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Barack Obama is the most visible member
of Generation Jones.
Any discussion of the Baby Boom generation these days includes talk of Generation Jones -- the latter being a subset of the former.
That's because the Baby Boomers are such a vast group that the older Boomers and their younger cohorts have little in common other than a demographic notation.
Typically, the Baby Boom -- the post World War II boom of babies -- is defined as the generation born between 1946 to 1964. It is said to include about 78 million men and women, making it the largest and some say most influential generation ever.
But here's the dilemma: There is no cultural continuity from one end of the generation to the other. For example:
- The oldest Baby Boomers are 63 years old this year and have been eligible to collect Social Security for a year. The youngest Baby Boomers are 45 and are just in the midst of their mid-life crises with families and jobs;
- The oldest Baby Boomers often define themselves as remembering exactly where they were when President John Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. The youngest Baby Boomers weren't born yet;
- The oldest Baby Boomers grew up with the music influence of the Beatles. By the time the youngest Baby Boomers cared about the music they listened to the Beatles were long gone as a group.
We see the division of interests often with political matters, most recently with health care reform. A recent tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation asked respondents whether they'd be "better off," "no difference" or "worse off".
- For 30-49 year olds, 43 percent said better off, 21 percent said no difference and 31percent said worse off;
- For 50-64 year olds, 35 percent said better off, 22 percent said no difference and 35 percent said worse off.
The use of Generation Jones is meant to distinguish the younger Boomers from the older ones. It was coined by Jonathan Pontell, a television director, writer and producer.
The Jonesers were born between 1955 and 1964, according to Pontell's division. Its cohorts, born with great expectations, came of age in the 1970s, leaving them with a certain unrequited -- trying to keep up with the Joneses -- quality.
Its most famous member is President Barack Obama, born in 1961 -- within the classic definition of a Baby Boomer but more closely associated with Generation Jones.
If you consider the two prior presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as classic Boomers, does Obama fit into their cultural niche?
Indeed Obama time and time again has sought to distinguish himself from the politics of the Baby Boom generation.
“In the back and forth between Clinton and Gingrich, and in the elections of 2000 and 2004, I sometimes felt as if I were watching the psychodrama of the baby boom generation -- a tale rooted in old grudges and revenge plots hatched on a handful of college campuses long ago -- played out on the national stage,” Obama wrote in his book "The Audacity of Hope".
Want to know how influential Generation Jones believes it has become? Check out the web site.
Comments
#2:
Underneath all this, sidestepping that financial motive, lies the successful painting of Boomers in a negative color: selfish, greedy, liberal, peaceniks, etc. Even our current Boomer president seems to find his generation too hot to handle -- after all these years! Our defeat in Vietnam is the foundation for the demonization of Boomers. To demonize the anti-Vietnam War and counterculture elements in our generation, conservatives and traditionalists simply smeared the entire generation. And today, nearly 4 decades since we left Vietnam, humiliated, angry, the political reaction remains strong. We’re the radioactive generation!
The Jones Generation, born from 1955 to 1964, are late Boomers, 2nd wave Boomers, a subset of Boomers, a subcategory of Boomers, but not a generation. When is the last time you saw a 9 year old have a baby?
#1:
Generations are rooted in life reproduction cycles, not popular fads – sociology. This is why generations are, or used to be, defined approximately 20 years long. That is the traditional age of reproduction. Generations are not, have not, been rounded off for changes in popular music.
So now a group wants to have their own generation, the group being members of the late wave Boomer Generation. A strong financial self-interest is promoting this need for “generational authenticity,” which is evident on the Internet. Note, the logical conclusion of all this is every year there can be a new generation. Why not every month? Every day? “I don’t like my generation, I’m leaving and forming my own!”
As for differences within a generation, this is normal when the times are a’changin fast, as in our society, and especially since World War II. But other generations have gone through this as well. The difference today is there is big money in generational marketing and content.
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