Comment by mckirk

A very interesting observation. I wonder though if the difference is genuinely a different kind of self-understanding between the generations, or more a question of the prevalence of these two approaches to identity. I think in my generation there were also plenty of people that at least tried to be 'proactive' about their identity building (and greatly valued status symbols etc), but I believe it was not as common, because this meme of 'seeing yourself as your own brand and wanting/needing to market yourself' was not as prominent. Maybe there even were, relatively speaking, more people back then that actively tried to avoid the 'status games', because they were still easier to escape then -- but that's just speculation, and certainly influenced by my own aversion to these games and hence my own youth.