A Conjunctural Cultural Studies Approach to the Millennial

Abstract

Around 2013, the term 'Millennial' to describe a new generation became the most widely used generational word on the English-speaking internet.By 2018 it was appearing online more than two and a half times as frequently as 'Baby Boomer'.By looking at big data corpuses of online language use through the software Sketch Engine (see Figure 5.1), we can see how generational terms enter widespread usage and the rise and fall in their use over time. 1 From 2008 the use of the term 'Gen X' remains steady and 'Baby Boomer' starts to decline after 2013.In this chapter, we trace some of the different discourses that centre the Millennial.We can understand 'Millennial' as a sociological category -those born after 1979, or from 1982-1996, depending on who you are reading (for example, Howker and Malik, 2010; Little, 2010).But we can also recognize it as a social type with ideological underpinnings.For example, in the UK and US news media Millennials were caricatured as 'snowflakes' who splash out on avocado on toast rather than buying their own homes, as well as being narcissists -remember the 2013 Time magazine's cover story about 'The Me Me Me Generation'.However, more recently we see authors, journalists and podcasters identifying with the label of Millennial and harnessing this to political critique.We explore why the Millennial became so visible after 2008 and to what purpose.We also examine how these discourses have changed over time.We discuss these questions further below, using conjunctural analysis from the Cultural Studies tradition.

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