Give-up Generation

Give-up Generation (Senrian: 아끼라머루써대, akirameru sedai) is a Senrian-language neologism referring to young Senrians who have given up attaining employment or promotion, home ownership, marriage, and having children as a result of the extreme socioeconomic pressures within Senrian society. The term is broad in usage, encompassing a variety of subcategories including but not limited to satori (young people who have chosen to reject overwork and conspicuous consumption, akin to the tang ping movement in Shangea) and hikikomori (people who have withdrawn into extreme social isolation and reclusivity).

Etymology

The term "give-up generation" was originally coined in a 2007 blog post by Hisao Arakawa, in which he described his struggle in school and the workforce and his subsequent decision to quit his job in the accounting department of an advertising firm in favor of living alone in a small apartment and performing odd jobs for cash. It subsequently gained widespread traction in Senrian-language publications after being used in a 2009 special report in the Senkei Sinbun, entitled "The Economic Impact of the Give-up Generation", but did not break into the Gaullican- and Estmerish-language spheres until 2012, when it was used in the magazine La Senrie and in Estmerish newspaper The Standard.

The give-up generation is often associated with the phrase "Hell Senria", which is regarded as something of a motto for the generation; "Hell Senria" is itself derived from the Ansene phrase "Hell Ansan", which emerged in the mid-2010s and expresses similar frustrations with the mounting costs of endemic social issues.

Definition

At its core, the give-up generation is defined by the giving up of four things, due to the increased difficulty or undesirability of obtaining those things due to mounting social pressures:

• employment or promotion;
• home ownership;
• courtship and marriage;
• and having children.

[further elaboration]

[often divided into subcategories, some of which actually predate the "give-up generation" moniker but have since been rolled into it, often focused on what specifically is the most emphatically rejected by an individual - satori reject ownership and consumption, hodo-hodo zoku and freeters employment and advancement, herbivore men romance and families, hikikomori all social interaction, etc.]

Background and causes

[grueling academic system is ruthless by design; pass-or-fail academics are depressing, bullying rife; strong, often unhealthy, parental pressure - "kyouiku mama" phenomenon]

[some students have to take out loans for tertiary education, which makes everything worse]

[simultaneous recruitment, seniority over competence in promotions, and overwork (i.e. karoshi) make a career miserable; some individuals would rather maximize free time or not work at all]

[on top of that, senrian deindustrialization, middle income trap issues, and slowing growth have made it harder to get a job at all]

[cities are severely crowded, rent is expensive and a mortgage is out of the question]

[as marriages are delayed and total fertility rates fall, that has social ramifications; men are expected to have a stable job and a home of their own, which rules out courtship and family for young men]

[some individuals, particularly on the reclusive end, might have autism spectrum disorders, agoraphobia, social anxiety, or avoidant personality disorder]

[others blame middle class affluence and modern technology]

[stringent social rules, late capitalist anomie, a historical cultural emphasis on conformity, a sense of societal stagnation, the concepts of honne and tatemae have also been promulgated]

Impact

[social and economic consequences; financial burden of waithood, expatriates, the 80-50 problem]

[as depicted in senrian culture]

Criticism

[sometimes mocked or insulted by older generations; denigrated as the "banana generation", because bananas bruise easily and spoil quickly]

[gov't response has largely been to call it shameful and un-senrian]