Fallen Elites: The Military Other in Post-Unification Germany
Fallen Elites: The Military Other in Post-Unification Germany
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堕落的精英：统一后德国的军事其他人
DOI：
10.1177/0094306112438190g
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发表时间：
2012
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
J. Straughn
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Straughn
经济不安全时期以不同方式影响不同年龄组。无论你称他们为世代还是同龄人，年龄和历史独特交叉的生活经历已经证明是社会科学家的一个迷人主题。莱斯利·安德烈斯（Lesley Andres）和约翰娜·温（Johanna Wyn）在他们对被称为X世代的出生群体的成长描述中，提供了一个可读的、理论上嵌入的、经验上支持的解释，说明政策、经济条件和持续的不平等如何创造电流，引导我们走向与我们想象的不同的未来。利用纵向设计和来自加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省的“生命之路”项目和澳大利亚维多利亚的“生活模式”项目的14至15年的数据，作者研究了这两组青少年，他们在20世纪80年代末和90年代初完成了中学教育，如何管理中学后教育，工作，在经济日益不安全、全球竞争、工作场所结构调整以及阶级和性别持续不平等的背景下，加拿大和澳大利亚在政治、社会和经济制度上的相似之处，使作者能够关注中学后教育的扩张是如何精心策划的，扩大教育机会的目标是如何反映在教育成就中的，以及这些年轻人如何试图在不断变化的工作环境中阐明他们的教育证书和生活目标。作者将材料分为五个相互关联的主题：不情愿的变革者，受教育的一代，创造新的家庭生活模式，寻求工作/生活平衡的一代，以及多元化的一代。在展开这些主题时，他们向我们展示了，一方面，这些年轻人想要的东西和我们在他们这个年龄时想要的一样--经济安全（但不一定是财富）、良好的人际关系和幸福。但他们所面临的环境是不同的，在某些方面更好，在其他方面更困难。这一困难的部分原因是年轻人可以选择的道路多种多样，对于那些认为更多选择总是更好的人来说，这似乎是不可理解的。那些试图弄清楚如何从这里到那里的人发现，拥有“无限的可能性”并不一定是一种安慰，特别是当我们后来发现其中一些路线年久失修，其他人太拥挤，还有一些人绕道而行，可能会让我们永远无法到达目的地。相反，看到一些明确的路线，导致一个具体的结果，向我们保证，我们将能够达到我们的目标。学术界和大众媒体都注意到的风险个体化趋势在这里以各种表现形式出现，例如，在选择正确的专业，找到更多没有前途的工作以及偿还学生贷款时感到焦虑。这一趋势的另一面显示了社会变革的成本是如何外部化的，有时会带来意想不到的后果。随着家庭和学生承担高等教育的更高成本，父母继续为毕业生提供住房，直到他们20多岁，毕业生推迟结婚和生孩子，直到他们能够建立一些经济立足点，而雇主能够雇用大学毕业生填补文书工作。当如此广泛的社会变革的成本发生变化时，那些已经处于不利地位的人往往是最脆弱的。尽管扩大了中学后教育，但随着新一代人被分为赢家和输家，现有的不平等模式再次出现。那些父母是大学毕业生的人更顺利地完成了中学到中学后的过渡
Periods of economic insecurity affect different age groups in different ways. Whether you call them generations or cohorts, life experiences framed by the unique intersection of age and history have proved a fascinating subject for social scientists. In their coming-of-age account of the group of birth cohorts some have dubbed Generation X, Lesley Andres and Johanna Wyn provide a readable, theoretically embedded, and empirically supported account of how policy, economic conditions, and persistent inequality create currents that can lead us to different futures from those we imagined. Utilizing a longitudinal design and 14 to 15 years of data from the ‘‘Paths on Life’s Way’’ project, based in British Columbia, Canada, and the ‘‘Life Patterns’’ project, set in Victoria, Australia, the authors examine how these two sets of adolescents, who completed their secondary schooling in the late 1980s and early 1990s, manage decisions about postsecondary education, work, and relationships in a context of increasing economic insecurity, global competition, workplace restructuring, and persistent inequalities by class and gender. The similarities in the political, social, and economic institutions of Canada and Australia allow the authors to spotlight how expansions in post-secondary education were orchestrated, how the goal of expanding education opportunity was reflected in education achievement, and how these young adults tried to articulate their educational credentials and life goals with the changing work environment. The authors organize the material into five interrelated themes: reluctant change makers, an education generation, generating new patterns of family life, a generation in search of work/life balance, and a diverse generation. In unfolding these themes, they show us how, on the one hand, these young people wanted the same sorts of things we wanted at their age—financial security (but not necessarily wealth), good relationships, and happiness. But the circumstances they face are different—better in some ways, more difficult in others. Part of that difficulty stems from the diverse pathways available to young people, which may appear incomprehensible to those who argue that more choice is always better. Those trying to figure out how to get from here to there find that having ‘‘endless possibilities’’ is not necessarily a comfort, especially when we later discover that some of those routes are in disrepair, others are too crowded, and still others come with detours that may keep us from ever reaching our destinations. Rather, seeing some number of clearly articulated routes that lead to a specific outcome assures us that we will be able to reach our goals. The trend toward the individualization of risk that has been noted in both the academic and popular press appears here in various manifestations—for example, the anxiety felt over choosing the right major, finding more than a dead-end job, and paying off student loans. The other side of this trend is showing how the costs of social change are externalized, sometimes with unintended consequences. As families and students absorb the higher costs of post-secondary schooling, parents continue to house their graduates well into their 20s, graduates delay marriage and children until they are able to establish some financial foothold, while employers are able to hire college graduates to fill clerical jobs. When the costs of such widespread social change are shifted, those already in a position of disadvantage are often the most vulnerable. Despite the expansion of post-secondary education, existing patterns of inequality are reproduced as new generations are sorted into winners and losers. Those whose parents are college graduates manage the secondary to post-secondary transition more smoothly