I don’t know when generations started being labeled, but I do know that we have the Word War II generation (or, if you’re Tom Brokaw, the “greatest generation”), who grew up during the Depression, defeated the Nazis, then spent their twilight years resisting civil rights.
After that came the Baby Boomers, who were hippies in the 60s and yuppies in the 80s.
I was born in 1978, the child of two boomers, so I’m pretty sure that makes me a Gen-X slacker.
What, then, do we call the generation coming of age today, many of whom are seeing combat overseas? And what over-reaching stereotype have they been assigned?
There are multiple generations in Iraq. The raising of the age limit, and use of the National Guard has made sure of that.
I beg to differ on this last phrase.
I was fortunate to recently hear the history of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from one of the attorneys from the Washington, DC EO office for some 40 years. The story is anecdotal so no cite is available.
If there was a key moment when passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was assured, it was when America watched their children get attacked by German Shepard police dogs in Birmingham, Alabama, in May, 1963. That single act apparently touched such a raw nerve among WWII veterans, especially those who liberated the concentration camps, that they letters to Congress that tipped the scales.
ETA: Born in 1982, I thought I was part of Gen X, based on articles I read in my early teens. Turns out the cutoff was 1978 (according to the Gen X article on wiki.)
Well, the new kids are Millennials. I was born in 1980 and I’m definitely not one of them, and neither were the people I went to high school and college with. There was a very distinct line between the 1980-1981 people and 1982 and onward. The 82’s and after display all of the most irritating Millennial traits - helicopter parents, inability to work independantly, sensitivity to criticism, etc. I’d disagree with the Wikipedia definition.
I’ve also seen 1981 as the last year for Gen X. The book “13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?”, which I recall reading for sociology class, classifies Gen Xers as those born from 1961-1981. It further subdivides GenXers into Atari- and Nintendo-waves, although I don’t recall the cutoff dates for those.
Realistically speaking, though, generations obviously transition from one to the other–it’s not like if you were born on Dec 31, 1981 you have a whole different cultural and societal experience than if you were born on Jan 1, 1982. My brother was born in 1981, and it seems to me that his experience probably is more accurately ireflected by the Gen X stereotype than the Gen Y/Millennial stereotype.
I don’t have an answer…
but the real question isn’t what to call this generation. The interesting question is “What defines a generation”
The 60’s (or actually from about 1964-1974) is easy to describe.Huge social changes, so that young peoples’ characters were shaped by the events around them, in ways totally different than the previous decade. So the hippies are a clearly defined demographic generation.
The 70’s (actually from about 1974-1985) is a little less defined, but still has some new characteristics that shaped young people in ways different than the decades before it: the “me generation”; the idea of putting your personal interests first, delaying marriage, and then only having one child.So the yuppies are a well-defined generation.
But by 1985 or so, these concepts were so widespread and well accepted that they no longer had to be talked about and labelled. And it’s hard to give a name to something that you can’t define. Maybe that’s the reason for the “x” in gen X. ( with X standing for the unknown quantity , like in algebra)
In 1995 , high-tech appeared, creating a new social phenomenon: Kids born with cell phones and instant messaging, who have never been alone (i.e. out of contact) in their lives. Their characters are shaped by a social world defined by high-tech, so I would call them the “internet generation” (say, from 1995-2005).
But by now, high-tech is so widespread and well accepted that is also no longer needs to be labelled. So I dunno what to call the kids who are growing up today (whether serving in Iraq, like the OP states, or just drifting along like millions of others.) I don’t see their characters being shaped by any defining characteristic that can be labelled.
The Iraq generation may be contemporary with the millenials/Y’ers/X Plus Ones, but they by no means are in the same cultural orbit.
Problems working independently, sensitivity to criticism, and the insistence on being accepted first and foremost as individuals are mostly traits of the children of the educated, middle-of-the-road, white-collar class. They sure aren’t the ones fighting this war. Those kids - largely blue-collar, conservative, and less educated - grew up learning to suck up criticism, not to ask for help when trouble came, and that their true worth as a person was as part of a team.
The cut off they used in the early 80’s was 1978. It was the 90’s before I saw the change. Nothing is set in stone.
Generation XY (which Wiki has classified as the “MTV Generation” - MTV Generation - Wikipedia) is probably a closer representation of the cutoff rules than any hard and fast dates for X and Y.
Gneration X cuts off around 1978 (used to be 1981 when I was a kid) and picks up as Generation XY until 83 or 84. Everyone afterward is firmly placed in Generation Y.
Personally, I think this is the best system for everybody as everyone I know who was born in the late 70s/early 80s doesn’t really qualify as X or Y. We’re something completely weird all on our own.
Generation Screwed.
Generation Bushwhacked.
While I’d be happy to debate the merits of the war, I only mentioned Iraq as a point of reference. I was specifically asking about the generation following Gen X (which, it appears, is now Gen Y). And, I was asking about how they are characterized (i.e. WWII is the “greatest”, baby boomers were hippies, yuppies, etc., Gen X is slacker); in light of their call to war, will this Generation be considered more noble then previous ones? Or are they the “impatient because they were raised on TV” generation? And, I was just wondering how this whole Generation labeling thing got started.
Generation Why?
Interesting, that Wikipedia article brings up something that I’ve noticed about “my generation,” but never actually considered as a culturally defining trait: The acceptance of, and proliferation of, liking the stuff our parents liked. When I was younger, around 10 and under, you were considered “uncool” if you liked things that were older than you were. But around the time I hit middle school/junior high, suddenly, everything old was in again. The kids on the schoolbus had AC/DC, Queen, and Jimi Hendrix in their CD players, girls watched movies such as Yellow Submarine at their slumber parties, and kids regularly discussed their favorite episodes of MASH. (My 12-year-old sister has recently come to love this show as well. Comedy conesseiurs would probably say I have no taste, as I was always a Brady Bunch girl. Plebian I may be, but darned if Greg and Mike’s “poetry reading” with the rubber chicken on a string doesn’t get me every time!) Yet I’ve never really considered myself of a “generation.”
I wonder if my tendency of talking to everyone “on the same level” is a cultural product of my “era,” or more of an issue of personal upbringing? </personal tangent>
If you’re interested in generational theory, you should pick up a copy of Strauss & Howe’s “Generations”. Their whole notion is that there’s a cycle of four generational archetypes, and that the large part of what’s going on at any point in history is driven by how old each of the four types is at that point. According to them, the millennials are of the same archetype as the greatest generation, and so should share traits with them.
And there’s a generation between the “greatest” and the Boomer’s that they dubbed the “silent” generation. Born during the Depression, too young to fight in WWII, and too old to join in the social revolutions of the Boomers. Also, when you look at Presidents, they skipped from the greatest generation to the Boomers, bypassing the silent generation completely.
I was born in 1980, and feel similarly to Justin_Bailey. I’m a bit too young to be a Gen-Xer, but identify with them more than with the Millennials. I’m also part of the last group that will have clear memories of the Cold War.
Born in 1974, I guess I’m a Gen-Xer, but I don’t really identify as any particular generation. I am interested in people’s memories of the Cold War though. I grew up in New Zealand so I was very isolated from the “hostilities”, however, I clearly remember a general sense of doom. I always considered we would be in the middle of WWIII sometime soon, I just didn’t know when. It occurs to me that more recent generations have different, less specific concerns.