UNE President’s Forum: Can Gen Z Achieve the American Dream?

This discussion will explore whether members of Gen Z face unique challenges relative to previous generations when it comes to succeeding in the job market, building wealth, affording homes and children, and claiming their share of the American dream. Yale University’s Samuel Moyn will draw from his new book Gerontocracy in America to argue that older Americans disproportionately control America’s wealth, high-paying jobs, homes, and political power and are limiting the opportunities for today’s young people. Clark University’s Jeffrey Jensen Arnett will draw from his groundbreaking theory of emerging adulthood to argue that today’s young people are just coming of age more slowly than members of previous generations and don’t want to be tied down by the responsibilities of adult life at an early age. The Center for New Liberalism’s Jeremiah Johnson will argue that Zoomers may, in fact, enjoy a higher quality of life and more opportunities than members of prior generations did.

Ultimately, the conversation between these three distinguished thought-leaders will examine such questions as: Are Gen Z’s prospects as bleak as the popular narrative suggests? Does the power dynamic between today’s older and younger Americans need adjusting? Are Zoomers being impatient in expecting life’s luxuries too soon? Are the media and social influencers creating unrealistic expectations for today’s young people? What will it take for members of Gen Z to flourish?

Speakers

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Ph.D., Senior Research Scholar, Clark University. Author of Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens through the Twenties

Jeremiah Johnson, M.S., Co-founder of the Center for New Liberalism, host of the New Liberal Podcast, and staff writer at The Argument  

Samuel Moyn, Ph.D., Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University and head of Yale’s Grace Hopper College. Author of Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Hoard Power and Wealth — and What to Do About It