Millennials hate millennials, Pew finds

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last updated 7 September 2015

Has any demographic endured such scrutiny as the poor, overly understood millennials? On Thursday, Pew Research Center released the latest deep-dive into the group of Americans age 18 to 34, and the results don't speak well of millennials, according to millennials. According to Pew's findings, 59 percent of millennials think millennials are self-absorbed, 49 percent say they're wasteful, 43 percent say they're greedy, and 31 percent say their generation is cynical.

On the other hand, only 24 percent of millennials say millennials are responsible, 36 percent say they're hard-working, and only 17 percent think their generation is moral. Those numbers get progressively higher for each generation, just as they get progressively smaller for the negative attributes.

One explanation for this apparent self-hatred — or perhaps more proof of it — is that only 40 percent of millennials consider themselves part of the millennial generation; an almost equal number, 33 percent, identify (wrongly) as members of Generation X (age 35 to 50). Then again, by those metrics, the most self-hating generation is the "Silent Generation," age 70 to 87, most of whom think they're Baby Boomers or the Greatest Generation (34 percent each). Because, who wants to be silent when you can be great?

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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