In This Article

• Why do we assume resilience is always a good thing?
• How has resilience been used to justify social inequality?
• What if resisting conventional paths is actually a form of resilience?
• How can the Safe-Uncertainty model reshape youth justice?
• Why is resilience increasingly seen as an individual responsibility rather than a systemic issue?

How Young People Resist and Redefine Strength

For years, resilience has been framed as a virtue—something that turns struggling individuals into success stories. But success, according to whom? The reality is, many young people today aren’t playing by those rules anymore. Instead of embracing the bootstrap fantasy, they’re rejecting it outright. They aren’t just “bouncing back” into the same exploitative systems; they’re refusing to participate in the first place.

Take the gig economy. Politicians love to praise the “resilience” of young workers for adapting to precarious, low-wage jobs. But what if refusing to engage in exploitative labor is the real resilience? What if rejecting an education system that funnels students into debt-ridden futures is actually the logical response, not a failure?

Instead of asking why young people aren’t “succeeding,” maybe we should ask why success is defined by a system that leaves so many behind.

How Resilience Became a Neoliberal Excuse

Let’s be clear: resilience has been hijacked. It’s become the favorite excuse of governments slashing social programs, corporations avoiding worker protections, and policymakers justifying inequality. “Just be resilient” is really just code for “deal with it yourself.”

Instead of demanding change, the burden is placed on individuals to tough it out. Unaffordable healthcare? Work harder. Crushing student debt? Get a side hustle. No job security? Be adaptable. The entire narrative is built around making sure no one questions the real issue: why should people have to be resilient in the first place?

This is the dirty secret of neoliberalism—turning social problems into personal failures. If you’re struggling, it’s not because the system is broken; it’s because you haven’t been resilient enough. And when that mindset infects public policy, it means fewer safety nets, fewer worker protections, and more blame directed at individuals instead of institutions.

The Paradox of ‘Breaking Good’

The idea of “breaking good” is based on the assumption that at-risk youth must turn their lives around in a very specific way—by conforming to a narrow definition of success. But what if resilience doesn’t always mean doing what society expects? What if skipping school, resisting authority, or even choosing unemployment over exploitation is actually a rational survival strategy?

Studies have shown that marginalized youth often reject conventional paths because they don’t see them as viable. Why invest in a system that was never built for you? Why “bounce back” to the same circumstances that created the hardship in the first place?

It’s not laziness. It’s not a lack of ambition. It’s a form of self-preservation. And when young people opt out of institutions that have failed them, they are exercising resilience in a way that defies conventional wisdom.

A Revolutionary Approach to Resilience

If resilience is going to mean anything, it has to be redefined. Enter the concept of safe-uncertainty, a model that challenges the rigid, top-down approaches to resilience-building.

Developed by systemic theorist Barry Mason, safe-uncertainty is the idea that instead of pushing rigid, predetermined solutions, we create a space where young people can navigate uncertainty without fear. Instead of forcing them into paths that don’t work, this model acknowledges that resilience comes in many forms—sometimes through rejection, resistance, and unorthodox choices.

For example, instead of treating resistance as a failure, it should be seen as a valid response to an unjust system. If a young person rejects an exploitative job, that doesn’t mean they lack resilience—it means they refuse to participate in their own oppression.

Resilience as a Weaponized Concept

Resilience has been turned into a social control mechanism. It’s used to justify policies that let governments off the hook for failing their citizens. It’s a convenient way to shift responsibility onto the very people most harmed by inequality.

We see it in disaster response—expecting hurricane victims to “pull themselves up.” We see it in education—telling students drowning in debt to “adapt.” We see it in mental health—shaming individuals for struggling in a toxic society. It’s all the same tactic: blame the victim, absolve the system.

But the reality is that true resilience isn’t about making individuals stronger. It’s about creating a society where people don’t need to be resilient just to survive.

Rethinking Resilience for a Just Society

It’s time to stop treating resilience as a buzzword and start questioning why we demand it in the first place. Why do we celebrate young people overcoming hardship instead of eliminating the hardship itself? Why do we idolize stories of triumph over adversity rather than working to make sure fewer people have to face adversity at all?

Real resilience isn’t about making individuals stronger so they can endure a broken system. It’s about making the system better so people don’t have to endure it at all. And that’s the conversation we should be having.

About the Author

Robert Jennings is the co-publisher of InnerSelf.com, a platform dedicated to empowering individuals and fostering a more connected, equitable world. A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army, Robert draws on his diverse life experiences, from working in real estate and construction to building InnerSelf with his wife, Marie T. Russell, to bring a practical, grounded perspective to life’s challenges. Founded in 1996, InnerSelf.com shares insights to help people make informed, meaningful choices for themselves and the planet. More than 30 years later, InnerSelf continues to inspire clarity and empowerment.

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This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. Attribute the author Robert Jennings, InnerSelf.com. Link back to the article This article originally appeared on InnerSelf.com

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Article Recap

Resilience has been weaponized to justify systemic failures, placing the burden on individuals instead of institutions. Young people today are resisting this co-opted version of resilience, choosing rejection, defiance, and alternative survival strategies over blind conformity. The safe-uncertainty model offers a new way forward—one that acknowledges resilience in all its forms, including resistance. The question is: are we ready to accept that the real problem isn’t a lack of resilience, but the need for it in the first place?

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