If you were born between 1954 and 1965, ask yourself this question:
"Do I feel like a member of The Baby Boom Generation, Generation
X, or neither?" Ask other people of this age which of the two generations
they feel a part of. You will quickly find that the vast majority of people
in this age group do not feel like Boomers or Xers.
New generations typically assert their "differentness" when their
oldest members hit their late teens and early twenties. Three times
in the last 35 years, "new generation" choruses have appeared—in the
early-60s(Boomers), the mid-70s (us), and early 90s(Xers). While the
Boomer and Xer choruses resulted in media feeding frenzies, our attempts
to assert our collective identity were largely ignored.
As early as 1972, for example, The New York Times Magazine
ran a cover story written by 18-year old Joyce Maynard in which she
proclaimed that she and her peers were the leading edge of a new generation,
one qualitatively different than the Woodstock Generation. Her voice,
like the others that followed in the mid-70s, weren't heard by a nation
that wasn't ready to deal with a new generation. But for many of us
in that new generation, it was a joke that we were being lumped in with
the Boomers. It was obvious to us that we were a different generation.
The traditional 1946-1964 definition of The Baby Boomers is filled
with errors:
It ludicrously defines a generation by birth rates when actually generational
personalities arise from shared formative experiences, not head counts.
The first Boomers were born several years before birth rates happened
to increase in '46. Time Magazine, for example, chose their 1966
"Man of the Year" as "The Generation under 25" and many of the most
famous Boomers (Jim Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Abby Hoffman,
Jerry Rubin, etc.) were born well before '46.
Nineteen years is too long. As Gail Sheehy (of Passages fame)
has noted: "And given the acceleration of the life cycle, a generation
is now encapsulated in ten to fifteen years instead of the traditional
twenty."
Some press accounts say that the first Gen X birth years were the
mid-50s, while others start Gen X as late as the early 70s.
In 1991, Gen X was defined as "twentysomethings". Ten years later,
Gen X is still described as twentysomethings, as if personalities abruptly
change on thirtieth birthdays as generational membership cards are revoked.
Writers as far apart as Jay McInerny (46 yrs. old in '01) and Linda Ealing (23 yrs. old in '01) are regularly categorized as "Gen X Writers".
Even Douglas Coupland (whose 1991 novel gave birth to the label) ridiculed
the press confusion in a 1995 Details essay when he chided :
"The media refers to anyone 13-39 as Xers".
This fact reflects the very different formative experiences of each
generation. Admittedly, determining generations is complicated, an inexact
science, with inevitable blur on the edges. Nonetheless, broad accurate
generalizations emerge with careful analysis. The three generations
differ in many ways. One major difference is that Boomers tend to be
idealistic, Xers tend to be cynical, and Jonesers tend to be a balance
of idealism and cynicism. Attitudinal research bears this out.
For example, UCLA has conducted a particularly extensive national
poll of 350,000 college freshman annually since the mid-60s. Students
are asked to rank in importance different goals in life. Look at the
following contrast between the three generations on the two key goals
reflecting idealism and cynicism:
The predictable cycle of one generation's fringe style becoming the mainstream style of the next generation is visual illustration of the existence of Generation Jones. Fashion history tells us there had to be a separate generation between the Boomer hippie fringe and today's Xer mainstream. Mainstream Boomers dressed in a traditional, straight style. The tie-dyed, bell-bottomed, long-haired(men and women), etc. look was the province of the small(but highly visible) Boomer hippie counterculture. This hippie style became the mainstream look of Jonesers. Generation Jones had two main fringe subcultures—punk and rap. The main common denominator of punk and rap was a sense of pastiche—the mixing together of seemingly disparate styles. This became the dominant fashion ethos of Xers. Not just the ascendance of body piercings, tattoos, etc., but an overall sense of sartorial anarchy, the "anything goes" pastiche in contrast to the mainstream look of Jonesers.
There was no new generation between the early-60s and early 90s?! During such dramatically changing eras?! How could it make intuitive sense that a 36 yr. old who was raised
during Watergate and who is now entering the work force after just finishing
her doctorate would be in the same cultural generation as her 55 yr.
old father who was raised during the Howdy Doody Fifties and who is
now a member of AARP considering his retirement years? Common sense alone points to the existence of Generation Jones.
Boomers are mostly the offspring of The World War II Generation, Jonesers are mostly the offspring of The Silent Generation, and Xers are mostly the offspring of the Boomers. |
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