Ephebophobia

Outsourcing angst is due to insecurity: fear that a comfortable status quo is going to change for the worse.

The most obvious fear is that of losing one’s job, sooner or later, because someone in Asia can do it more cheaply.

Since the outsourcer is usually in another country, a fear of foreigners – xenophobia – rapidly creeps into the discussion. There’s more than a little “issue bleed” between the off-shoring and immigration debates.

Since the conversation is driven by Baby Boomers, there’s also the fear of another Other: the young. The Boomers are now parents and proud grand-parents. They can’t admit to loathing their off-spring; it doesn’t fit the wholesome self-image. However, they are getting old, and the next generation is beginning to threaten their prerogatives.

Energetic, optimistic, in the full bloom of youth: today’s Menace are the Asian ephebes.

(Thanks to Nicholas Shum for help with the Greek.)