Snowflakes and smashed avocados: the discursive construction of millennials in UK news media
Concerned with what kinds of ideological 'work' media representations of youth do, Dr Kim Allen offers a critical examination of the representations of millennials in UK news media.
Snowflakes and smashed avocados: the discursive construction of millennials in UK news media
06 Feb 2020, 12:30 – 13:30
Over the last decade, millennials have dominated news headlines, albeit in complex and contradictory ways. They are cast as a lost generation, unfairly punished by austerity and burned by Brexit. Yet, they are also positioned as fragile ‘snowflakes’ who spend too much money on avocados.
In this seminar, Kim will explore how representations of millennials in UK news media both express and frame issues of inequality, youth and generational crisis within late capitalism.
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Dr Kim Allen
Academic Fellow in Sociology
University of Leeds
Dr Kim Allen is a University Academic Fellow in Sociology at the University of Leeds. Kim’s research interests include young people’s transitions and inequalities of class and gender; and representations of class and gender in popular and celebrity culture. She is co-author of 'Celebrity, Aspiration and Contemporary Youth: Education and Inequality in an Era of Austerity' (Bloomsbury Press, 2018).