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Critique of The Next America by Paul Taylor

The next America by Paul Taylor aims to discuss how America is becoming
something we have yet to experience. Taylor attempts to describe this phenomenon
using numerous facts from Pew research. He develops many of his conclusions by
wrongly analyzing the research and therefore presenting conclusions that are misleading.
A huge concept in this novel is the generation gaps, which Taylor states are normal.
Nonetheless, his claim is that the current gap is unusually large; that the newest
generation, Millennials, is miles apart in attitude and thinking from the older generations,
specifically Baby Boomers. I believe Taylor falls short in his conclusions, over
exaggerating the generational gap in almost every example given. This gap is over
exaggerated in political attitudes and the financial situation relating to wealth and
employment.
Taylor reports that theres now an extreme gap in the way the young and old vote,
compared to what was negligible in the 1980s/90s. He presents this misleading
information as evidence for changes in political attitude by generation. The main
difference, which he fails to mention, is technology, not attitude (found this omission
surprising because of later discussion of technology differences). Many of the young that
voted in the 80s lacked a true political identity. Research shows that young adults were
heavily influenced by their parents in their political stance, leading to this negligible
voting gap (Jennings 2009). Millenials however, have the benefit of easy access to the
Internet, a resource in which they can easily be informed of different political platforms,

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and thereby able to formulate their own opinion, independent of their parents. This is in
accordance to research, which shows an increase in use of technology for politics and
decline in parental influence (DeCoudreaux 2012). A change in voting habits therefore
doesnt serve as evidence to this change in generational attitudes as Taylor presents it.
Taylor determines that Millenials are going to struggle much more financially
than previous generations. He primarily examines Millenials financial situation
compared to Boomers, both currently and relative to when Boomers were young. The
main data he uses to direct his conclusions are big-ticket purchases. I believe that these
forms of measurement are inconclusive, and should not be used to inform the conclusion
made. He claims that millenials have had to downsize their lives, incapable of making
these purchases such as houses and cars. This isnt true. Millenials are still spending, and
are in fact, the fastest-growing segment of luxury goods and services purchasers
(Halpert 2012). Theyre not buying as many cars, but instead, have shifted to new
technologies such as smartphones, which with its monthly fees of network access, data
plan, insurance, and app services, is comparable to the monthly payments required when
leasing a car. (Ross 2014). Furthermore, the need to purchase cars has declined with the
improvement of transportation, the creation of carpooling apps and the existence of
companies like Zipcar, where you can share cars (Badger 2014). Therefore its
incorrect to say that millenials are reluctant to open their wallets like Taylor presents;
theyre just spending in different areas, based on current needs. Additionally, Taylor
provides the evidence that millenials arent buying as many houses as their same age
boomer counterparts. This doesnt mean that theyre less well off than Boomers were as
Taylor argues; millenials arent buying more homes because they dont need them at the

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same age. An increasing number of millenials are attending school, and many are staying
for longer. This correlates to delayed marriage and adulthood, meaning they dont need
a home as early. Moreover, a period effect can explain. Millenials have seen the housing
bubble burst and have seen people hurt by buying homes. Many more millennials are
actually renting rather than buying, and this may be the smarter choice until the economy
recovers (Fry, 2014-Pew). Taylor has misrepresented our generation, making the reader
feel sorry for millenials. His measurement of their financial state is inadequate; Millenials
are not that much worse off than previous generations.
Finally, Taylor exaggerates the Millennial unemployment situation generally as
well as compared to other generations. He says were having a hard time finding work in
a high unemployment economy. First off, he fails to mention that theres been a decline in
unemployment among all generations. This may continue, partially due to technology
increase, which will decrease labor demand. Most at risk are unskilled jobs; Millenials
are becoming the most educated generation, so this ideally poses less of a risk (Bort
2014). Secondly, Taylor uses a meager, outdated data set to inform this conclusion.
Instead, I did some research: I took the middle boomer birth year, found to be 19551956 (midway between 1946-1964) which was 9-years above the 1946 Boomer start year,
so I added 9-years to the 1980 Millennial start year, resulting in 1989. I then looked at
unemployment for those born in these years for when they were 24 (about; 1980boomers, 2013-millenials), just entering the workforce. The 1980 unemployment rate was
12.5% for boomers ages 20-24 and the 2013 rate was 12.8% for millenials, a very minute
difference. This shows yet another problematic situation of Taylor jumping ahead in his
conclusions.

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The main problems in this book come from exaggerations made to make
conclusions regarding millenials. The gap that Taylor describes, politically and
financially, isnt there, or at least isnt properly evidenced. He fails to connect technology
as what may be causing this apparent gap, technology influencing political activity,
financial spending and the workforce among Millenials. Taylors conclusions are
important because of the generational change. Millenials will compose of a large portion
of the electorate and will become the dominant group in the workforce. Boomers worry
about what millenials are doing politically and financially, because the social security
benefits theyre expecting to receive, largely depends on millennials. I think the
exaggeration of the gap by Taylor is a pre-mature reaction based on misleading numbers.
Sections of the book should be re-evaluated, before causing panic, not only among
millenials, but also among older generations relying millenials success.

References

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Badger,E.(2014,October14).Themanyreasonsmillennialsareshunningcars.RetrievedDecember7,
2014,fromhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/14/themanyreasons
millennialsareshunningcars/

Boak,J.(2013,July8).TheFateOfTheUSEconomyDependsOnThatCollegeGradWhoIsStuck
MakingYourLatte.RetrievedDecember10,2014,fromhttp://www.businessinsider.com/itsupto
millennialstosavetheeconomy20137

Bort,J.(2014,March13).BillGates:PeopleDon'tRealizeHowManyJobsWillSoonBeReplacedBy
SoftwareBots.RetrievedDecember10,2014.
BureauofLaborStatistics:Employmentstatusoftheciviliannoninstitutionalpopulationbyage,sex,and
race.(2013,January1).RetrievedDecember9,2014,fromhttp://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat03.htm

BureauofLaborStatistics,CurrentPopulationSurvey(CPS),unpublisheddata,selectedyears1980210.
(n.d.).RetrievedDecember9,2014,fromhttp://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012026/tables/table_26.asp

Cutler,Z.(2014,July21).UnexpectedWaysMillennialsAreImpactingHigherEducation:"ThePush
TowardsMastersDegrees"RetrievedDecember7,2014.

Cundy,D.(1979).TheDynamicsofInterpersonalAttitudinalInfluence:SomeAdditionalEvidence
PoliticalBehavior,Vol.1,No.3(Autumn,1979),pp.269284,Publishedby:Springer,Retrieved
December4,2014,fromhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/586374

DeCoudreaux,A.(2012,June26).ParticipatoryPolitics:NewMediaandYouthPoliticalAction.Retrieved
December4,2014,fromhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/aleciadecoudreaux/youthpoliticsonlinemedia
_b_1628348.html

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(surveyurl: http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/sites/all/files/publications/YPP_Survey_Report_FULL.pdf)

Fry,R.(2013,February21).Chapter4:DeclineinYoungAdultHomeAcquisition.RetrievedDecember7,
2014,fromhttp://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/02/21/chapter4declineinyoungadulthome
acquisition/

Halpert,J.(2012,May16).MillennialsMightBeBroke,ButThey'reStillSpendingOnLuxuryGoods.
RetrievedDecember4,2014,fromhttp://www.businessinsider.com/millennialsmightbebrokebuttheyre
stillspendingonluxurygoods20125

Jennings,StokerandBowers(2009).PoliticsacrossGenerations:FamilyTransmissionReexamined.The
JournalofPolitics,71,pp782799.RetrievedDec,42014,from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022381609090719

Ross,D.(2014,March26).MillennialsDon'tCareAboutOwningCars,AndCarMakersCan'tFigureOut
Why.RetrievedDecember8,2014,fromhttp://www.fastcoexist.com/3027876/millennialsdontcare
aboutowningcarsandcarmakerscantfigureoutwhy

Searcey,D.(2014,October22).NoPicketFence:YoungerAdultsOptingtoRent.RetrievedDecember7,
2014,fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/business/nopicketfenceyoungeradultsoptingto
rent.html