Many successful Generation X'ers -- those born between 1965 and 1984 -- are tormented by anxiety, fear of failure and a lack of control over the forces that affect their lives. To cope, many have adopted "chameleon" personalities, pretending to be what others want them to be, but at great emotional cost to themselves, according to a new book by a Cornell sociologist.
In Masks and Mirrors: Generation X and the Chameleon Personality (Praeger, 2001), Bernard Carl Rosen, professor emeritus of sociology, asserts that elite Generation X'ers are at the forefront of the technology revolution but are filled with anger at the preceding generation -- the baby boomers -- who, they feel, takes advantage of them.
To the frazzled, elite X'ers, who feel under intense pressure in a fiercely competitive society, the glue that keeps society together looks weak and the social system feels wobbly.
"To cope with their anxieties and fears, many X'ers have decided that fighting is useless, submission intolerable and escape impossible. Thus, they choose pretending -- that is, they become chameleons as their only chance for protection," says Rosen, a socio-psychologist. "This practice, however, of pleasing whomever they are with, is ultimately self-defeating." Over time, "chameleonism," pretending to be something one is not, becomes permanent, Rosen said.
Fully documented and indexed, the book reviews the problems of the elite X'ers and how they deal with them. The book examines the structure of their personality and how the chameleon personality works, what its problems are and why it is counterproductive; how adopting the chameleon personality creates conflict between generations, between genders; and how these are influenced by immigration and foreign competition. In addition to a social-psychological approach, Rosen puts the chameleon personality into a historical perspective in discussing issues of social change.
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |