Generations X and Y – what’s in a letter?
In a previous article I looked at the baby boomers, those born in the post-war baby boom, and discovered that it actually started well before the end of World War II. This article looks at the generations which came after them, commonly known as generation X and generation Y, and asks “Have we gone too far in assigning letters to generations?”
Who are the X Generation?
Those born immediately after the baby boomers are usually known in this country as Generation X. There is little agreement on where this group starts and finishes. Generations really only have a clear definition within a family. In society, there are people born every year, and cultural norms gradually shift rather than having an abrupt break. Someone born in 1965 would share more of the experiences of the baby boomers than they would with someone born in 1978 though they would both be regarded as Generation X. The most common definition of Generation X is from about 1964 to 1978, but sometimes the definition extends a year or two before or after that.
The term “X” was coined to refer to the unknown nature of the generation, and the fact that they were the “baby busters” who wouldn’t necessarily fit the cultural norms established by the baby boomers before them. Note that for the most part, Generation X are NOT the children of the baby boomers, but the children of those born in between the wars, and during the Great Depression. Generation X were born at a time of declining birth rates, while the boomers were born at a time of increasing rates. The shared experiences of Generation X were those of children and teenagers in the 1980s.
Who are the Y Generation?
In contrast, Generation Y, which really was just coined as the term for those following Generation X, has little demographic basis at all. Generation Y are the most fluid of the lot in terms of definitions, usually said to start around 1979 and finish maybe mid-1990s. In this time frame the birth rate didn’t do much, but just stayed at a fairly low level. This was surprising, because Generation Y were predominantly the children of the baby boomers (a few of the early boomers would have had children in Gen X, these definitions are NOT precise, and people can have children at a wide range of ages). Before they were called Y they were going to be called the Echo Boomers, as the birth rate was expected to increase as those born in the 1950s and 60s had their own children in the late 70s and 80s. It never happened because women kept having children later and later in life, and having less of them than their parents. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that the birth rate started to uptrend again. See my baby bonus post about this..
More than any other generation, a lot of stereotypes seem to be applied to Generation Y. Apparently they can’t stay in a job very long, have no respect for their parents, prefer to travel than work, won’t settle down etc. I find it interesting that a lot of the labels applied to this generation are remarkably similar to those which have been applied to “young people” by older generations over thousands of years. The Greek philosopher Socrates is quoted as saying
“Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.”
Perhaps this was the ancient Greek version of Generation Y or Z. In any case I don’t think there is much new about this.
Who comes next?
Due to the rather poor decision to start assigning letters to generations starting with the 3rd last letter of the alphabet, we don’t have much room to move. Presumably the next generation who are young children now would be Generation Z, and what’s next? Do we start with A again?
In any case, people are incredibly diverse and trying to apply these uniform stereotypes to an entire generation is doomed to failure. It’s bad enough that Astrology tries to pretend that there are only 12 types of people in the world and everyone born in the same month has the same personality. Do we really think that everyone born over a 20 year period has the same characteristics? At best these generations give you only a very broad indications of some cultural norms that applied over a generation’s formative years. It’s not really a good predictor of what impact a generation will have in the future, unless it’s based on hard demographic facts, as the baby boomers are to some extent.
So, since we’re about to run out of letters, I suggest we stop trying to pigeonhole arbitrary generations and talk instead about some demographic characteristics that we actually have evidence for.
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Re what generation follows Z – I’ve heard the term “millenium generation” tossed around a few times, presumably referring that demographic born around the turn of the century. But I do like the term posed by a former colleague of ours Glenn – “Generation AA” – in other words, the next column following in a spreadsheet.
Re generation X – as a proud Xer, I always thought the coin came from the early 1990s, when we all came out of uni and found we had no jobs to go into. Remember that infamous recession that we had to have? It was meant to refer to people who didn’t see they had much of a future and who listened to “Nevermind” all day.
At least that’s what I remember reading at the time 🙂
Yes I’ve also heard “millenials” for that generation, but Z, if there is a Z should actually cover the turn of the millenium. Somehow I doubt the AA thing will catch on for the general public!
According to Wikipedia Generation X was first coined in the 1950s (!!) but popularised in 1991, which would be about the time you’re talking about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_x
I had heard that ‘X’ referred to the 10th American generation since the American Revolution (1776), so that would mean Generation Y would be generation ‘XI’ etc etc. So lots of room for future generations!
That’s an interesting take, which I haven’t heard before! To get that number they must be taking a generation as 20 years long. An interesting take on that is that with people delaying having children for longer these days, an actual generation (within a family) is more like 30 years+. Yet at the same time we’re defining these “social” generations as about 15 yeas long, which means each generation is NOT the children of the previous, but generally the children of 2 generations previous. Anyway, happy enough for my kids to be know as Generation XII – I guess in Australia you could measure it from European Settlement in 1788 which was at a similar time.
As a 66 Xer I agree with Simone’s comment from the early 1990s. Also, from now, if Generations are to be defined by shared experiences, they are going to have to get shorter. My 2002 born daughter is just old enough to interview about her technological experiences yet her use of the web at 2-3 is ancient history compared to the toddlers on iPads and iPhones now.
It will be interesting to see Xers age as we (generally speaking of course) had our children much later than boomers. How will WE redefine ageing / retirement (something the boomers are popularly said to have done) given we’ll still be supporting students into our 60s? My boomer friends – just five years older than me – have children who are in their 20s. The seven children of my three best Uni friends (plus me) are all aged 2 to 12 (yet we are already ticking the 45-54 age box on surveys while living a primary school parent’s life). Watch this census and the next and the next!
I’ve heard Gen Z called Gen O, for obese. The first generation in history to be fatter then their parents and with a correspondingly shorter lifespan.
always thought about this topic.. and especially the choice of letters.. but interestingly maybe it was by design.. after all generation z is livin at the end of the mayan calendar cycle.. hmm coincidence maybe?
Yes, I’m afraid it’s co-incidence. Even the Mayans themselves didn’t believe the world was going to end in 2012!
Gen X Was never meant to be a letter. The X stands for the unknown factor. Some idiot didn’t realize this and decided to follow the damn alphabet. it shouldn’t have been a y or Z because X was never intended to be a letter
That’s right – X meant the generation with unknown characteristics coming after the baby boomers! On that basis, Y and Z don’t really mean anything.