Image source: Merlina McGovern
The Pew Research Center released a news report stating that it will be reporting on generational data differently. According to the release, Pew will be reporting on generational data only when it makes sense and when they have the historically comparable data to do so. Does the data and trend that it’s reporting on really speak to a generational difference or does that trend speak more to the demographic makeup of that group, for example, younger adults, regardless of the decade they were born in, tend to react to the same things in the same way.
Generational categories have been easy for people to pigeonhole us into so that they can better sell us some product or win over our vote. Do we go strictly for Boomers since they reliably vote and have more disposable income or Millennials, whose numbers, at 72.1 million, surpassed Baby Boomers in 2020? Do anti-diversity crusades work on Millennial purchasing, and is Gen X ready to OD on nostalgia fests of the teenage years (I can’t believe that these days I have a high possibility of hearing the Red Hot Chili Peppers or the Beastie Boys as elevator music)?
Pew has previously described the following generations: Silent Generation (born 1928-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), Millennials (1981-1996), and Gen Z (1997-2012). And now, Australian Research firm, McCrindle Research, has coined Gen Alpha. So many generations. So many buckets to fit into (and fall out of).
I am a member of Gen X, the forgotten generation. Yes, really, trend writers really do keep skipping our generation when writing think pieces. The generation of slackers that would do anything, including selling out, to avoid selling out. We did also have our counter-sell-out-culture warriors; yes, I did have a crush on the rebel conservative Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties. After the wholesome families of Growing Pains and The Cosby Show, we graduated to the friendship bonds unmoored from any familial anchors found in Seinfeld and Friends.
I never did read Douglas Copeland’s novel, Generation X, and, honestly, I have no real desire to. I did read Chuck Klosterman’s The Nineties, touching on cultural explosions between the fall of the Berlin wall to the fall of the twin towers on 9/11. So many cultural touchstones resonated with me, the first time I was aware of elections not being decided on election night (oh, god, the nightmare of learning about hanging and pregnant chads), the love of rock bands that were so allergic to the shine of 80s hair bands that they were grungy, the feel of watching mass-marketed entertainment that we all watched at the same time. It was a time of feeling weirdly connected and disconnected from so many people at the same time.
Do I feel like I have much in common with other folks born between 1965 and 1980? We all experienced the same cultural experiences during those years, but as we age, so do other generations. Though we are older, we also experienced 9/11 and the pandemic with Millennials. I think it’s smart for Pew to use generational definitions a lot less. Given that we experience things together as we age and that we can now connect via social media regardless of age, gender, geography, and class, it might make more sense to look at people through ages (how younger people react to events versus older people) and to compare people that have gone through the same events together (survivors of the pandemic, for example).
What about you? Do you feel connected to your generational definition?
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