The Myth of the Age of Entitlement: Millennials, Austerity, and Hope by James Cairns

A deeply necessary intervention into the debate about the millennial generation. James Cairns explodes 'the myth of the age of entitlement' and urges engagement with the demands of today's young radicals. Our futures may all depend on it. - Sarah Jaffe, journalist and author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt

In this highly readable, bold study of disentitled millennials, Cairns provides a rare blend of savvy cultural analysis and rigorous research methods to explore fundamental questions about what we owe to each other and the meanings of human freedom. - Jennifer Silva, Bucknell University, author of Coming Up Short: Working-Class Adulthood in an Age of Uncertainty

We are said to be living in the age of entitlement. Scholars and pundits declare that millennials expect special treatment, do whatever they feel like, and think they deserve to have things handed to them. In The Myth of the Age of Entitlement, Cairns peels back the layers of the entitlement myth, exposing its faults and arguing that the majority of millennials are actually disentitled, facing bleak economic prospects and potential ecological disaster. Providing insights from millennials rarely profiled in the mainstream media, Cairns redefines entitlement as a fundamental concept for realizing economic and environmental justice.

James Cairns is Associate Professor, Social and Environmental Justice, at Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford. He is the author (with Alan Sears) of A Good Book, In Theory: Making Sense Through Inquiry (2015) and The Democratic Imagination: Envisioning Popular Power in the Twenty-First Century (2012).