4 Reasons Why Professional Millennials from Working Class Backgrounds Have High Mental Health Needs
5 minute read.
Professional Millennials + Mental Health.
This post has been written with the intent to empower professional millennials from working class backgrounds. It can also benefit working class individuals, Gen Z folx and older generations in gaining an understanding of the insidiousness of classism, blanket generalizations and internalized stigma.
*It is necessary to point out that this post is written from the perspective of a white cis female. Intersectionality (coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw) tells us that an individual’s experience becomes more challenging and dangerous when they are members of historically and currently oppressed groups (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, immigrants, etc.).
Mental Health Needs of Professional Millennials.
1. Internalized Stigma.
Internalized classism (much like internalized homophobia, transphobia, racism, etc.) can result from being educated, trained and working in traditionally upper middle class/white collar, wealthy spaces (which also tend to be cis, white, hetero spaces).
It is normalized in our media to poke fun at small towns, suggesting that it’s residents are uneducated and uncultured, thereby they are less than and unworthy.
Our society’s obsession with attaining status and wealth is matched by its rejection of simple living, demonization of working class culture and the incorrect association of low income individuals with moral “badness.”
I will never forget a former coworker’s comment after finding out where I grew up - “Wow, I guess we’re both white trash.”
This attempt at camaraderie surprised me because I was not yet aware that people where I came from were given this label (this is a large part of internalized classism, reaching a certain age and discovering, usually by being told by upper class individuals, that where you came from is considered less than).
Years later, I can understand that this coworker simply wanted to connect with me over our shared experience, most likely because someone else had made them feel bad and wrong in the same way their comment made me feel bad and wrong.
Trash does not have a color. People are not trash.
2. Identity Crisis.
While the “Identity Crisis” (coined by Erik Erikson) is considered to span several stages of psychosocial development, when referring to the affect of changing socioeconomic status on identity, we can define it as “Questioning who you are.” (1) (2)
Many feel that it is hard to belong where they worked so hard to get, and harder to stay loyal to where they worked so hard to leave.
These individuals often report feeling as if they have “abandoned” their roots, due to direct or indirect guilt from their family of origin, feeling “othered” by formerly close friends and acquaintances, feeling the need to code switch (1), and shame/guilt that comes with the necessity for these changes in order to survive in your new environment.
For example, I was quickly made to feel like my loud, abrasive, “asking uneducated questions” style of learning would not be accepted in my graduate school setting. I learned when to be demure, when to not ask questions (even if I needed to) and how to speak with more eloquence.
I then felt more accepted and understood after I complied with what academia and the psychology profession deemed appropriate - this phenomenon is also known as colonial mentality. (I am happy to report that I have since returned back to my loud self, which I only felt privileged enough to do when I became my own boss.)
3. Imposter Syndrome.
I want to be careful when discussing this topic. Imposter Syndrome (IS) is insidious and harmful (1) but it is also over used to explain feelings of inadequacy experienced by women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and disabled individuals, etc.
IS happens internally, when one does not feel they are as good, skilled or knowledgeable as others perceive them to be. There is also a fear that one will be “found out” and revealed as a fraud.
While the symptoms of IS can be found frequently in individuals who come from working class backgrounds, slapping a label of IS completely dismisses the lasting effects of classism in mainstream media and culture.
When you see your self represented on sitcoms as gullible or sneaky; humiliated on exploitative talk shows; labeled as “stupid,” “don’t know any better,” “uneducated,” “unprofessional” by elites; or criminalized in the media, it is unfair to assume you will not internalize some of these labels.
IS is included in this post because it is actually another way in which former and current working class individuals are oppressed further. The label of IS posits that it is the individual’s error in thinking, not the result of living in a classist society.
4. Judgment from Older Generations.
Often identified as lazy, over privileged, impatient, ungrateful, etc., millennials are typically underpaid, highly educated, often hold multiple jobs, have a high rate of student debt, poor healthcare and benefits, are more socially conscious than previous generations and report the highest amounts of stress and lowest quality of life.
Personally, not many things give me more rage than the chronic misunderstanding of the millennial experience (those things include apathy towards racism in the US, violence against womxn, and police brutality).
Rage aside, like all social groups that have ever existed, the hardships we experience are a product of a society that is intolerant and uncaring.
How can we do better?
We can support each other. We can work hard to unlearn both internalized and external classism. We can be patient with each other, understanding that the traumas we have experienced do not have to define us, and certainly do not need to dictate where we are going. We can empower each other; love each other; share resources, ideas and advice; and we can hold space for one another, allowing for periodic weakness and struggle. We can allow for the humanization of each other, forgive mistakes, and practice kindness.
I hope this was helpful, email me with questions or additions!
—Sarah
Terms
Colonial mentality - results from the internalized attitude of ethnic or cultural inferiority felt by people as a result of colonization, i.e. them being colonized by another group.[1] It corresponds with the belief that the cultural values of the colonizer are inherently superior to one's own.
Internalize - a concept in which an oppressed group uses the methods of the oppressing group against itself. It occurs when one group perceives an inequality of value relative to another group, and desires to be like the more highly-valued group.
Gen Z - or Generation Z, is the newest generation, born between 1997 and 2012/15. They are currently between 6 and 24 years old. Nearly 68 million in the US.
Millennial - a person reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century, widely accepted as having been born between 1981 and 1996. The largest generation group in the US in 2019, with an estimated population of 72.1 million.
