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How did Generation X come by its name, where does it stand in the sociocultural realm, and why do we label generations?
abstract This article revisits the concept of generation through a critical sociological lens in order to apply its utility to Generation X as a social field. Discussion includes the relationship between Generation X and Baby Boomers, the background to the meaning of Generation X, and the historical and cultural dichotomies that define Generation X. It concludes with a conversation between the author (a Baby Boomer) and a member of Generation X. | key words: Generation X, Baby Boomers, demographic location
This article is a critical reflection on Generation X, with a focus on the utility of the concept of generation for identifying this group. In the current popular literature, Generation X is usually defined by its demographic location straddling earlier Baby Boom and later Millennial generations. However, the wider construction of Generation X as a social field has received far less attention, perhaps because of the general reluctance in the field of sociology to theorize about generations beyond static descriptive models. In this regard Edmunds and Turner (2002) note, "In the sociology of ageing, generations were interpreted as horizontal slices within the ageing structure," creating narrowly functionalist approaches to aging societies, such as Shmuel N. Eisenstadt's book From Generation to Generation (1956). Further, sociological research on social division and inequality, in its emphases on class, gender, region, and ethnicity, tends to overlook generation or relegate it to family studies.
At the same time, social gerontologists prefer the idea of cohort to that of generation, despite the ubiquity of gerontological terms such as "generational equity," "the generation gap," "intergenerational relations," and "generational consciousness." As Bengtson and Putney (2006) say in their work on generational conflict, "We feel it is better to use the term 'cohort' or age group at the macrosocial level, restricting the term 'generation' to placement in family lineage."
Cohorts are generally defined as a group of people born in the same time and place and consequently presumed to have similar aging experiences and life trajectories. Thus, compared to generation, cohort appears to have more of an identifiable character and, as such, has been a central component of life-course research, especially...