Gen X is in charge now, and boomers are being shown the door

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 755 points –
Gen X is in charge now, and boomers are being shown the door
businessinsider.com
  • Boomers are having their last dance in charge.
  • Gen X leaders are stepping up to replace the last of them.
  • Younger leaders are taking charge of politics and corporate giants such as Boeing, HSBC, and Costco.
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Dude, it's all made up and there is no hard definition for the years of Gen X.

I mean if you really want to be pedantic about it, the people we call Boomers these days are the original Gen X.

The term Generation X has been used at various times to describe alienated youth. In the early 1950s, Hungarian photographer Robert Capa first used Generation X as the title for a photo-essay about young men and women growing up immediately following World War II. The term first appeared in print in a December 1952 issue of Holiday magazine announcing their upcoming publication of Capa's photo-essay.

Or maybe it's people born in the 1950s and 1960s?

The term acquired a modern application after the release of Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, a 1991 novel written by Canadian author Douglas Coupland; however, the definition used there is "born in the late 1950s and 1960s", which is about ten years earlier than definitions that came later.[16][17][13][18] In 1987, Coupland had written a piece in Vancouver Magazine titled "Generation X" which was "the seed of what went on to become the book".

Or maybe it's 1965-1980?

In the U.S., the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan think-tank, delineates a Generation X period of 1965–1980 which has, albeit gradually, come to gain acceptance in academic circles.

Or maybe it's "Gen X is whatever we decide it is."

The Brookings Institution, another U.S. think-tank, sets the Gen X period as between 1965 and 1981.[31] The U.S. Federal Reserve Board uses 1965–1980 to define Gen X.[32] The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) defines the years for Gen X as between 1964 and 1979. The US Department of Defense (DoD), conversely, use dates 1965 to 1977.[33] In their 2002 book When Generations Collide, Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman use 1965 to 1980, while in 2012 authors Jain and Pant also used parameters of 1965 to 1980.[34] U.S. news outlets such as The New York Times[35][36] and The Washington Post[37] describe Generation X as people born between 1965 and 1980. Gallup,[38] Bloomberg,[39] Business Insider,[40] and Forbes[41][42] use 1965–1980. Time magazine states that Generation X is "roughly defined as anyone born between 1965 and 1980".[43] George Masnick of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies puts this generation in the time-frame of 1965 to 1984, in order to satisfy the premise that boomers, Xers, and millennials "cover equal 20-year age spans".[44]

In Australia, the McCrindle Research Center uses 1965–1979.[45] In the UK, the Resolution Foundation think-tank defines Gen X as those born between 1966 and 1980.[46] PricewaterhouseCoopers, a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, describes Generation X employees as those born from 1965 to 1980.[47]

But those are just think tanks. Surely other experts have a specific range, right?

On the basis of the time it takes for a generation to mature, U.S. authors William Strauss and Neil Howe define Generation X as those born between 1961 and 1981 in their 1991 book titled Generations, and differentiate the cohort into an early and late wave.[48] Jeff Gordinier, in his 2008 book X Saves the World, include those born between 1961 and 1977 but possibly as late as 1980.[9] George Masnick of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies puts this generation in the time-frame of 1965 to 1984, in order to satisfy the premise that boomers, Xers, and millennials "cover equal 20-year age spans".[44] In 2004, journalist J. Markert also acknowledged the 20-year increments but goes one step further and subdivides the generation into two 10-year cohorts with early and later members of the generation. The first begins in 1966 and ends in 1975 and the second begins in 1976 and ends in 1985; this thinking is applied to each generation (Silent, boomers, Gen X, millennials, etc.).[49]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X

This isn't science, it's categorization based on pretty arbitrary stuff.

Yeah, it’s all made up. That how names work. What exactly is your point? They are made up to label something.

I just showed you my point quite well. That there's no agreed-upon definition of the term like you suggested. All I can think is that you read nothing I pasted.

No, I didn’t suggest that. I asked for clarification because you said it amused you that people thought being born before or after some year made you part of a generation. That is literally the fucking definition! There are certainly different definitions of those generations but regardless they are all based on a person being born before or after a certain year.

Your words:

That’s kind of the definition. Gen X is 1965 - 1980.

I showed you very clearly that it is one of many definitions of Gen X. Some of them apply to Harris.

My point was to show that they are defined by a span of years. I see now that this concept is hard for you to understand.

Yes, they are defined by a span of years. An arbitrary span no one agrees on. Thus, Generation X not definitively 1965-1980 as you said. Even the U.S. government disagrees with that definition.

It's anything from the late 1920s to the mid 1980s depending on who you ask.

So you are saying it’s arbitrary and then in the very next sentence make the statement that it is defined as 1920 - 1980? Do you even know what you are trying to say at this point?

You are not reading very well:

It’s anything from the late 1920s to the mid 1980s depending on who you ask.

Meaning that it is arbitrary.

I’m reading just fine thank you. “Gen X is anything from 1965 to 1980.” What is the difference between that and what you said? Just the date range. It’s obvious this concept is just too much for your brain to handle or you are just being stubborn. No need to message me anymore.

I guess you still aren't reading clearly. I'll make it bigger so you can:

> depending on who you ask.

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