A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively.[1] It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and begin to have children."[2] In kinship terminology, it is a structural term designating the parent-child relationship. It is known as biogenesis, reproduction, or procreation in the biological sciences.
Generation is also often used synonymously with birth/age cohort in demographics, marketing, and social science; under this formulation it means "people within a delineated population who experience the same significant events within a given period of time."[3] Generations in this sense of birth cohort, also known as "social generations", are widely used in popular culture, and have been the basis for sociological analysis. Serious analysis of generations began in the nineteenth century, emerging from an increasing awareness of the possibility of permanent social change and the idea of youthful rebellion against the established social order. Some analysts believe that a generation is one of the fundamental social categories in a society, while others view its importance as being overshadowed by other factors including class, gender, race, and education, among others.
Etymology
The word generate comes from the Latin generāre, meaning "to beget".[4] The word generation as a group or cohort in social science signifies the entire body of individuals born and living at about the same time, most of whom are approximately the same age and have similar ideas, problems, and attitudes (e.g., Beat Generation and Lost Generation).[5]
Familial generation
A familial generation is a group of living beings constituting a single step in the line of descent from an ancestor.[6] In developed nations the average familial generation length is in the high 20s and has even reached 30 years in some nations.[7] Factors such as greater industrialisation and demand for cheap labour, urbanisation, delayed first pregnancy and a greater uncertainty in both employment income and relationship stability have all contributed to the increase of the generation length from the late 18th century to the present. These changes can be attributed to social factors, such as GDP and state policy, globalization, automation, and related individual-level variables, particularly a woman's educational attainment.[8] Conversely, in less-developed nations, generation length has changed little and remains in the low 20s.[7][9]
An intergenerational rift in the nuclear family, between the parents and two or more of their children, is one of several possible dynamics of a dysfunctional family. Coalitions in families are subsystems within families with more rigid boundaries and are thought to be a sign of family dysfunction.[10]
Social generation
Social generations are cohorts of people born in the same date range and who share similar cultural experiences.[11] The idea of a social generation has a long history and can be found in ancient literature,[12] but did not gain currency in the sense that it is used today until the 19th century. Prior to that the concept "generation" had generally referred to family relationships and not broader social groupings. In 1863, French lexicographer Emile Littré had defined a generation as "all people coexisting in society at any given time."[13]: 19
Several trends promoted a new idea of generations, as the 19th century wore on, of a society divided into different categories of people based on age. These trends were all related to the processes of modernisation, industrialisation, or westernisation, which had been changing the face of Europe since the mid-18th century. One was a change in mentality about time and social change. The increasing prevalence of enlightenment ideas encouraged the idea that society and life were changeable, and that civilization could progress. This encouraged the equation of youth with social renewal and change. Political rhetoric in the 19th century often focused on the renewing power of youth influenced by movements such as Young Italy, Young Germany, Sturm und Drang, the German Youth Movement, and other romantic movements. By the end of the 19th century, European intellectuals were disposed toward thinking of the world in generational terms—in terms of youth rebellion and emancipation.[13]
Two important contributing factors to the change in mentality were the change in the economic structure of society. Because of the rapid social and economic change, young men particularly were less beholden to their fathers and family authority than they had been. Greater social and economic mobility allowed them to flout their authority to a much greater extent than had traditionally been possible. Additionally, the skills and wisdom of fathers were often less valuable than they had been due to technological and social change.[13] During this time, the period between childhood and adulthood, usually spent at university or in military service, was also increased for many people entering white-collar jobs. This category of people was very influential in spreading the ideas of youthful renewal.[13]
Another important factor was the breakdown of traditional social and regional identifications. The spread of nationalism and many of the factors that created it (a national press, linguistic homogenisation, public education, suppression of local particularities) encouraged a broader sense of belonging beyond local affiliations. People thought of themselves increasingly as part of a society, and this encouraged identification with groups beyond the local.[13] Auguste Comte was the first philosopher to make a serious attempt to systematically study generations. In Cours de philosophie positive, Comte suggested that social change is determined by generational change and in particular conflict between successive generations.[14] As the members of a given generation age, their "instinct of social conservation" becomes stronger, which inevitably and necessarily brings them into conflict with the "normal attribute of youth"—innovation. Other important theorists of the 19th century were John Stuart Mill and Wilhelm Dilthey.
Generational theory
Sociologist Karl Mannheim was a seminal figure in the study of generations. He elaborated a theory of generations in his 1923 essay The Problem of Generations.[3] He suggested that there had been a division into two primary schools of study of generations until that time. Firstly, positivists such as Comte measured social change in designated life spans. Mannheim argued that this reduced history to "a chronological table". The other school, the "romantic-historical" was represented by Dilthey and Martin Heidegger. This school focused on the individual qualitative experience at the expense of social context. Mannheim emphasised that the rapidity of social change in youth was crucial to the formation of generations, and that not every generation would come to see itself as distinct. In periods of rapid social change a generation would be much more likely to develop a cohesive character. He also believed that a number of distinct sub-generations could exist.[3] According to Gilleard and Higgs, Mannheim identified three commonalities that a generation shares:[15]
- Shared temporal location: generational site or birth cohort
- Shared historical location: generation as actuality or exposure to a common era
- Shared sociocultural location: generational consciousness or "entelechy"
Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe developed the Strauss–Howe generational theory outlining what they saw as a pattern of generations repeating throughout American history. This theory became quite influential with the public and reignited an interest in the sociology of generations. This led to the creation of an industry of consulting, publishing, and marketing in the field[16] (corporations spent approximately 70 million dollars on generational consulting in the U.S. in 2015).[17] The theory has alternatively been criticized by social scientists and journalists who argue it is non-falsifiable, deterministic, and unsupported by rigorous evidence.[18][19][20]
There are psychological and sociological dimensions in the sense of belonging and identity which may define a generation. The concept of a generation can be used to locate particular birth cohorts in specific historical and cultural circumstances, such as the "Baby boomers".[12] Historian Hans Jaeger shows that, during the concept's long history, two schools of thought coalesced regarding how generations form: the "pulse-rate hypothesis" and the "imprint hypothesis."[21] According to the pulse-rate hypothesis, a society's entire population can be divided into a series of non-overlapping cohorts, each of which develops a unique "peer personality" because of the time period in which each cohort came of age.[22] The movement of these cohorts from one life-stage to the next creates a repeating cycle that shapes the history of that society. A prominent example of pulse-rate generational theory is Strauss and Howe's theory. Social scientists tend to reject the pulse-rate hypothesis because, as Jaeger explains, "the concrete results of the theory of the universal pulse rate of history are, of course, very modest. With a few exceptions, the same goes for the partial pulse-rate theories. Since they generally gather data without any knowledge of statistical principles, the authors are often least likely to notice to what extent the jungle of names and numbers which they present lacks any convincing organization according to generations."[23]
Social scientists follow the "imprint hypothesis" of generations (i.e., that major historical events—such as the Vietnam War, the September 11 attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic, etc.—leave an "imprint" on the generation experiencing them at a young age), which can be traced to Karl Mannheim's theory. According to the imprint hypothesis, generations are only produced by specific historical events that cause young people to perceive the world differently than their elders. Thus, not everyone may be part of a generation; only those who share a unique social and biographical experience of an important historical moment will become part of a "generation as an actuality."[24] When following the imprint hypothesis, social scientists face a number of challenges. They cannot accept the labels and chronological boundaries of generations that come from the pulse-rate hypothesis (like Generation X or Millennial); instead, the chronological boundaries of generations must be determined inductively and who is part of the generation must be determined through historical, quantitative, and qualitative analysis.[25]
While all generations have similarities, there are differences among them as well. A 2007 Pew Research Center report called "Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change" noted the challenge of studying generations:
Generational analysis has a long and distinguished place in social science, and we cast our lot with those scholars who believe it is not only possible, but often highly illuminating, to search for the unique and distinctive characteristics of any given age group of Americans. But we also know this is not an exact science. We are mindful that there are as many differences in attitudes, values, behaviors, and lifestyles within a generation as there are between generations. But we believe this reality does not diminish the value of generational analysis; it merely adds to its richness and complexity.[26]
Another element of generational theory is recognizing how youth experience their generation, and how that changes based on where they reside in the world. "Analyzing young people's experiences in place contributes to a deeper understanding of the processes of individualization, inequality, and of generation."[27] Being able to take a closer looks at youth cultures and subcultures in different times and places adds an extra element to understanding the everyday lives of youth. This allows a better understanding of youth and the way generation and place play in their development.[28] It is not where the birth cohort boundaries are drawn that is important, but how individuals and societies interpret the boundaries and how divisions may shape processes and outcomes. However, the practice of categorizing age cohorts is useful to researchers for the purpose of constructing boundaries in their work.[29]
Generational tension
Norman Ryder, writing in American Sociological Review in 1965, shed light on the sociology of the discord between generations by suggesting that society "persists despite the mortality of its individual members, through processes of demographic metabolism and particularly the annual infusion of birth cohorts". He argued that generations may sometimes be a "threat to stability" but at the same time they represent "the opportunity for social transformation".[30] Ryder attempted to understand the dynamics at play between generations.
Amanda Grenier, in a 2007 essay published in Journal of Social Issues, offered another source of explanation for why generational tensions exist. Grenier asserted that generations develop their own linguistic models that contribute to misunderstanding between age cohorts, "Different ways of speaking exercised by older and younger people exist, and may be partially explained by social historical reference points, culturally determined experiences, and individual interpretations".[31]
Karl Mannheim, in his 1952 book Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge asserted the belief that people are shaped through lived experiences as a result of social change. Howe and Strauss also have written on the similarities of people within a generation being attributed to social change. Based on the way these lived experiences shape a generation in regard to values, the result is that the new generation will challenge the older generation's values, resulting in tension. This challenge between generations and the tension that arises is a defining point for understanding generations and what separates them.[32]
Criticism
Philip N. Cohen, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, criticized the use of "generation labels", stating that the labels are "imposed by survey researchers, journalists or marketing firms" and "drive people toward stereotyping and rash character judgment." Cohen's open letter, which outlines his criticism of generational labels, received at least 150 signatures from other demographers and social scientists.[33]
Louis Menand, writer at The New Yorker, stated that "there is no empirical basis" for the contention "that differences within a generation are smaller than differences between generations." He argued that generational theories "seem to require" that people born at the tail end of one generation and people born at the beginning of another (e.g. a person born in 1965, the first year of Generation X, and a person born in 1964, the last of the Boomer era) "must have different values, tastes, and life experiences" or that people born in the first and last birth years of a generation (e.g. a person born in 1980, the last year of Generation X, and a person born in 1965, the first year of Generation X) "have more in common" than with people born a couple years before or after them.[17]
List of social generations
Western world
The Western world includes Western Europe, the Americas, and Australasia. Many variations may exist within these regions, both geographically and culturally, which means that the list is broadly indicative, but very general. The contemporary characterization of these cohorts used in media and advertising borrows, in part, from the Strauss–Howe generational theory[16][34] and generally follows the logic of the pulse-rate hypothesis.[35]
- The Lost Generation, also known as the "Generation of 1914" in Europe,[36] is a term originating from Gertrude Stein to describe those who fought in World War I. The Lost Generation is defined as the cohort born from 1883 to 1900 who came of age during World War I and the Roaring Twenties.[37]
- The Greatest Generation, also known as the "G.I. Generation",[38] includes the veterans who fought in World War II. They were born from 1901 to 1927;[39] older G.I.s (or the Interbellum Generation) came of age during the Roaring Twenties, while younger G.I.s came of age during the Great Depression and World War II. Journalist Tom Brokaw wrote about American members of this cohort in his book The Greatest Generation, which popularized the term.[40]
- The Silent Generation, also known as the "Lucky Few", is the cohort who came of age in the post–World War II era. They were born from 1928 to 1945.[41][42] In the U.S., this group includes most of those who may have fought the Korean War and many of those who may have fought during the Vietnam War.
- Baby boomers are the people born following World War II from 1946 to 1964. Increased birth rates were observed during the post–World War II baby boom, making them a relatively large demographic cohort.[43][44] In the U.S., many older boomers may have fought in the Vietnam War or participated in the counterculture of the 1960s, while younger boomers (or Generation Jones) came of age in the "malaise" years of the 1970s.[45]
- Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the cohort following the baby boomers. The generation is generally defined as people born between 1965 and 1980.[46] The term has also been used in different times and places for a number of different subcultures or countercultures since the 1950s. In the U.S., some called Xers the "baby bust" generation because of a drop in birth rates following the baby boom.[47]
- Millennials, also known as Generation Y[48] (or Gen Y for short), are the generation following Generation X who grew up around the turn of the 3rd millennium.[49] This generation is typically defined as those born from 1981 to 1996.[50][51][52][53] The Pew Research Center reported that Millennials surpassed the Baby Boomers in U.S. numbers in 2019, with an estimated 71.6 million Boomers and 72.1 million Millennials.[54]
- Generation Z (or Gen Z for short and colloquially as "Zoomers"), are the people succeeding the Millennials. Pew Research Center describes Generation Z as spanning from 1997 to 2012.[55] Both the United States Library of Congress and Statistics Canada have cited Pew's definition of 1997–2012 for Generation Z.[50][51] In a 2022 report, the U.S. Census designates Generation Z as those born 1997 to 2013.[53] The Australian Bureau of Statistics uses 1996 to 2010 to define Generation Z in a 2022 publication.[56]
- Generation Alpha (or Gen Alpha for short) are the generation succeeding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media typically use the early 2010s as starting birth years and the mid-2020s as ending birth years. Generation Alpha is the first to be born entirely in the 21st century.[57] As of 2015, there were some two-and-a-half million people born every week around the globe, and Gen Alpha is expected to reach two billion in size by 2025.[58]
Other areas
- In Armenia, people born after the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 are known as the "Independence generation".
- In Bulgaria, people born in the final years of communism and early years of democracy (mid-1980s to mid-1990s) are known as "the children of the transition". They are believed to have had a difficult time adapting, due to many changes in the country occurring along the same time period as them growing up into adulthood. Regime and economic changes, shifts from eastern to western cultural values and influences, among other factors, were things their parents from previous generations, could not prepare them for.[citation needed]
- In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the generation of people born in Czechoslovakia during the baby boom which started in the early 1970s, during the period of "normalization" are called "Husák's children". The generation was named after the President and long-term Communist leader of Czechoslovakia, Gustáv Husák.[59] This was due to his political program to boost the growth of population.
- In the People's Republic of China, the "Post-80s" (Chinese: 八零后世代 or 八零后) (born-after-1980 generation) are those who were born in the 1980s in urban areas of Mainland China. Growing up in modern China, the Post-80s has been characterised by its optimism for the future, newfound excitement for consumerism and entrepreneurship and acceptance of its historic role in transforming modern China into an economic power.[60] There is also the similarly named "Post-90s" (Chinese: 九零后), those born in the post-Tiananmen era of the 1990s.[61][62] A broader generational classification would be the "one-child generation" born between the introduction of the one-child policy in 1980 and its softening into a "two-child policy" in 2013. The lack of siblings has had profound psychological effects on this generation, such as egoism due to always being at the centre of parents' attention as well as the stress of having to be the sole provider once the parents retire.
- People born post-1980s in Hong Kong are for the most part different from the same generation in mainland China.[63] The term "Post-80s" (zh: 八十後) came into use in Hong Kong between 2009 and 2010, particularly during the opposition to the Guangzhou-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, during which a group of young activists came to the forefront of Hong Kong's political scene.[64] They are said to be "post-materialist" in outlook, and they are particularly vocal in issues such as urban development, culture and heritage, and political reform. Their campaigns include the fight for the preservation of Lee Tung Street, the Star Ferry Pier and the Queen's Pier, Choi Yuen Tsuen Village, real political reform (on 23 June), and a citizen-oriented Kowloon West Art district. Their discourse mainly develops around themes such as anti-colonialism, sustainable development, and democracy.
- In Israel, where most Ashkenazi Jews born before the end of World War II were Holocaust survivors, children of survivors and people who survived as babies are sometimes referred to as the "second generation (of Holocaust survivors)" (Hebrew: דור שני לניצולי שואה, dor sheni lenitsolei shoah; or more often just דור שני לשואה, dor sheni lashoah, literally "second generation to the Holocaust"). This term is particularly common in the context of psychological, social, and political implications of the individual and national transgenerational trauma caused by the Holocaust. Some researchers have also found signs of trauma in third-generation Holocaust survivors.[65]
- In Norway, the term "the dessert generation" has been applied to the baby boomers and every generation afterwards.[66]
- In Singapore, people born before 1949 are referred to as the "Pioneer Generation" for their contributions to Singapore during the nation's earliest years. Likewise, those born between 1950 and 1959 are referred to as the "Merdeka Generation" as their formative years were during the political turbulence of the 1950s to 1960s in Singapore.[67]
- In South Africa, people born after the 1994 general election, the first after apartheid was ended, are often referred to in media as the "born-free generation".[68] People born after the year 2000 are often referred to as "Ama2000",[69] a term popularized by music and a Coca-Cola advert.[70]
- In South Korea, generational cohorts are often defined around the democratization of the country, with various schemes suggested including names such as the "democratization generation", 386 generation[71][72] (named after Intel 386 computer in the 1990s to describe people in their late 30s and early 40s who were born in the 1960s, and attended university/college in the 1980s, also called the "June 3, 1987 generation"), that witnessed the June uprising, the "April 19 generation" (that struggled against the Syngman Rhee regime in 1960), the "June 3 generation" (that struggled against the normalization treaty with Japan in 1964), the "1969 generation" (that struggled against the constitutional revision allowing three presidential terms), and the shin-se-dae ("new") generation.[72][73][74] The term Shin-se-dae generation refers to the generation following Millennials in the Korean language. The Shin-se-dae generation are mostly free from ideological or political bias.[75]
- In India, generations tend to follow a pattern similar to the broad Western model, although there are still major differences, especially in the older generations.[76] One interpretation sees India's independence in 1947 as India's major generational shift. People born in the 1930s and 1940s tended to be loyal to the new state and tended to adhere to "traditional" divisions of society. Indian "boomers", those born after independence and into the early 1960s, witnessed events like the Indian Emergency between 1975 and 1977 which made a number of them somewhat skeptical of the government.
- In the Philippines people born before or during the Second World War (as well as those living as adults in that period) constituting an unofficial generation. "Martial Law Babies" are generally defined as people born in the time period between the imposition of Martial Law by President Ferdinand Marcos on 21 September 1972 and its formal lifting in January 1981.[77] The term is sometimes extended to anyone born within Marcos' entire 21-year rule, while those born after the 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled the regime are sometimes termed "EDSA Babies".[78]
- In Russia, characteristics of Russian generations are determined by fateful historical events that significantly change either the foundations of the life of the country as a whole or the rules of life in a certain period of time. Names and given descriptions of Russian generations: the Generation of Winners,[79] the generation of the Cold War, the generation of Perestroika, the first non-Soviet generation (the children of Perestroika, the Witnesses of Perestroika), the digital generation.[80]
- In Sweden, it is common to talk about people based on the decades of their births: "40-talist" (a person that was born in the 1940s), "50-talist" (a person that was born in the 1950s), etc.
- In Taiwan, the term Strawberry generation refers to Taiwanese people born after 1981 who "bruise easily" like strawberries—meaning they can not withstand social pressure or work hard like their parents' generation; the term refers to people who are insubordinate, spoiled, selfish, arrogant, and sluggish in work.
Other terminology
The term generation is sometimes applied to a cultural movement, or more narrowly defined group than an entire demographic. Some examples include:
- The Stolen Generations, refers to children of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander descent, who were forcibly removed from their families by Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions, under Acts of their respective parliaments between approximately 1869 and 1969.[81]
- The Beat Generation, refers to a popular American cultural movement widely cited by social scholars as having laid the foundation of the pro-active American counterculture of the 1960s. It consisted of Americans born between the two world wars who came of age in the rise of the automobile era, and the surrounding accessibility they brought to the culturally diverse, yet geographically broad and separated nation.[82]
- Generation Jones is a term coined by Jonathan Pontell to describe the cohort of people born between 1954 and 1965. The term is used primarily in English-speaking countries.[83][84] Pontell defined Generation Jones as referring to the second half of the post–World War II baby boom.[85] The term also includes first-wave Generation X.
- MTV Generation, a term referring to the adolescents and young adults of the 1980s and early-mid 1990s who were heavily influenced by the MTV television channel. It is often used synonymously with Generation X.[86][87][88]
- In Europe, a variety of terms have emerged in different countries particularly hard hit following the financial crisis of 2007–2008 to designate young people with limited employment and career prospects.[89]
- The Generation of 500 is a term popularized by the Greek mass media and refers to educated Greek twixters of urban centers who generally fail to establish a career. Young adults are usually forced into underemployment in temporary and occasional jobs, unrelated to their educational background, and receive the minimum allowable base salary of €500. This generation evolved in circumstances leading to the Greek debt crisis and participated in the 2010–2011 Greek protests.[90]
- In Spain, they are referred to as the mileuristas (for €1,000, "the thousand-euro-ists").[91]
- In Portugal, they are called the Geração à Rasca (the "Scraping-By Generation"); a twist on the older term Geração Rasca ("the Lousy Generation") used by detractors to refer to student demonstrations in the 1990s against Education Ministers António Couto dos Santos and later Manuela Ferreira Leite.
- In France, Génération précaire ("The Precarious Generation").
- In Italy also the generation of 1,000 euros.
- Xennials, Oregon Trail Generation, and Generation Catalano are terms used to describe individuals born during Generation X/Millennial cusp years. Xennials is a portmanteau blending the words Generation X and Millennials to describe a microgeneration of people born from the late 1970s to early 1980s.[92][93][94][95][96]
- Zillennials, Zennials, Snapchat Generation, and MinionZ are terms used to describe individuals born during the Millennial/Generation Z cusp years. Zillennials is a portmanteau blending the words Millennials and Generation Z to describe a microgeneration of people born from the early 1990s to the early 2000s.[97]
See also
- Age set
- Cusper
- Generational accounting
- Generationism
- Intergenerational equity
- Intergenerationality
- Transgenerational design
References
- Brandon, Emily. "The Youngest Baby Boomers Turn 50". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- "Baby Boomers". History.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- Fry, Richard. "This year, Millennials will overtake Baby Boomers". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on 10 November 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- Howe, Neil; Strauss, William (1991). Generations: The History of Americas Future, 1584 to 2069. New York: William Morrow. pp. 299–316. ISBN 978-0-688-11912-6.
- Owram, Doug (1997). Born at the Right Time. Toronto: Univ Of Toronto Press. p. xiv. ISBN 978-0-8020-8086-8.
- Jones, Landon (1970). Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation. New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan.
Strictly speaking, Martial Law Babies are those brats born between 1972, the year Ferdinand Marcos declared Batas Militar on September 21, to 1981, the year he pretended to lift it. But pretenses aside, the spirit of repression, some say, began in 1966, (sic) when Marcos began carrying out his Napoleonic delusions, and ended in 1986, when a flat-shoed Cory Aquino stepped inside Malacanang and discovered thousands of high heels...Symbolically, the twenty-year (sic) Marcos regime has as its inner core the 10 years of Martial Law.
Read on and find out: Were you a Martial Law baby? Were you someone born between the time Ferdinand Marcos became president and when Martial Law was formally lifted in 1981? Or were you born after the downfall of the Marcos regime in 1986 – an EDSA baby?
- Hannah L. Ubl; Lisa X. Walden; Debra Arbit (24 April 2017). "Chapter 13: Making Adjustments for Ages and Life Stages". Managing Millennials For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 266. ISBN 978-1-119-31022-8.
Further reading
- Fry, Richard (16 January 2015). "This Year, Millennials Will Overtake Baby Boomers". Pew Center.
- Ialenti, Vincent (6 April 2016). "Generation". Society for Cultural Anthropology.
- Ulrike Jureit: "Generation, Generationality, Generational Research", version: 2, in: Docupedia Zeitgeschichte, 09. August 2017
External links
The dictionary definition of generation at Wiktionary
Quotations related to Generation at Wikiquote
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation
Future generations are cohorts of hypothetical people not yet born. Future generations are contrasted with current and past generations, and evoked in order to encourage thinking about intergenerational equity.[2] The moral patienthood of future generations has been argued for extensively among philosophers, and is thought of as an important, neglected cause by the effective altruism community.[3] The term is often used in describing the conservation or preservation of cultural heritage or natural heritage.
The sustainability and climate movements have adopted the concept as a tool for enshrining principles of long-term thinking into law.[4] The concept is often connected to indigenous thinking as a principle for ecological action, such as the seven generation concept attributed to Iroquois tradition.[5]
Sources
The term refers to the impact which the currently living generation has on the world which future generations will live in, the world they will inherit from humans living today. This concept is referred to in the most widely quoted definition of sustainability as a part of the concept sustainable development, is that of the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations on March 20, 1987: "sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."[6][7]
The use of future generations in international law is in part recognized by the Charter of the United Nations which focuses on preventing the "scourge of war" on future generations.[5] With the publication of UN Secretary-General's landmark Our Common Agenda report in September 2021,[8] there has been a renewed interest in understanding, action for, and representing future generations in the multilateral system.[9]
UNESCO declaration
Proclaimed on November 12, 1997, the UNESCO Declaration on the Responsibilities of the Present Generations Towards Future Generations is an international agreement (potentially part of international customary law) which includes provisions related to the common heritage of mankind.[10]
'The present generations have the responsibility to bequeath to future generations an Earth which will not one day be irreversibly damaged by human activity. Each generation inheriting the Earth temporarily should take care to use natural resources reasonably and ensure that life is not prejudiced by harmful modifications of the ecosystems and that scientific and technological progress in all fields does not harm life on Earth.'.
— UNESCO, Declaration on Future Generations Article 4
'With due respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, the present generations should take care to preserve the cultural diversity of humankind. The present generations have the responsibility to identify, protect and safeguard the tangible and intangible cultural heritage and to transmit this common heritage to future generations.'.
— UNESCO, Declaration on Future Generations Article 7
'The present generations may use the common heritage of humankind, as defined in international law, provided that this does not entail compromising it irreversibly.'.
— UNESCO, Declaration on Future Generations Article 8
'1. The present generations should ensure that both they and future generations learn to live together in peace, security, respect for international law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
2. The present generations should spare future generations the scourge of war. To that end, they should avoid exposing future generations to the harmful consequences of armed conflicts as well as all other forms of aggression and use of weapons, contrary to humanitarian principles. '.— UNESCO, Declaration on Future Generations Article 9
Economics
The financial state of people in future generations is widely debated. However, a study in 2022 revealed that a majority of people believe that the financial state of future generations will be worse than their current state. Adults were interviewed in 19 countries (Japan, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, United Kingdoms, Australia, United States, Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, South Korea, Germany, Malaysia, Hungary, Sweden, Poland, Singapore, and Israel), and the adults in almost every country agreed that the financial state of future generations would be worse.[11]
The 19-country median was 70-27-3 (worse-better-same). The Pew Research Center was responsible for conducting the survey.[11]
Legal rights of future generations
Most implementations of future generations focus on enshrining the rights and needs of future generations in law, in order to represent those unable to voice their needs.[12][13]
Several countries have tried enshrining obligations to future generations in law. In Wales, this moral obligation is encoded as a legal duty in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and in the role of the Future Generations Commissioner.[14] The first commissioner Sophie Howe modeled the role, proposing a number of new policies designed for future-thinking policy in Wales, including a 2020 Manifesto for the Future.[15] Similarly in Hungary the office of the Hungarian Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations was established in 2008.[16] While in the United Kingdom, an informal cross-party parliamentary group has been established to discuss issues around future generations.
Climate litigation
The rights of future generations are increasingly being protected in legal precedents as part of the global trends in climate litigation.[17] Future generations were the defendant in the critical defendants in a 2018 case Future Generations v. Ministry of the Environment and Others in Colombia which protected the Amazon rainforest basin for future generations.[17]
In popular culture
The rights of future generations were the inspiration for the principle plot device in Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future.[18]
See also
References
- "The Ministry for the Future, Green New Deal and CoViD-19 musings | KimStanleyRobinson.info". www.kimstanleyrobinson.info. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_generations
A generation gap or generational gap is a difference of opinions between one generation and another regarding beliefs, politics, or values. In today's usage, generation gap often refers to a perceived gap between younger people and their parents or grandparents.[1]
History
Early sociologists such as Karl Mannheim noted differences across generations in how the youth transits into adulthood,[2] and studied the ways in which generations separate themselves from one another, in the home and in social situations and areas (such as churches, clubs, senior centers, and youth centers).
The sociological theory of a generation gap first came to light in the 1960s, when the younger generation (later known as baby boomers) seemed to go against everything their parents had previously believed in terms of music, values, governmental and political views as well as cultural tastes. Sociologists now refer to the "generation gap" as "institutional age segregation". Usually, when any of these age groups are engaged in its primary activity, the individual members are physically isolated from people of other generations, with little interaction across age barriers except at the nuclear family level.
Distinguishing generation gaps
There are several ways to make distinctions between generations. For example, names are given to major groups (Silent Generation, Baby boomers, Generation X, Millennials, Generation Z, and Generation Alpha) and each generation sets its own trends and has its own cultural impact.
Language use
It can be distinguished by the differences in their language use. The generation gap has created a parallel gap in language that can be difficult to communicate across. This issue is one visible throughout society, creating complications within a day to day communication at home, in the workplace, and within schools. As new generations seek to define themselves as something apart from the old, they adopt new lingo and slang, allowing a generation to create a sense of division from the previous one. This is a visible gap between generations we see every day. "Man's most important symbol is his language and through this language, he defines his reality."[3]
Slang
Slang is an ever-changing set of colloquial words and phrases that speakers use to establish or reinforce social identity or cohesiveness within a group or with a trend in society at large.[4] As each successive generation of society struggles to establish its own unique identity among its predecessors it can be determined that generational gaps provide a large influence over the continual change and adaptation of slang. As slang is often regarded as an ephemeral dialect, a constant supply of new words is required to meet the demands of the rapid change in characteristics.[4] And while most slang terms maintain a fairly brief duration of popularity, slang provides a quick and readily available vernacular screen to establish and maintain generational gaps in a societal context.
Technological influences
Every generation develops new slang, but with the development of technology, understanding gaps have widened between the older and younger generations. "The term 'communication skills,' for example, might mean formal writing and speaking abilities to an older worker. But it might mean e-mail and instant-messenger savvy to a twenty-something."[5] People often have private conversations in secret in a crowded room in today's age due to the advances of mobile phones and text messaging. Among "texters" a form of slang or texting lingo has developed, often keeping those not as tech-savvy out of the loop. "Children increasingly rely on personal technological devices like cell phones to define themselves and create social circles apart from their families, changing the way they communicate with their parents. Cell phones, instant messaging, e-mail and the like have encouraged younger users to create their own inventive, quirky and very private written language. That has given them the opportunity to essentially hide in plain sight. They are more connected than ever, but also far more independent. Text messaging, in particular, has perhaps become this generation's version of Pig Latin."[6]
While in the case of language skills such as shorthand, a system of stenography popular during the twentieth century, technological innovations occurring between generations have made these skills obsolete. Older generations used shorthand to be able to take notes and write faster using abbreviated symbols, rather than having to write each word. However, with new technology and the keyboard, newer generations no longer need these older communication skills, like Gregg shorthand. Although over 20 years ago, language skills such as shorthand classes were taught in many high schools, now students have rarely seen or even heard of forms like shorthand.[7]
The transitions from each level of lifespan development have remained the same throughout history. They have all shared the same basic milestones in their travel from childhood, through midlife and into retirement. However, while the pathways remain the same—i.e. attending school, marriage, raising families, retiring—the actual journey varies not only with each individual, but with each new generation.[8]
In 2011, the National Sleep Foundation conducted a poll that focused on sleep and the use of technology; 95% of those polled admitted to using some form of technology within the last hour before going to bed at night. The study compared the difference in sleep patterns in those who watched TV or listened to music prior to bedtime compared to those who used cell phones, video games and the Internet.[9] The study looked at Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964), Generation Xers (born 1965–1980), Generation Yers (born 1981–1996), and Generation Zers (born 1997–2012). The research, as expected, showed generational gaps between the different forms of technology used. The largest gap was shown between texting and talking on the phone; 56% of Gen Zers and 42% of Gen Y’ers admitted to sending, receiving, reading text messages every night within one hour prior to bedtime, compared to only 15% of Gen Xers, and 5% of Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers were more likely to watch TV within the last hour prior to bedtime, 67%, compared to Millennials, who came in at 49%. When asked about computer/internet use within the last hour prior to bedtime, 70% of those polled admitted to using a computer "a few times a week", and from those, 55% of the Gen Z’ers said they "surf the web" every night before bed.[9]
Language brokering
Another phenomenon within a language that works to define a generation gap occurs within families in which different generations speak different primary languages. In order to find a means to communicate within the household environment, many have taken up the practice of language brokering, which refers to the "interpretation and translation performed in everyday situations by bilinguals who have had no special training".[10] In immigrant families where the first generation speaks primarily in their native tongue, the second generation primarily in the language of the country in which they now live while still retaining fluency in their parent's dominant language, and the third generation primarily in the language of the country they were born in while retaining little to no conversational language in their grandparent's native tongue, the second generation family members serve as interpreters not only to outside persons, but within the household, further propelling generational differences and divisions by means of linguistic communication.[11]
In some immigrant families and communities, language brokering is also used to integrate children into family endeavors and into civil society. Child integration has become very important to form linkages between new immigrant communities and the predominant culture and new forms of bureaucratic systems.[12] It also serves towards child development by learning and pitching in.
Workplace attitudes
USA Today reported that younger generations are "entering the workplace in the face of demographic change and an increasingly multi-generational workplace".[13] Multiple engagement studies show that the interests shared across the generation gap by members of this increasingly multi-generational workplace can differ substantially.[14]
A popular belief held by older generations is that the characteristics of Millennials can potentially complicate professional interactions. Some consider Millennials to be narcissistic and self-centered. When millennials first enter a new organization, they are often greeted with wary coworkers. Studies have found that millennials are usually exceptionally confident in their abilities and seek key roles in significant projects early on in their careers.[15]
Most of these inflated expectations are direct results of the generation's upbringing. During the Great Recession, millennials watched first-hand as their parents worked long hours, only to fall victim to downsizing and layoffs. Many families could not withstand these challenges, leading to high divorce rates and broken families. In fact, 59% of Millennials say the Great Recession negatively impacted their career plans, while only 35% of mature workers feel the same way.[16] For these reasons, millennials are more likely to negotiate the terms of their work.[17] Though some boomers view this as lazy behavior, others have actually been able to learn from millennials, reflecting on whether the sacrifices that they had made in their lives provided them with the happiness that they had hoped for.
Growing up, millennials looked to parents, teachers, and coaches as a source of praise and support. They were a part of an educational system with inflated grades and standardized tests, in which they were skilled at performing well. Millennials developed a strong need for frequent, positive feedback from supervisors. Today, managers find themselves assessing their subordinates’ productivity quite frequently, despite the fact that they often find it burdensome. Additionally, millennials’ salaries and employee benefits give this generation an idea of how well they are performing. Millennials crave success, and good-paying jobs have been proven to make them feel more successful.[17]
Because group projects and presentations were commonplace during the schooling of millennials, this generation enjoys collaborating and even developing close friendships with colleagues. While working as part of a team enhances innovation, enhances productivity, and lowers personnel costs. Supervisors find that millennials avoid risk and independent responsibility by relying on team members when making decisions, which prevents them from showcasing their own abilities.[15]
Perhaps the most commonly cited difference between older and younger generations is technological proficiency. Studies have shown that their reliance on technology has made millennials less comfortable with face-to-face interaction and deciphering verbal cues. However, technological proficiency also has its benefits; millennials are far more effective in multitasking, responding to visual stimulation, and filtering information than older generations.[18]
However, according to the engagement studies, mature workers and the new generations of workers share similar thoughts on a number of topics across the generation gap. Their opinions overlap on flexible working hours/arrangements, promotions/bonuses, the importance of computer proficiency, and leadership. Additionally, the majority of Millennials and mature workers enjoy going to work every day and feel inspired to do their best.[16]
Generational consciousness
Generational consciousness is another way of distinguishing among generations that was worked on by social scientist Karl Mannheim. Generational consciousness is when a group of people become mindful of their place in a distinct group identifiable by their shared interests and values. Social, economic, or political changes can bring awareness to these shared interests and values for similarly-aged people who experience these events together and thereby form a generational consciousness. These types of experiences can impact individuals' development at a young age and enable them to begin making their own interpretations of the world based on personal encounters that set them apart from other generations.[19]
Intergenerational living
"Both social isolation and loneliness in older men and women are associated with increased mortality, according to a 2012 Report by the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America".[20] Intergenerational living is one method being used worldwide as a means of combating such feelings. A nursing home in Deventer, The Netherlands, developed a program wherein students from a local university are provided small, rent-free apartments within the nursing home facility. In exchange, the students volunteer a minimum of 30 hours per month to spend time with the seniors. The students will watch sports with the seniors, celebrate birthdays, and simply keep them company during illnesses and times of distress.[20] Programs similar to the Netherlands’ program were developed as far back as the mid-1990s in Barcelona, Spain. In Spain's program, students were placed in seniors’ homes, with a similar goal of free or cheap housing in exchange for companionship for the elderly. That program quickly spread to 27 other cities throughout Spain, and similar programs can be found in Lyon, France, and Cleveland, Ohio.[21]
Demographics
In order for sociologists to understand the transition into adulthood of children in different generation gaps, they compare the current generation to both older and earlier generations at the same time. Not only does each generation experience their own ways of mental and physical maturation, but they also create new aspects of attending school, forming new households, starting families and even creating new demographics. The difference in demographics regarding values, attitudes and behaviors between the two generations are used to create a profile for the emerging generation of young adults.[8]
Following the thriving economic success that was a product of the Second World War, America's population skyrocketed between the years 1940-1959, to which the new American generation was called the Baby Boomers. Today, as of 2017, many of these Baby Boomers have celebrated their 60th birthdays and in the next few years America's senior citizen population will boost exponentially due to the population of people who were born during the years 1940 and 1959. The generation gap, however, between the Baby Boomers and earlier generations is growing due to the Boomers population post-war.
There is a large demographic difference between the Baby Boomer generation and earlier generations, where earlier generations are less racially and ethnically diverse than the Baby Boomers’ population. Where this drastic racial demographic difference occurs also holds to a continually growing cultural gap as well; baby boomers have had generally higher education, with a higher percentage of women in the labor force and more often occupying professional and managerial positions.[22] These drastic culture and generation gaps create issues of community preferences as well as spending.
See also
References
- Frey, William H. Baby Boomers and the New Demographics of America's Seniors. San Francisco: American Society on Aging, 2010. PDF. 1 April 2015
Further reading
- Bennis, W. and Thomas, R. (2002) Geeks and Geezers: how era, values and defining moments shape leaders, Harvard Business School Publishing
- Employee Evolution: the Voice of Millennials at Work
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_gap
The Lost Generation was the social generational cohort in the Western world that was in early adulthood during World War I. The generation is generally defined as people born from 1883 to 1900. The term is also particularly used to refer to a group of American expatriate writers living in Paris during the 1920s.[1][2][3] Gertrude Stein is credited with coining the term, and it was subsequently popularised by Ernest Hemingway, who used it in the epigraph for his 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises: "You are all a lost generation."[4][5] "Lost" in this context refers to the "disoriented, wandering, directionless" spirit of many of the war's survivors in the early postwar period.[6]
In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, Western members of the Lost Generation grew up in societies which were more literate, consumerist and media-saturated than ever before, but which also tended to maintain strictly conservative social values. Young men of the cohort were mobilized on a mass scale for the First World War, a conflict that was often seen as the defining moment of their age group's lifespan. Young women also contributed to and were affected by the War, and in its aftermath gained greater freedoms politically and in other areas of life. The Lost Generation was also heavily vulnerable to the Spanish flu pandemic and became the driving force behind many cultural changes, particularly in major cities during what became known as the Roaring Twenties.
Later, they experienced the economic effects of the Great Depression and often saw their own sons leave for the battlefields of the Second World War. In the developed world, they tended to reach retirement and average life expectancy during the decades after the conflict, but some significantly outlived the norm. The last surviving person who was known to have been born during the 19th century was Nabi Tajima, who died in 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation
Generational accounting is a method of measuring the fiscal burdens facing current and future generations. Generational accounting considers how much each adult generation, on a per person basis, is likely to pay in future taxes net of transfer payments, over the rest of their lives.
Laurence Kotlikoff's individual and co-authored work on the relativity of fiscal language demonstrates that conventional fiscal measures, including the government's deficit, are not well defined from the perspective of economic theory. Instead, their measurement reflects economically arbitrary fiscal labeling conventions.
"Economics labeling problem," as Kotlikoff calls it, has led to gross misreadings of the fiscal positions of different countries. This starts with the United States, which has a relatively small debt-to-GDP ratio, but is, arguably, in worse fiscal shape than any developed country. Kotlikoff's identification of economics labeling problem, beginning with his 1984 Deficit Delusion article in The Public Interest led him to push for generational accounting, a term he coined and that provides the title for his 1993 book, Generational Accounting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generational_accounting
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