Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Kids These Days

  • Human Capital and the Making of Millennials
  • By: Malcolm Harris
  • Narrated by: Will Collyer
  • Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (21 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Kids These Days cover art

Kids These Days

By: Malcolm Harris
Narrated by: Will Collyer
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Positive Populism cover art
The Years cover art
How the Poor Can Save Capitalism cover art
Microtrends Squared cover art
Raising the Floor cover art
Economic Dignity cover art
The Business of Changing the World cover art
Dream Hoarders cover art
The Accidental Universe cover art
Viking Economics: cover art
Why They Do It cover art
The War on Normal People cover art
Free Agent Nation cover art
The End of Jobs cover art
The Complacent Class cover art
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa cover art

Summary

Named one of Fall 2017's most anticipated books by New York magazine, Publishers Weekly, Nylon, and LitHub

Everyone knows "what's wrong with millennials". Glenn Beck says we've been ruined by "participation trophies". Simon Sinek says we have low self-esteem. An Australian millionaire says millennials could all afford homes if we'd just give up avocado toast. Thanks, millionaire.

This millennial is here to prove them all wrong.

"The best, most comprehensive work of social and economic analysis about our benighted generation." (Tony Tulathimutte, author of Private Citizens)

"The kind of brilliantly simple idea that instantly clarifies an entire area of culture."(William Deresiewicz, author of Excellent Sheep)

Millennials have been stereotyped as lazy, entitled, narcissistic, and immature. We've gotten so used to sloppy generational analysis filled with dumb clichés about young people that we've lost sight of what really unites millennials. Namely:

  • We are the most educated and hardworking generation in American history.
  • We poured historic and insane amounts of time and money into preparing ourselves for the 21st century labor market.
  • We have been taught to consider working for free (homework, internships) a privilege for our own benefit.
  • We are poorer, more medicated, and more precariously employed than our parents, grandparents, even our great-grandparents, with less of a social safety net to boot.

Kids These Days is about why. In brilliant, crackling prose, early Wall Street occupier Malcolm Harris gets mercilessly real about our maligned birth cohort. Examining trends like runaway student debt, the rise of the intern, mass incarceration, social media, and more, Harris gives us a portrait of what it means to be young in America today that will wake you up and piss you off.

Millennials were the first generation raised explicitly as investments, Harris argues, and in Kids These Days, he dares us to confront and take charge of the consequences now that we are grown up.

©2017 Malcolm Harris (P)2017 Hachette Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"This fiercely smart book is not just another 'millennial skilled chain restaurants' kind of thing. Instead, Harris dives deep into the ways that the millennial generation has been shaped by the capitalist economic forces at work now in America.... It's a must read for anyone who cares about the future of our society." ( Nylon)
"It is difficult to believe nobody has written this book before, although it is fortunate that Harris - who manages to be quick and often funny without sacrificing rigor - is the author who ultimately took up the task. In fewer than three hundred pages, he surveys the myriad hot takes on millennials - they're lazy, they're entitled, they're narcissists who buy avocado toast instead of homes, slacking on Snapchat at their unpaid internships - and asks, 'Why?'" ( Bookforum)
"Harris writes clearly and thoughtfully on key issues facing this generation today...[he] reveals the political, cultural, and economic climates that millennials need to navigate, along with the new issues, never seen in previous generations, millennials must address. Readers interested in sociology of class, economic history, and the millennial generation will find plenty of fascinating food for thought here." ( Booklist)

More from the same

What listeners say about Kids These Days

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Crucially insightful

I like to think of myself as well-read and a critical thinker. Malcolm Harris manages to provide well reasoned and evidenced analysis, using mostly information I already knew, that has made me re-evaluate and (most importantly) re-contextualise my personal analysis of our world and situation. While the focus is squarely on the US, that country functions well as a predictor of developments elsewhere, given that American tendencies to extremity has lead them further down the same path most level 4 countries («the west») are on.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!