在各种争议声中长大的80后一代,终于也开始登上历史的舞台。他们表现出与上一代人如此不同的特质:极其自信、乐观、满怀理想,但又自恋、不切实际、自尊心过强。在就业市场不景气的大环境下,这一代人究竟是会不堪一击,还是会表现出意想不到的抗压能力? For the past few years, it’s been open season on Generation Y—also known as the millennials, echo boomers or, less flatteringly, Generation Me.[1] Once described by the trend-watchers Neil Howe and William Strauss as “the next great generation”—optimistic, idealistic and destined to do good—millennials, born between 1982 and 2002, have been depicted more recently by employers, professors and earnestly concerned mental-health experts as entitled whiners who have been spoiled by parents who overstoked their self-esteem, teachers who granted undeserved A’s and sports coaches who bestowed trophies on any player who showed up.[2] As they’ve entered adulthood, they have inspired a number of books on how unmanageable they are in the workplace, with their ubiquitous iPods, flip-flops and inability to take criticism.[3] Stories abound about them as college students, requiring 24/7 e-mail access to professors and running to Mom and Dad for help with papers or to contest a bad grade.[4] A consensus has emerged that, psychologically, they’re a generation of basket cases: profoundly narcissistic and deprived of a sense of agency by their anxiously overinvolved parents.[5] |