Habits of the Millennial Heart: Individualism and Commitment in the Lives of Young, Underemployed Americans

ABSTRACT This article presents an exploratory mapping of millennial individualism. In doing so, it complicates the common popular and scholarly narrative that millennials as a generation are less committed to the broader social order. Instead, drawing from recent advances in the study of American culture, I show that millennial individualism can be compatible with extra-individual commitment. Analyses draw from in-depth interviews with a sample of underemployed millennials regarding their experiences with work and education, as well as their future orientations and life goals. Findings demonstrate that respondents relate to the broader social order using three styles of millennial individualism – self-realization, reflexive moralism, and utilitarian traditionalism. While the sample does not allow for generalization to the entire generation, the findings presented here demonstrate the clear potential of millennial individualism to translate into traditional institutional milestones, higher life purposes, and the greater good. Respondents with backgrounds from across the social class spectrum draw from individualistic discourses to construct an array of extra-individual commitments. Nevertheless, those from working-class backgrounds are more likely to orient their lives around the attainment of traditional milestones. In demonstrating how a group of millennials actually think about their lives in relation to society, findings suggest that millennial orientations may represent the latest iteration of American individualism rather than a break from the traditional social order.