*"Anderson, here’s an interesting generational piece. That is, we often talked about age and race and gender of this campaign. But when you took somebody who really is the first post- civil rights movement baby to become president, it is, when you think about it. Jonathan Alter (ph) calls it Generation Jones, in between Baby Boomers and Generation X.
It’s the passing of a torch because, in many ways, the nation says we can now entrust this generation with the country. The same as in 1992 with Bill Clinton. And so it is vital when you look at that, and the appeal of an Obama because he is 47, he does sit right between those critical generations, Baby Boomers, Generation X. And being Generation Jones, I think it is important because it appeals to both of them at the same time."
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I stumbled across this label years ago on the web, and thought its description aptly described how I (b. 1964) felt - not a boomer, and not a Gen Xer, etc.
Seeing as Mr. Martin is most likely a Joneser himself, it was obvious he was making an effort to further “our” exposure as a separate, definable, and now prominent group. Anyone buy it?
Intriguing. This kind of generational theory is probably the new horoscope, but still, I like it because I do think there’s such a thing as a zeitgeist… I’m part of a smallish group on the cusp between Gens. X and Y that doesn’t quite belong to either as far as attitudes are concerned, and I think somebody idealistic like Obama appeals to a group like that.
Sort of an anecdotal way of restating the OP: Obama is the first president who is going to be younger than my parents, and the parents of everyone in my social circle. A generational change definitely happened last night, both in terms of Obama’s support from young voters and in terms of Obama’s relative youth. (He’s the fifth-youngest man to be elected president.) The Boomers will tell you they’ve never gotten old, but at least for now they’ve surrendered the White House. It seems that never again will the issues of the '60s play out on the presidential stage the way they did from 1992 to 2004. The bloody shirt of Vietnam won’t be waved again, although I grant that Iraq is fulfilling some of the same roles.
I dunno; I was born in 1966, and I feel little in common with their description of Generation Jones (which they have as a 1965 cutoff). I guess I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Xer.
Side-rant - The common misperception of the age of Generation Xers really bugs me - the years I use are people born 1960 - 1966 in Canada and 1958 - 1964 in the US (post birth-peak Boomers). It is not people who are currently teenagers or young adults.
I think I remember that we’re the exact same age (I know someone had the same birthday as me, and I think it’s you) and I feel the exact same way. I’m almost feeling like a “Cafeteria Gen X/Y” where I can only take little bits of each generation but still not feel quite like I belong.
I linked the Wiki entry out of habit; unfortutately it doesn’t paint the complete picture. This excerpt from Alter’s column is closer:
But if we weren’t convincing flower children (or anti-hippies, like George W. Bush), we weren’t part of Generation X either. The Gen-Xers were too cynical. Instead we became the perennial swing voters, with residual '60s idealism mixed with the pragmatism and materialism of the '80s. Even as demographers concluded that generations are really 10 to 15 years, not 20, no one represented us.
The other term that I remember hearing was “Tweeners”. Featherlou, do you see yourself as a true GenX cynic? Maybe experiences for your age bracket were different in Canada? For me, although I’m the oldest child in my family, I have an uncle who personified “hippie” back then. Plus, interactions with other flower children at a formidable age were impressionable enough that I bought into the dream; consequently, I felt betrayed when I saw all the '60s idealists turn to yuppiedom (not my uncle though :D)
There’s a summary of this stuff on Wikipedia under “Cold Generation Y,” although I think they have a better one in another article I can’t find. I do think the summary of the slightly different view of people born in the early 80s is accurate when measured against people I know. Of course the flip side is that maybe this stuff is so vague it can apply to anyone.
I was born in '64 too but, considering myself too young to be a baby boomer and not quite old enough to be Generation X, I decided I was of the “Zeppelin Rules!” generation. I mean, that sounds more exciting than “Generation Jones.”
And that was a fascinating read. It really does make a lot of sense. I get annoyed when lumped in with people who don’t even remember the fall of the Soviet Union (let alone the Berlin Wall coming down, consarnit). I think we’re in a great position, if frustrating, though. I mean, I remember very well what it was like without the internet, 509280259 channels of cable, cell phones, etc. but I also have adapted very well to these new technologies and feel at home using them. It kind of gives us a dual perspective.
I think Tweener probably describes me best, after reading that article. We grew up eating the crumbs off the Boomer table. Most definitions I read of Generation X get some things very wrong, and that might be because they’re trying to lump people like me, born in 1966, with people born in 1980 (if you use the 1964-1980 standard). I’m almost 42; the other end of Gen X are 28. I have almost nothing in common with them.
I have never heard that description before. But I like it. I guess I buy it if I wasn’t all, like, apathetic and cynical and shit. Yeah, it’s alright. I’ll be thinking about it over here while I sort my flannel shirts and think about my attitude.
That’s how I feel about it. I wrote a column once about being part of the last generation to remember life before computers and before the Internet in particular. There’s a 10-year gap between me and my youngest brother, so he doesn’t have a clue about life without online access, and he was born just after the Soviet Union collapsed. I wasn’t aware of the meaning of the Berlin Wall at the time and the Cold War was definitely on the wane, but I know it happened.
The end of the Cold War in some ways probably helped for the ideological vacuum that people born in that period have existed in - a vacuum that Barack Obama has arguably filled for many of them. I mused about this online last night but if I quoted it here I’d sound like a total sap.
Born in '83, I was about to make a comment that after reading definitions of generation X and Y that I felt like a sort of mix between them, having some traits of one and some of the other. Then I found out they do have a name for us, The Cold Y Generation. Oh sweet categorization!
Surprise surprise - some of the stuff we’re talking about here is getting national media attention. Here’s the New York Times on “Generation O,” discussing Obama’s strong support from and connection to young people and some of the issues and perils that carries.
