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Twixter is a neologism that describes a new generation of young adults in the United States and other industrialized countries who are trapped, in a sense, betwixt (between) adolescence and adulthood. This Western neologism is somewhat analogous to the Japanese term parasite single.
Twixters are typically young adults who live with their parents or are otherwise not independent financially. If they are employed, they often have unsteady and low-paying jobs. They may have recently left university or high school, or recently embarked on a career.
Time published an article called "Twixter Generation: Young Adults Who Won't Grow Up", about Twixters in January 2005, putting this relatively obscure demographic in the spotlight. [1] The article focused on upper- and middle-class Twixters whose parents could support them. The article made no distinction between people who lived on their own with their parents' help and people who lived with their parents, nor did it mention lower-class Twixters similar to NEET s and freeters in other societies.
The emergence of twixters is not entirely new, as it is similar to social phenomena observed in other industrialized societies. Since the 1980s and 1990s, Japan has seen the growth of a parasite single or "freeter" segment of the youth population who live at home and work at undemanding jobs. The Hodo-Hodo zoku are employees who avoid promotion to minimize stress and maximize free time. Likewise, in Europe since the 1990s, there has been a growing number of NEET , those "Not engaged in Education, Employment, or Training".
In October 2007, former Minister of Economy and Finance of Italy Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa called people in their twenties and still living with their families bamboccioni ("big, dummy boys"), [2] stirring controversy within the Italian media. Newspapers received numerous letters from readers personally taking offense and pointing out that he knew little about the situation of a considerable part of twenty-something Italians, who live on approximately €1,000 per month and cannot afford to leave their parents’ house. [3] A similar case is also seen in Spain, with the term mileurista to describe the youth who live with €1,000 salary (mil euros). [4] In Greece, the minimum salary is €700 and the Greek media popularized the term the "€700 generation". This generation evolved in circumstances leading to the Greek debt crisis and participated in the 2010–2011 Greek protests. [5]
A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It also is "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and begin to have children." In kinship, generation is a structural term, designating the parent–child relationship. In biology, generation also means biogenesis, reproduction, and procreation.
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years, with the generation typically being defined as people born from 1981 to 1996. Most Millennials are the children of Baby Boomers and older Generation X. In turn Millennials are often the parents of Generation Alpha.
Youth culture refers to the societal norms of children, adolescents, and young adults. Specifically, it comprises the processes and symbolic systems that are shared by the youth and are distinct from those of adults in the community.
In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of the term; generally, the term is often used to refer to adults in approximately the age range of 18 to 40 years, with some more inclusive definitions extending the definition into the early to mid 40s. The young adult stage in human development precedes middle adulthood.
In Japan, a freeter is a person aged 18 to 34 who is unemployed, underemployed, or otherwise lacks full-time paid employment. The term excludes housewives and students.
A parasite single is a single person who lives with their parents beyond their late 20s or early 30s to enjoy a more carefree and comfortable life. In Japanese culture, the term is especially used when negatively describing young unmarried women.
Hikikomori, also known as severe social withdrawal, is total withdrawal from society and seeking extreme degrees of social isolation and confinement. Hikikomori refers to both the phenomenon in general and the recluses themselves, described as loners or "modern-day hermits". The phenomenon is primarily recognized in Japan, although similar concepts exist in other languages and cultures, especially South Korea. Estimates suggest that half a million Japanese youths have become social recluses, as well as more than half a million middle-aged individuals. In South Korea, the estimates vary from around 350 thousand to over half a million.
Refusal of work is behavior in which a person refuses regular employment.
A NEET, an acronym for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training", is a person who is unemployed and not receiving an education or vocational training. The classification originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s, and its use has spread, in varying degrees, to other countries, including Japan, South Korea, China, Serbia, Canada, and the United States. The NEET category includes the unemployed, as well as individuals outside the labour force. It is usually age-bounded to exclude people in old-age retirement.
A helicopter parent is a term for a parent who is overattentive and overly fearful of a child's experiences and problems, particularly outside the home and at educational institutions. Helicopter parents are so named because, like helicopters, they "hover overhead", overseeing every aspect of their child's life. A helicopter parent is also known to strictly supervise their children in all aspects of their lives, including in social interactions.
In Western culture the Boomerang Generation refers to the generation of young adults graduating high school and college in the 21st century. They are so named for the percentage of whom choose to share a home with their parents after previously living on their own—thus boomeranging back to their parents' residence. This arrangement can take many forms, ranging from situations that mirror the high dependency of pre-adulthood to highly independent, separate-household arrangements.
Emerging adulthood, early adulthood, or post-adolescence refers to a phase of the life span between late adolescence and early adulthood, as initially proposed by Jeffrey Arnett in a 2000 article from the American Psychologist. It primarily describes people living in developed countries, but it is also experienced by young adults in wealthy urban families in the Global South. The term describes young adults who do not have children, do not live in their own homes, and/or do not have sufficient income to become fully independent. Arnett suggests emerging adulthood is the distinct period between 20 and 29 years of age where young adults become more independent and explore various life possibilities.
Failure to launch informally refers to dependent young emerging adults who are unsuccessful in transitioning into societal requirements of adulthood. Characterization of this group in some Western societies includes those living with and reliant on their parents, those with an avoidance of higher education, and those unable to contribute financially through employment. Given the large variation within Western countries with regard to acceptable living with parents and other interpretations of adulthood, failure to launch has been considered as oversimplified or insufficient terminology.
Net café refugees, also known as cyber-homeless, are a class of homeless people in Japan who do not own or rent a residence and sleep in 24-hour Internet cafés or manga cafés. Although such cafés originally provided only Internet services, some have expanded their services to include food, drink, and showers. The term was coined in 2007 by a Nippon News Network documentary show NNN Document. The net café refugee trend has seen large numbers of people using them as their homes. The shifting definition of the industry partly reflects the dark side of Japanese economy, whose precarity has been noted since the downfall of the national economy that has lasted for decades.
Waithood is a period of stagnation in the lives of young unemployed college graduates in various industrializing and developing nations or regions, primarily in the Middle East, North Africa (MENA) and India, where their expertise is still not widely needed or applicable. "Waithood" is described as "a kind of prolonged adolescence", and "the bewildering time in which large proportions of youth spend their best years waiting". It is a phase in which the difficulties youth face in each of these interrelated spheres of life result in a debilitating state of helplessness and dependency. One commentator argues that waithood can be best understood by examining outcomes and linkages across five different sectors: education, employment, housing, credit, and marriage.
The Post-'80s is a Chinese colloquial term referring to the generation in Mainland China born between 1980 and 1989, especially in urban cities, after the introduction of the one-child policy. It is the Chinese counterpart to the early Generation Y in the Western World, the first post-Cultural Revolution generation, and the first to grow up entirely within the Reform era. The Post-80s currently ranges from age 34 to 44, making up a major portion of China's working young adult demographic.
Herbivore men or grass-eater men is a term used in Japan to describe young men who become a voluntarily celibate and express little interest in getting married or being assertive in pursuing relationships with women. The term was coined by the author Maki Fukasawa, who initially intended for it to describe a new form of masculinity that was not reliant on the proactivity and assertiveness typically associated with masculinity in Japan. Philosopher Masahiro Morioka defines herbivore men as "kind and gentle men who, without being bound by manliness, do not pursue romantic relationships voraciously and have no aptitude for being hurt or hurting others." According to Fukasawa, herbivore men are "not without romantic relationships, but have a non-assertive, indifferent attitude toward desires of flesh."
Sampo Generation is a neologism in South Korea referring to a generation that gives up courtship, marriage, and having kids. Many of the young generation in South Korea have given up those three things because of social pressures and economic problems, such as increasing cost-of-living, tuition payments, and affordable housing scarcity. There is also the opo sedae, or "five giving-up generation", which takes the same three and adds employment and home ownership. The chilpo sedae further includes interpersonal relationships and hope, while the gupo sedae extends to physical health and appearance. Finally, the sippo sedae or wanpo sedae culminates in giving up life. The Sampo generation is similar to the Satori generation in Japan.
The spoon class theory refers to the idea that individuals in a country can be classified into different socioeconomic classes based on the assets and income level of their parents, and as a consequence, one's success in life depends entirely on being born into a wealthy family. The term appeared in 2015 and was first widely used among online communities in South Korea.
Satori generation is a Japanese language neologism used to describe young Japanese who have seemingly achieved the Buddhist enlightened state free from material desires but who have in reality given up ambition and hope due to macro-economic trends. The term was coined around 2010. The Satori generation are not interested in earning money, career advancement, and conspicuous consumption, or even travel, hobbies and romantic relationships; their alcohol consumption is far lower than Japanese of earlier generations. They live in a period of waithood and are NEET, parasite singles, freeters or hikikomori. The Satori generation in Japan is roughly equivalent to the Sampo generation in Korea, and is somewhat similar to the Strawberry generation in Taiwan.