(University of Lethbridge)

By Justin Goulet

tackling stereotypes

New book addresses stereotypes surrounding millennials

Aug 11, 2019 | 9:53 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A multitude of stereotypes surround millennials, with some saying the generation is entitled and narcissistic.

But just how many of those stereotypes are true? That’s part of the basis of a new book co-authored by University of Lethbridge sociology professor, Doctor Reginald Bibby.

The recently released ‘The Millennial Mosaic’ was a project by Bibby, Joel Thiessen and Monetta Bailey from Calgary’s Ambrose University.

Bibby said the book examines young people in Canada today, and compares them with other generations.

“We’re simply trying to get an update with respect to young people in Canada. There’s all kinds of consternation all the time about millennials and what they are and what they’re not,” Bibby said.

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“What we’re doing here in this book is we’re providing a comprehensive overview of where millennials are, but comparing them with other age cohorts, for example like Boomers, Gen-Xers and pre-Boomers and looking at things over time, so comprehensive but also, looking at things with respect to whether or not they’ve been changing in Canada or staying much the same.”

He noted that research on the habits of different age groups in Canada has been ongoing for “a number of decades”, with data on Canadian adults dating back to the 1970s and young people dating back to the 1980s available to the authors.

He said that teaming up with Joel Thiessen and Monetta Bailey added an extra layer to the project, considering their age differences.

“The interesting thing about having Joel and Monetta on board for this particular project is simply that I’m a borderline Boomer whereas they’re Gen-Xers and in addition to that, Monetta is a person of colour so she adds a whole dimension and obviously as a woman, dimension to the research. So, we want to be comprehensive, if we’re going to talk about pluralism in Canada, we really want to start with the authors,” Bibby told Lethbridge News Now.

He added that Thiessen and Bailey were able to offer views on things that Bibby didn’t have much experience with.

“They served as a corrective. I could offer my views on things that they really had no sense of, at least experientially, whereas they were able to do the same thing – able to provide reality checks, are we really describing the world as it is? Or are we going to end up being those academics that are detached from what’s going on in life,” he said.

“Joel and Monetta (were) refreshing in terms of adding updates and upgrades to our book.”

As for what he wants readers to take away from the book, Bibby said he wants them to be well informed on what’s going on in the lives and minds of millennials.

“(There are) so many stereotypes as everyone knows with respect to millennials and what they are and what they aren’t. What were able to do here is really hear from millennials and these other age groups in Canada, so that all of us are able to get a sense of what in fact is going on versus speculation,” he said.

“Overall, one of the goals we find as sociologists is that we’re constantly trying to compare what in fact is going on in the world with what people think is going on in the world. In this sense, we’re able to provide, I think, a very thorough reading on millennials.”

More on Doctor Bibby’s research can be found at www.reginaldbibby.com.