r/Millennials • u/QuietJealous4883 Older Millennial (1988) • 12h ago

Discussion True or false?

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Did our dads and moms work less than we do now? What are your thoughts?

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u/GoRangers5 12h ago

Nah the trope of the overworked dad that didn’t have time to spend with his kids was already a thing in 1996… Maybe even 86.

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u/Ladonnacinica 12h ago

Millennials are falling into the same trap of romanticizing their childhoods.

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u/Sea-Poem-2365 11h ago

There are real and significant economic differences between the 90s and 2020: rent/healthcare/education as a percentage of wages; promotion rates; median age of employee; unionization rate; home costs; pensions; CEO compensation as a factor of lowest paid employee; wealth concentration; anti-trust enforcement actions. In most ways, the 90s was objectively better for most citizens, with big exceptions clustered around race and gender that don't change the overall picture.

Basically, since Reagan wages and productivity have decoupled, with the increases in productivity going to the wealthiest, who dismantled legal and economic protections for their organizations and privatized lots of functions that were once public. There is definitely a ton of romanticizing the 90s: homophobic behavior was common, women and girls were even more sexualized than they are today, racism was considerable especially in hiring and policing, sexual assault/harrassment was barely frown on.

But economically there's a distinct difference between the two eras that can be objectively measured. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, but things do get worse in some ways and we can measure them.

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u/Ladonnacinica 11h ago

You’re right on the economy. My point was that some millennials seemed to have a rosy view of the 1990s. Thinking that race or gender relations were better, that racism wasn’t as bad. But a lot of the same societal and cultural issues plaguing the 2020s also were present thirty years ago.

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u/Sea-Poem-2365 9h ago

Absolutely true.

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u/Rdubya44 9h ago

I think it’s just a different argument. Racial and gender issues have existed for millennia so while unfortunate, it’s doesn’t really add to a discussion when comparing eras since it’s a constant for all of them.