The Pandemials are the young people who will be between the ages of 10 and 26 after the pandemic is over. They will be faced with societies devastated by inequality, the end of meritocracy, loneliness, digital automation, the depletion of natural resources and a myriad of environmental crises that will deeply affect life on our planet.
In addition to lacking the economic prosperity enjoyed by their parents –which for example granted them access to university educations or to more comfortable lives— this generation will also face fewer job opportunities, discouraging prospects and a growing need to radicalize their complaints.
Covid-19 has not only aggravated this scenario, which was already a serious challenge even before the Crisis of 2020. The asymmetries exposed by the pandemic accelerated predicted timelines, and cycles such as Inequality, Mother Nature, Technology and the Human Spirit will collapse during the Decade of Turbulence (2020–2030).
As a result, Pandemials will expect much more from governments, and when their neglect is not addressed, they will rebel. They will go straight after the technocratic elites and the foundations of the capitalist system. The lack of solutions to these problems from liberal governments will push them to rekindle old models and left-wing utopias.
Liberalism –the ideology of freedom, human dignity, and science, which enabled the greatest reduction in poverty in human history— is now dominated by exclusive, self-serving technocratic elites. The complex system they created can only be enjoyed by a select few, while common citizens become ever more alienated from their governments.
The end of a society based around the middle class and meritocracy is happening amidst a crisis of human spirit, and worsened by the toxic relationship between technological development and the crumbling of certain social institutions. New rituals and forms of relating to each other have not yet taken their place.
In his book The Uprising of the Pandemials, financial specialist and economic analyst Federico Dominguez employs his clear prose and clever analysis of the available information to convey the elements needed for understanding this new generation, the challenging decade that lies ahead and the personal, collective, economic and business changes that will be crucial in overcoming the turbulent times on the horizon.
