Readers today should similarly question whether stereotypes of Gen Z might be skewed toward the experiences of the upper middle class. But many high-quality surveys at the time showed that younger Americans – most of whom were not attending college – were more supportive of the war than older generations who had lived through previous conflicts. This notion is based on attention-grabbing protests on college campuses and at political events. Popular history recalls that Baby Boomers in the 1960s and ’70s were deeply opposed to the Vietnam War. After all, most of us have some combination of parents, grandparents, kids and grandkids we love, making our family lives interconnected.Ĭonventional views of generations can carry an upper-class bias. “ OK Boomer” became a cultural meme, but it probably overstates the divide between younger and older generations. So watch out for news stories or research articles that assume or exaggerate intergenerational divides that may actually be quite small. Conflict tends to get more attention than consensus. Shared experiences and identities should be recognized – and at their best can even be empowering – but this shouldn’t come at the expense of individuality.ĭiscussions about generation often focus on differences instead of similarities. All Millennials or Baby Boomers are not the same, just as all Southerners, all Catholics or all Black Americans are not the same. Generational labels can lead to stereotypes and oversimplification. The media and researchers – Pew Research Center included – have not always been as clear as we should that generational boundaries are not a hard science. People born near the boundaries of these generational groupings can feel particularly uncomfortable being lumped in with those much older or younger than them, and for good reason. Even the names of generations are not uniformly adopted: Is it Millennials or Generation Y? Gen Z or iGen? The boundaries that place one person in Gen Z and another in the Millennial generation are not precise, definitive or universally agreed on. Generational categories are not scientifically defined. But there are some important considerations for readers to keep in mind whenever they come across a news story or research about generations: But is that really the case?Īt Pew Research Center, we think it can be useful to talk about generations. And it’s easy to feel like many of these headlines are just clickbait, all fluff and no substance. It’s hard not to run into eye-catching headlines about generations these days.
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