Millennials internalized themselves as human capital to be optimized

Evidence

Perhaps some millennials embraced leftist critiques of capitalism, but even they admitted that their generation was mostly swept up in capitalist realism. Marxist writer Malcolm Harris argued that young people conceived of themselves as “human capital” to be optimized, driving an obsession with credentials, efficiency, and career advancement. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 308

Perhaps some millennials embraced leftist critiques of capitalism, but even they admitted that their generation was mostly swept up in capitalist realism. Marxist writer Malcolm Harris argued that young people conceived of themselves as “human capital” to be optimized, driving an obsession with credentials, efficiency, and career advancement. Yet this ambition created narrative contradictions: Millennials were both hard-charging strivers and “lazy, entitled narcissists,” stereotyped as demanding promotions and large salaries without paying their dues. What older adults didn’t understand, however, is that they were in a rush. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 308

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes a recurring mechanism in status theories — self-commodification as the inner logic of status competition; relates to the reader’s omnivore monoculture argument. — connects to: Human capital theory logically extends to genetic self-investment — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 271
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: Harris is cited as authority here; how does the human-capital optimization thesis interact with Marx’s own claim about blankness?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 308