generation taking liberties, The

Spectator, The, May 15, 1999 by Wright, James

James Wright says today's young will be the first not to jettison their beliefs on becoming adults and the beliefs are not Mr Blair's

BAGGY jeans, unkempt hair, loud music, not just pierced ears, but nipples, navels and eyebrows as well. It was nothing like that in my day, I hear you cry. It was, though; every generation has criticised its young people for being irresponsible, aimless and unmotivated. At worst they are slackers and at best dreamers, but what makes them tick, what do young people want?

`To retire at 40 to my second house, in Vancouver, and spend most of my time sailing the Pacific and skiing,' said one of my flat-mates when I asked him. He is studying economics and promises to get a good degree; he has his heart set on a career iri the City. What he wants more than anything else is to be successful and happy, admirable by anyone's standards.

He is a standard-bearer of the Generation X phenonemon. The first time youth was referred to in this way was in 1979, when the sociologist, Dick Hebdige, wrote about the Mods and Rockers. The term was used by advertisers to define a trend which they could not fully explain. They had discovered a generation that was difficult to cater for, that could not be pinned down to one particular style or `consumer profile'. The label stuck and is now applied, often disparagingly, to all young people. Every group of young people in history has been different from its elders and has tested society's boundaries. But each time the same young radicals have faded away. Their enthusiasm has always been absorbed into humdrum conventional society. The anaesthetising effects of domestic responsibility have taken their toll. The Fifties' beat generation, then the Sixties' hippies and the Seventies' punks have all got jobs, mortgages and children.

Now it is the turn of the MTV generation. (For older readers, MTV is a music channel.) The oldest in the group are fans of Nirvana, the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays (pop acts of the early Nineties). The youngest are fans of the Manic Street Preachers, Blur and Robbie Williams (pop acts of the late Nineties). Much research by think-tanks (Demos, Adam Smith Institute, Politeia, Thoughts for the Millennium) and the private sector (Barnardo's, BMP, Institute of Directors) confirms that this Generation X, born between 1975 and 1984, is going to make a difference. They will not be a flash in the pan like their predecessors. They are rebels with a cause.

Their cause is themselves. Today's young are more ambitious, more discerning and more determined than any generation that has gone before them. This Generation X values individualism more than those that went before them. This is the effect of the individualisation of everything social and the decline in importance of traditional public arenas. Generation X has, in essence, privatised itself, and represents the last victory of Thatcherism. A sign of this is that there are more identifiable strands of youth sub-culture than there have ever been before. There is no mainstream. Instead, there are hundreds of different styles, or tribes: corporate clubbers, dippy hippie girls, himbos, weirdos, indie-kids and the all-new leaner lager lad (he doesn't wear Union Jack boxer shorts and treats the girls with a bit of respect) to name but a few. The rules are simple: anything is allowed, you can follow your own fashion. Marketing companies cannot box them into little cluster groups to which they can sell products, services or political parties. This is their greatest asset and their greatest weapon against conforming and growing up.

At the turn of the millennium Generation X is to inherit a world which they want to change. Their superficial support for New Labour reflects this, although this is quickly falling away. New Labour promised something better, but so far Mr Blair has failed to deliver on his rhetoric of a young country.

Despite its affiliation to Mr Blair, Generation X has principles diametrically opposed to his own. Generation X favours a society where the state's role is significantly smaller than it is today. For young people government is not part of the solution but is part of the problem. A 1990s version of the student radical, Tariq Ali, demanding socialism is impossible to imagine, as is the thought of a communist generation in the manner of Isherwood and Auden. Rather, Generation X is libertarian: the emphasis is on individual responsibility, economic liberty and social freedom.

The idea of a limited government which recognises the individual rather than groups is one which has its roots in conservatism rather than socialism. A future Conservative party could well become the natural home for an entire generation. Yet at present the Conservative party fails to provide Generation X with much it can believe in; it simply does not talk their language. It is out of touch and irrelevant. Young people are too shrewd to be won over by baseball caps and polo shirts. Young people want a leader with drive and ambition, supported by a party that has a vision. William 'Vague' has not told us what he believes in nor conjured-up an image with which youth can associate themselves.