(See here for our report on generations and identity.) The Silent label is not widely recognized by the public: fewer say they have heard of it than the labels for any other of the living generations. Time Magazine coined the term in a 1951 article describing the emerging generation of the time. Children of the Great Depression and World War II, their “Silent” label refers to their image as conformist and civic-minded.
The Silent generation describes adults born from 1928 through 1945. This is another example of how the names and spans of generations can change over time. As this generation was first entering adulthood, some used the term Gen Y to refer to them, and its boundaries were slightly different. The name for this cohort refers to those born after 1980 – the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. This generation is largely made up of the children of the Baby Boom generation. The bounds of the Millennial generation, sometimes characterized as the “echo boom,” are also informed by demographics. The label for this generation was popularized by a 1991 book by Douglas Coupland titled, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. In part, this generation is defined by the relatively low birth rates in these years compared with the Baby Boom generation that preceded them and the Millennial generation that followed them. The label overtook the first name affixed to this generation: the Baby Bust. Generation X describes people born from 1965 through 1980. Other generations are less strictly defined by demography, though it plays an important role in designations including Generation X and Millennials – the two generations that followed the Baby Boomers. Its youngest members were born in 1964, shortly before a significant decline in fertility that occurred after the birth control pill first went on the market. Its oldest members were part of the spike in fertility that began in 1946, right after the end of World War II. The Baby Boom generation is an example of a generation that is largely delineated by demography. As a result, the lines that define the generations are useful tools for analysis, but they should be thought of as guidelines, rather than hard-and-fast distinctions.Įach of the commonly-used current generations has been defined by a unique mix of factors. It is a process that may be informed by a range of factors including demographics, attitudes, historical events, popular culture, and prevailing consensus among researchers. Setting the bounds of generations is a necessary step for this analysis. The Pew Research Center’s approach to generational analysis involves tracking the same groups of people on a range of issues, behaviors and characteristics.
This report aims to describe the basic approach of generational analysis at the Pew Research Center and some of the key insights it provides into understanding public attitudes and behaviors. Generational analysis is an important tool used by Pew Research Center and other researchers.
A generation typically refers to groups of people born over a 15-20 year span, such as the Millennial generation, currently the youngest adult generation. Generations are one way to group age cohorts. While younger and older adults may differ in their views at a given moment, age cohorts allow researchers to go further and examine how today’s older adults felt about a given issue when they themselves were young, as well as to describe how the trajectory of views might differ across age cohorts. The nature of age as a variable allows researchers to employ an approach known as cohort analysis to track a group of people over the course of their lives.Īge cohorts give researchers a tool to analyze changes in views over time they can provide a way to understand how different formative experiences interact with the life-cycle and aging process to shape people’s view of the world. Age denotes two important characteristics about an individual: their place in the life cycle – whether a young adult, middle-aged parent or retiree – and their membership in a cohort of individuals who were born at a similar time. On issues ranging from foreign affairs to social policy, age differences in attitudes can be some of the widest and most illuminating. Learn more about how we currently report on generations, and read tips for consuming generations research.Īt the center of the Pew Research Center’s mission is a commitment to measuring public attitudes on key issues and documenting differences in attitudes between demographic and political groups.Īn individual’s age is one of the most common predictors of differences in attitudes and behaviors. Our approach to generational analysis has evolved to incorporate new considerations.
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