The Petras report twenty years later: parents, children and grandchildren in a dual society

Abstract

The Petras report, first published in the alternative magazine Ajoblanco in 1996 acknowledges the progressive weakening of the links between the nineties youths and their parent's generation. Disparities in the work condition, work environments, and future prospectives make the father's generation look their sons as a childish and spoiled generation, while the young feel nostalgic of the secure working conditions enjoyed by their parents but they also reject the culture of work inherited from the francoism.  A breakdown between two workers generations depicted in a dual labour market, in different approaches and cultures related either to work, political participation or the development of a civic culture in Spain. This text invites, with the due precautions, to re-read this classic report after two decades in which the flexibility has progressed in a single direction and the duality can be considered in the center of the Spanish labour market, now with the grandson's generation (Millennials) as the main characters of the play.