Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy and Action on the American Campus.

• Author: Cramer, Katherine
• Position: Brief Article

Whether they're called "Generation X," the "Ostrich Generation," or "people shaped by tewelve years of Ronald Reagan and George Bush," twenty-somethings are said to have no political consciousness. But Paul Rogat Loeb, after seven years of conversations with and observation of campus activists, takes a different view. Loeb has written a thorough, nuanced description of the political attitudes and actions of this generation. He profiles individual students who decided to work for social change, and he discusses obstacles that prevent others from participating--including a difficult job market, a conservative political climate, and annoying comparisons to the 1960s. Particularly troubling, he finds, is a prevailing attitude that only those with expertise can or should get involved. One activist, a founding member of Greeks for Peace, a group of progressive members of fraternities and sororities at the University of Michigan, is fighting against this culture of experts. "You don't need a lot of...