Believing that the cards are stacked against you is an example of what psychologists call external locus of control. If you have an internal locus of control, you believe you are in control of your life. An external locus of control is the opposite: the belief that nothing matters, because it’s all up to luck and powerful other people to determine what happens. That is unfortunately occasionally true, but it’s also a defeatist way of looking at the world—and it’s more common among Gen Z.
