Redefining Success for Younger Generations

Richard Florida interviews Courtney Martin about the premise and analysis found in her new book, The New Better Off, which begins by noting that “nearly two-thirds of Americans do not believe that the next generation will be ‘better off’ than their parents.”

According to Florida, Martin’s book works to examine what it means to be “better off” in contemporary society, ultimately proposing a new direction, described here in Martin’s own words from an interview with Florida:

I think we need to redefine "better off." We may, in fact, have less money. Fewer of us will own homes. Millennial men, in particular, will probably lead lives that are much more focused on domestic tasks and care-taking than the lives their fathers, and certainly grandfathers did. But to my mind, none of that is inherently negative. It's an opportunity to re-evaluate how much money, house deeds, and job status actually matter in the larger picture of how you want to spend your finite energy and time.