How long is a generation?

Neil Howe and William Strauss, who have done a lot of research on U.S. generations, break the 20th century into the following categories:

G.I Generation: 1901 to 1924
Silent Generation: 1925 to 1942
Boomer Generation: 1943 to 1960
13er Generation (Gen. X): 1961 to 1981
Millenial Generation (Gen. Y): 1982 to 2003

Which is an average of 20 years per generation.

How long are marketing cycles?

"Silent Generation" = uh, we couldn't think of a stupid catchphrase.

Haha Mr. Diamond OTM.

I should also note, "a lot of research" != "good, well-argued books." I have no problem with pop sociology (I like David Brooks), but for as important as Howe & Strauss seem to think their work is, it could do without the cutesy chapter titles, "Straight Dope"-style cartoons, and "USA Today"-style infographics.

Characteristics of millenial generation, I'm guessing, are a rapidly increasing dependence on and interest in technology in daily life. I was thinking how different my own life is than it was, say, 10 years ago. Pre-internet seems like a diff generation to me.

(Annoyed only because I think it's a potentially fascinating research topic.)

Yes, dleone, my 42-year-old office mate is always amazed that I grew up with computers, instead of learning them in college. But the extent to which I "grew up with" computers was that my parents bought an MS-DOS system when I was 7 or 8, and we weren't online until I was 16. (I'm 24 now.) So I can hardly imagine kids who've always had Internet access.

They brought computers into our 4th grade class (Apple II's, this was probably around '83) -- and I quickly learned BASIC and making little pictures move around and such. But somewhere along the line, I got out of it, and I remember in '93 or '94 seeing some kid in the dorms with the internet, and thinking it was pretty neat. And even then, I didn't really start using the internet for a couple of years.

The only reason I'm not totally sure the internet launched a new generation is because in general, people don't seem that much smarter to me. ;)

jaymc:

Are you absolutely sure about those generational numbers? Because I thought there was a "War Baby" generation that consisted of people born between 1941 - 1945, and that the "Baby Boomers" didn't come into effect until 1946. Also, I could've sworn I read in a ca. 2000 article in "American Demographics" that "Gen X"'s youngest were born in 1976 and that "Gen Y" started with those born in 1977. I even looked up a recent news piece on ABCNews.com that seems to back up that year as the earliest year for "Generation Y".

I know I definitely don't feel as though I belong under the category of "Generation X", nor do I feel that my parents were anything other than "War Babies" who certainly didn't get the cultural advantages the "Baby Boomers" got.

At any length, the, er, length of a "generation" seems to be purely dependent on historical and social factors. Some generations seem to last only a few short years; other generations seem to last a couple of decades. Just my personal observations, of course.

Strauss and Howe = interesting, but didn't they base a great deal of their conclusions off the Bible and astrological charts as well as hard sociological research?

Hrm I had always vaguely placed myself in the genX category (only very tenously though) and I was born in 1971. To me such generational constructs are more to do with marketing and trends than actual birth years. Certainly nowdays anyhow.

Justin, the two books I've read don't mention any Biblical/astrological stuff, but I wouldn't put it past them!

Dee, I think there's naturally going to be a lot of variation on those dates. I just used Howe & Strauss because they're the most prominent "experts" in the field.

I remain convinced that this is all complete nonsense.

Hrmmm. Very interesting. But remember that the basic sociological unit is a "cohort" rather than a generation. (Trying to remember exactly what a cohort is - I think it's four or five years on either side of you - basically someone you could have been at high school with.)

Because actual geneological generations are getting *longer* - people tend to have kids in their late 20's or early 30's now - while cultural generations are speeding up, as technology progresses faster.

I was thinking about this the other day. I was thinking about 10 or so years in cultural terms, and that may only be a recent thing though. The probaly is its very hard to draw firm lines. 20 woul be good from a biological sense, it that that's how a generation has to be to start procreating in this day and age, more or less.