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President Barack Obama: Member of Baby Boomers
or Generation Jones?
To the question -- What is a Baby Boomer? -- the simple answer is that Baby Boomers are the children of the World War II generation.
But, like Baby Boomers themselves, the real answer is more complex, with subtleties of variation.
Demographers place the Baby Boom Generation as anyone born between 1946 and 1964. These are the folks who this year are aged 63 to 45.
Baby Boomers are the Woodstock Generation, the Vietnam War Generation, the Civil Rights Generation. We are the generation of the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, "M*A*S*H" and "Easy Rider." We claim the heartbreak of the passing of certain icons -- Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett the most recent examples.
It used to be that a measure of being a Baby Boomer was knowing exactly where you were when you heard that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Hey, just remembering is victory enough these days.
David E. Henderson, co-founder and publisher of BoomerCafe.com, which launched in summer of 1999, defines a Baby Boomer this way: "Born between ’46 to ’64, baby boomers were molded in an era of unprecedented economic, military and racial evolution in America, and a time for freedom of thought like none other."
But those who hold to the dates of 1946 and 1964 as the chronological definition of Baby Boomers will get an argument from the advocates of Generation Jones.
And there's no better example of this argument than President Barack Obama.
Demographically, born in 1961, he is a Baby Boomer. But generationally, the Jonesers say, he's not.
Members of Generation Jones, according to the definition, were born between 1954 and 1964 -- not Boomers and not Gen Xers.
The discussion of who or what is a Baby Boomer often has less to do with age and more to do with one's state of mind as part of aging.
Laura Lee Carter, who has been blogging about Baby Boomers as "The Midlife Crisis Queen" for the last couple of years, sees it this way:
“Baby Boomers are old enough to recognize life as a series of ups and downs. Anything can happen at anytime to anyone of us, so we are sure to celebrate the good times when they finally arrive.”
The number of Baby Boomers is put at about 78 million and is the largest of the generations, seen as having a huge impact on Social Security and Medicare as they retire and start to draw their government benefits. In some circles, their size is compared to locusts about to descend on a crop of government money and eat it clean away, leaving nothing for the generations that come next.
The cynical view aside, the Baby Boomers will redefine aging, always reinvesting themselves to adapt to the circumstances of growing older, keeping age at arm's length for as long as possible.
The Baby Boomer will look in the mirror at age 60 and see a 20 year old staring back ... aches and pains notwithstanding.
One of the Baby Boomers, born at the dawn of the generation and self-described as Head Boomer, is Ann Fry. Her definition of who we are pretty much sums it up: "Someone who hardly remembers the 60's yet we brought you sex, drugs, rock and roll and a strong commitment to changing the world for the better. We rock."
Comments
Ann, thanks for including the piece about changing the world. We continue to do so as more of our generation volunteer for causes near and dear to our hearts.
As usual ... a great article. Funny how we all describe the boomers so differently.
And, here's a question: Who "invented" the term Generation Jones? It's fairly new to me.
Dotsie ... You're welcome. It's definitely what my life is about.
Paul:
Thanks for the great article!
Hey all you alleged Generation Joneses out there. Nice try, but it just doesn’t fly.
It’s perfectly normal for people to want to think of themselves as young. For a very long time Baby Boomers had been associated with youth. More recently, however, the Boomers have become associated with growing old. So, suddenly the youngest Boomers have decided they are not quite ready to join with their older brethren and have latched on to an escape valve called Generation Jones. Apparently, in their quest for a slightly prolonged definition of youth, some have even gone so far as to proclaim themselves Gen Xers. Better burn all those pics of y’all wearing puka shells & bellbottoms in the 70s.
Of course President Obama would try to link himself to being something other than a Boomer. He probably could not disassociate himself from the Boomer generation fast enough since the last Boomer president was such a total disaster. But the fact is Bush was at the oldest end of Boomerdom and Presiden
Of course President Obama would try to link himself to being something other than a Boomer. He probably could not disassociate himself from the Boomer generation fast enough since the last Boomer president was such a total disaster. But the fact is Bush was at the oldest end of Boomerdom and President Obama is at the youngest end. But both are Boomers none-the-less.
Sorry to disappoint, but if you were born in the 1960s on or before 1964 you are absolutely, positively a Baby Boomer. Nice try, though.
Websters defines a generation as roughly 30 years. I think of it more like 20. But boomers are only 18 years, Pretty short. The youngest may not be exactly like the oldest but they are all boomers, not Jones.
Born in 1961, I feel that I am a BOOMER. My only regret is that I was born just a bit too late to fully enjoy the Summer of Love, Beatles (they broke up when I was just 9, but the music and spirit lasted well into my teens), etc. because I was a kid then, rather than a teen. But my friends & I enjoyed the immediate aftermath of it all and carried with us the same 1960s/1970s attitudes that are attributed to the Boomer generation as a whole.
My entire life I've been told I was a Boomer. The very notion of a Generation Jones is absurd. I think the only reason someone my age might want to glom onto the Jones idea is because we are all getting older and looking for ANYTHING that will allow us to somehow be viewed as a member of a younger group.
I'm right there with you. My older brother was born in 1965. I was born in 1966. We are definitely X'er. But my big argument against Gen Jones has always been that it just doesn't tell us anything: generations should inform us about ourselves, our society and our future. Gen Jones doesn't do that at all - it's a cute name looking for a purpose.
This is a great piece on Baby Boomers. What's so interesting is that care for those over 65 is changing as aresult of Baby Boomers entering retirement. Just as Baby Boomers sought to change the world in their youth, they are now changing elder care as well. New training for caretakers now includes empathy workshops. Janet Hinz
The absolute oldest Baby Boomer is 63. The youngest is only 44. Aren't we getting a little carried away talking about Boomers and elder care? Unless you are talking about our parents & grandparents who are still very much alive for most of us and in possible need of elder care.
It should come as no surprise that many African-Americans don’t identify themselves as baby boomers. Why? Because more often than not, we are excluded from discussions when it comes to talking about our generation. It’s as if we didn’t exist back then. And certainly no one wants to talk about a comparison into how we grew up.
I was born in 1957 so that means I’m a baby boomer.
Yes, we were the first generation to grow up with television; many of us lived through the civil rights era and the Vietnam War. We are not all white kids who grew up in the suburbs watching the Mickey Mouse Club. We have been referred to as the most diverse generation but the fact of the matter is some of us actually grew up in a separate and unequal society. According to a study conducted by two Duke University sociologists, diversity has not led to equality: Baby boomers are the first generation to come of age after the Civil Rights era, however, the study revealed differences of income accor
according to race, ethnicity and country of birth so entrenched that, in effect, there are ethnic classes. Blacks in the boomer generation, for example, are no better off relative to whites than their parents and grandparents. Many older southern baby boomers can still tell you stories about the Jim Crow laws and the impact it had on their lives. And educational levels also are unequal across the baby boom generation, which is often described as the best-educated generation in history.
There's a saying: The more things change---the more they remain the same. So it should come as no surprise that many African-Americans don’t identify themselves as baby boomers. It's time to take the blinders off.
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