The World is Flat" and I just got it in the mail yesterday! I guess i'll need to get to work on reading it ASAP now!

I agree with you about how gen-y is often thought of as "pissing away" the money saved. Yet, with all that we are doing as Entrepreneurs, I feel that you are absolutely right about us living the mobile lifestyle by creating certain high quality assets. We are in such a similar time as the first generation, allowing for almost limitless opportunities for us as long as we do create quality products. We've got to remember that quality is a hell of a lot more important than quantity in getting our name/service/product out to the world and the internet/social media allows us to do it easier than ever before! It's an awesome time to be an Entrepreneur!

Jason Markow

Chris, Thanks for the comment. You will enjoy book, it's filled with a ton of great information. Even today it remains high in my top 10 list of most thought provoking books I've read. I'm glad you agree with the post and I encourage you to share your thoughts on "The World is Flat" once you get through it.

t(h)ink on-

Jason

Chris Hughes

I'm anxious to read it now! I only wish that finals week didn't require any time :-p I'm also trying to read through "Atlas Shrugged" still. Over my Xmas break I'll definitely get to "The World is Flat". It looks like a pretty quick read and I'll most likely write up a blog review of it with questions/thoughts I have :) Looking forward to learning more about ya and sharing experiences!

-Chris

Jason Markow

That's awesome! I actually read "The Fountain" head right before I read "The World is Flat" and I read "Atlas Shrugged" right after it. You have many insightful/thought provoking pages in store. Hit me up when you crank out that blog post, I would love to weigh in.