Post-2008 Movements and the Biographic Dissonance of Millennials

The movements that have emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 have been strongly supported by the millennial generation, those born between 1982 and 2003. This is a generation whose character has been widely debated. Until few years ago, it was deemed to be a politically apathetic generation, a “selfie generation” or a “me me me generation” far more concerned with celebrity news than with politics. Furthermore, they have often been accused of being politically apathetic and lacking in social empathy. Yet, millennials have surprised analysts by taking the lead in a number of recent political mobilisations, from protest movements, as the Occupy protests of 2011, and have demonstrated to be highly critical of the capitalist system, at least far more than previous generation. Drawing from my long-standing research on protest movements in the post-2008 era, this paper will explore how the new movements, with their popular and majoritarian appeal, and their pragmatism reflect the experience and dilemmas of the millennial generation. It will argue that this wave of protest movements articulate the sense of betrayal felt by many young people, who pertain to the most educated and well-travelled education in history but also one that is faced by serious economic difficulties. Furthermore, it will argue that the apparently post-ideological character of some of these movements, or better their refusal of 20^th century ideologies, stem from their perception that we live in a situation of social emergency in which it is necessary to identify viable and short-term solution to impending economic problems. The paper will conclude exploring someof the long-term implications of this situation for social movements and contemporary politics.