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Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
demographic cohort following the
baby boomers Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...
and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s as ending birth years, with the
generation A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and gr ...
being generally defined as people born from 1965 to 1980. By this definition and U.S. Census data, there are 65.2 million Gen Xers in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
as of 2019. Most members of Generation X are the children of the Silent Generation and early boomers; Xers are also often the parents of millennials and Generation Z. As children in the 1970s and 1980s, a time of shifting societal values, Gen Xers were sometimes called the "latchkey generation," which stems from their returning as children to an empty home and needing to use the door key, due to reduced adult supervision compared to previous generations. This was a result of increasing divorce rates and increased maternal participation in the workforce prior to widespread availability of childcare options outside the home. As adolescents and young adults in the 1980s and 1990s, Xers were dubbed the "
MTV Generation The MTV Generation refers to the adolescents and young adults of the 1980s and early-mid 1990s, a time when many were influenced by the television channel MTV, which launched in 1981. The term is often used to refer to Generation X. The development ...
" (a reference to the music video channel), sometimes being characterized as slackers, cynical, and disaffected. Some of the many cultural influences on Gen X youth included a proliferation of musical genres with strong social-tribal identity such as
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...
, and heavy metal, in addition to later forms developed by Gen Xers themselves (e.g., grunge, grindcore and related genres). Film, both the birth of franchise mega-sequels and a proliferation of independent film (enabled in part by
video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...
) was also a notable cultural influence. Video games both in amusement parlours and in devices in western homes were also a major part of juvenile entertainment for the first time. Politically, in many Eastern Bloc countries, Generation X experienced the last days of
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
and transition to
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
as part of its youth. In much of the western world, a similar time period was defined by a dominance of
conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
and
free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
economics. In midlife during the early 21st century, research describes them as active, happy, and achieving a work–life balance. The cohort has also been credited as entrepreneurial and productive in the workplace more broadly.


Terminology and etymology

The term ''Generation X'' has been used at various times to describe alienated youth. In the early 1950s, Hungarian photographer Robert Capa first used ''Generation X'' as the title for a photo-essay about young men and women growing up immediately following
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The term first appeared in print in a December 1952 issue of '' Holiday'' magazine announcing their upcoming publication of Capa's photo-essay. From 1976 to 1981, English musician
Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...
used the moniker as the name for his punk rock band. Idol had attributed the name of his band to the book '' Generation X'', a 1964 book on British popular youth culture written by journalists Jane Deverson and Charles Hamblett — a copy of which had been owned by Idol's mother. These uses of the term appear to have no connection to Robert Capa's photo-essay. The term acquired its contemporary application after the release of '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', a 1991 novel written by Canadian author
Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms ''Generation X'' and ''McJ ...
. In 1987, Coupland had written a piece in '' Vancouver Magazine'' titled "Generation X" which was "the seed of what went on to become the book". Coupland referenced Billy Idol's band Generation X in the 1987 article and again in 1989 in ''Vista'' magazine. In the book proposal for his novel, Coupland writes that ''Generation X'' is "taken from the name of Billy Idol’s long-defunct punk band of the late 1970s". However, in 1995 Coupland denied the term's connection to the band, stating that:
The book's title came not from Billy Idol's band, as many supposed, but from the final chapter of a funny sociological book on American class structure titled '' Class'', by Paul Fussell. In his final chapter, Fussell named an 'X' category of people who wanted to hop off the merry-go-round of status, money, and social climbing that so often frames modern existence.
Author
William Strauss William Strauss (December 5, 1947 – December 18, 2007) was an American author, playwright, theater director, and lecturer. As an author, he is known for his work with Neil Howe on social generations and for Strauss–Howe generational theory. ...
noted that around the time Coupland's 1991 novel was published the symbol "X" was prominent in popular culture, as the film ''
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...
'' was released in 1992, and that the name "Generation X" ended up sticking. The "X" refers to an unknown variable or to a desire not to be defined. Strauss's coauthor Neil Howe noted the delay in naming this demographic cohort saying, "Over 30 years after their birthday, they didn't have a name. I think that's germane." Previously, the cohort had been referred to as Post-Boomers, Baby Busters (which refers to the drop in birth rates following the baby boom in the western world, particularly in the U.S.), New
Lost Generation The Lost Generation was the social generational cohort in the Western world that was in early adulthood during World War I. "Lost" in this context refers to the "disoriented, wandering, directionless" spirit of many of the war's survivors in th ...
, latchkey kids,
MTV Generation The MTV Generation refers to the adolescents and young adults of the 1980s and early-mid 1990s, a time when many were influenced by the television channel MTV, which launched in 1981. The term is often used to refer to Generation X. The development ...
, and the 13th Generation (the 13th generation since
American independence The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
).Coupland, Doug.
Generation X
. ''Vista'', 1989.


Date and age range definitions

Generation X is the demographic cohort following the post–World War II baby-boom, representing a generational change from the baby boomers. Many researchers and demographers use dates which correspond to the fertility-patterns in the population. For Generation X, in the U.S. (and broadly, in the Western world), the period begins at a time when fertility rates started to significantly decrease, following the baby boom peak of the late 1950s, until an upswing in the late 1970s and eventual recovery at the start of the 1980s. In the U.S., the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan think-tank, delineates a Generation X period of 1965–1980 which has, albeit gradually, come to gain acceptance in academic circles. Moreover, although fertility rates are preponderant in the definition of start and end dates, the center remarks: "Generations are analytical constructs, it takes time for popular and expert consensus to develop as to the precise boundaries that demarcate one generation from another." Pew takes into account other factors, notably the labor market as well as attitudinal and behavioral trends of a group. Writing for
Pew A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom. Overview The first backless stone benches began to appear in English churches in the thirt ...
's ''Trend'' magazine in 2018, psychologist
Jean Twenge Jean Marie Twenge (born August 24, 1971) is an American psychologist researching generational differences, including work values, life goals, and speed of development. She is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, author, consul ...
observed that the "birth year boundaries of Gen X are debated but settle somewhere around 1965–1980". According to this definition, the oldest Gen Xer is years old and the youngest is, or is turning, years old in . The
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...
, another U.S. think-tank, sets the Gen X period as between 1965 and 1981. The
U.S. Federal Reserve Board The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the mo ...
uses 1965–1980 to define Gen X. The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) defines the years for Gen X as between 1964 and 1979. The US Department of Defense (DoD), conversely, use dates 1965 to 1977. In their 2002 book ''When Generations Collide'', Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman use 1965 to 1980, while in 2012 authors Jain and Pant also used parameters of 1965 to 1980. U.S. news outlets such as ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' describe Generation X as people born between 1965 and 1980. Gallup,
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...
, ''
Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German pub ...
'', and ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' use 1965–1980. ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine states that Generation X is "roughly defined as anyone born between 1965 and 1980". George Masnick of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies puts this generation in the time-frame of 1965 to 1984, in order to satisfy the premise that boomers, Xers, and millennials "cover equal 20-year age spans". In Australia, the McCrindle Research Center uses 1965–1979. In the UK, the
Resolution Foundation The Resolution Foundation is an independent British think tank established in 2005. Its stated aim is to improve the standard of living of low- and middle-income families. Appointments In June 2015, the former Conservative MP David Willetts to ...
think-tank defines Gen X as those born between 1966 and 1980.
PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...
, a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, describes Generation X employees as those born from 1965 to 1980.


Other age range markers

On the basis of the time it takes for a generation to mature, U.S. authors William Strauss and Neil Howe define Generation X as those born between 1961 and 1981 in their 1991 book titled ''Generations'', and differentiate the cohort into an early and late wave.
Jeff Gordinier Jeff Gordinier is an American writer and editor whose work is frequently published in various U.S. magazines and newspapers, including ''Esquire'' and ''The New York Times''. In addition, he is the author of two books of non-fiction, ''X Saves the W ...
, in his 2008 book ''X Saves the World'', include those born between 1961 and 1977 but possibly as late as 1980. George Masnick of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies puts this generation in the time-frame of 1965 to 1984, in order to satisfy the premise that boomers, Xers, and millennials "cover equal 20-year age spans". In 2004, journalist J. Markert also acknowledged the 20-year increments but goes one step further and subdivides the generation into two 10-year cohorts with early and later members of the generation. The first begins in 1966 and ends in 1975 and the second begins in 1976 and ends in 1985; this thinking is applied to each generation (Silent, boomers, Gen X, millennials, etc.). Based on external events of historical importance, Schewe and Noble in 2002 argue that a cohort is formed against significant milestones and can be any length of time. Against this logic, Generation X begins in 1966 and ends in 1976, with those born between 1955 and 1965 being labelled as "trailing-edge boomers". In Canada, professor David Foot describes Generation X as late boomers and includes those born between 1960 and 1966, whilst the "Bust Generation", those born between 1967 and 1979, is considered altogether a separate generation, in his 1996 book ''Boom Bust & Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift''.


Generational cuspers

Generation Jones Generation Jones is the social cohort of the latter half of the Baby boomer generation to the first years of Generation X. The term Generation Jones was first coined by the American cultural commentator Jonathan Pontell, who identified the coh ...
is identified as the group of people born in the latter half of the
Baby Boomer Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...
s from the early 1960s to the early years of Generation X. Individuals born in the Generation X and millennial cusp years of the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s have been identified by the media as a "microgeneration" with characteristics of both generations. Names given to these "
cusper A cusper is a person born near the end of one generation and the beginning of another. People born in these circumstances tend to have a mix of characteristics common to their adjacent generations, but do not closely resemble those born in the ...
s" include Xennials, Generation Catalano, and the ''
Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...
'' Generation.


Demographics


United States

There are differences in Gen X population numbers depending on the date-range selected. In the U.S., using
Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
population projections, the Pew Research Center found that the Gen X population born from 1965 to 1980 numbered 65.2 million in 2019. The cohort is likely to overtake boomers in 2028. A 2010 Census report counted approximately 84 million people living in the US who are defined by birth years ranging from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. In a 2012 article for the Joint Center for Housing Studies of
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, George Masnick wrote that the "Census counted 82.1 million" Gen Xers in the U.S. Masnick concluded that immigration filled in any birth year deficits during low fertility years of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jon Miller at the Longitudinal Study of American Youth at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
wrote that "Generation X refers to adults born between 1961 and 1981" and it "includes 84 million people". In their 1991 book ''Generations'', authors Howe and Strauss indicated that the total number of Gen X individuals in the U.S. was 88.5 million.


Impact of family planning programs

The
birth control pill The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. The pill contains two important hormones: progesti ...
, introduced in 1960, was one contributing factor of declining birth rates. Initially, the pill spread rapidly amongst married women as an approved treatment for menstrual disturbance. However, it was also found to prevent pregnancy and was prescribed as a contraceptive in 1964. The pill, as it became commonly known, reached younger, unmarried college women in the late 1960s when state laws were amended and reduced the age of majority from 21 to ages 18–20. These policies are commonly referred to as the Early Legal Access (ELA) laws. Another major factor was
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
, only available in a few states until its legalisation in a 1973 US Supreme Court decision in '' Roe v. Wade.'' This was replicated elsewhere, with reproductive rights legislation passed, notably in the UK (1967), France (1975), West Germany (1976), New Zealand (1977), Italy (1978), and the Netherlands (1980). From 1973 to 1980, the abortion rate per 1,000 US women aged 15–44 increased from 16% to 29% with more than 9.6 million terminations of pregnancy practiced. Between 1970 and 1980, on average, for every 10 American citizens born, 3 were aborted. However, increased immigration during the same period of time helped to partially offset declining birth-rates and contributed to making Generation X an ethnically and culturally diverse demographic cohort.


Parental lineage

Generally, Gen Xers are the children of the Silent Generation and older baby boomers.


Characteristics


In the United States


As children and adolescents


=Rising divorce rates and women workforce participation

= Strauss and Howe, who wrote several books on generations, including one specifically on Generation X titled ''13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?'' (1993), reported that Gen Xers were children at a time when society was less focused on children and more focused on adults. Xers were children during a time of increasing
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
rates, with divorce rates doubling in the mid-1960s, before peaking in 1980. Strauss and Howe described a cultural shift where the long-held societal value of staying together for the sake of the children was replaced with a societal value of parental and individual self-actualization. Strauss wrote that society "moved from what Leslie Fiedler called a 1950s-era 'cult of the child' to what Landon Jones called a 1970s-era 'cult of the adult'". ''The Generation Map'', a report from Australia's McCrindle Research Center writes of Gen X children: "their Boomer parents were the most divorced generation in Australian history". According to Christine Henseler in the 2012 book ''Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion'', "We watched the decay and demise (of the family), and grew callous to the loss." The Gen X childhood coincided with the sexual revolution of the 1960s to 1980s, which Susan Gregory Thomas described in her book ''In Spite of Everything'' as confusing and frightening for children in cases where a parent would bring new sexual partners into their home. Thomas also discussed how divorce was different during the Gen X childhood, with the child having a limited or severed relationship with one parent following divorce, often the father, due to differing societal and legal expectations. In the 1970s, only nine U.S. states allowed for joint custody of children, which has since been adopted by all 50 states following a push for joint custody during the mid-1980s. '' Kramer vs. Kramer'', a 1979 American legal drama based on Avery Corman's best-selling novel, came to epitomize the struggle for child custody and the demise of the traditional nuclear family. The rapid influx of boomer women into the labor force that began in the 1970s was marked by the confidence of many in their ability to successfully pursue a career while meeting the needs of their children. This resulted in an increase in latchkey children, leading to the terminology of the "latchkey generation" for Generation X. These children lacked adult supervision in the hours between the end of the school day and when a parent returned home from work in the evening, and for longer periods of time during the summer. Latchkey children became common among all socioeconomic demographics, but this was particularly so among middle- and upper-class children. The higher the educational attainment of the parents, the higher the odds the children of this time would be latchkey children, due to increased maternal participation in the workforce at a time before childcare options outside the home were widely available. McCrindle Research Centre described the cohort as "the first to grow up without a large adult presence, with both parents working", stating this led to Gen Xers being more peer-oriented than previous generations.


=Conservative and neoliberal turn

= Some older Gen Xers started high school in the waning years of the
Carter Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to: Geography United States * Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Carter, Montana, a census-designated place * Carter ...
presidency, but much of the cohort became socially and politically conscious during the Reagan Era. President Ronald Reagan, voted in office principally by the boomer generation, embraced ''laissez-faire'' economics with vigor. His policies included cuts in the growth of government spending, reduction in taxes for the higher echelon of society, legalization of stock buybacks, and deregulation of key industries. Measures had drastic consequences on the social fabric of the country even if, gradually, reforms gained acceptability and exported overseas to willing participants. The
early 1980s recession The early 1980s recession was a severe economic recession that affected much of the world between approximately the start of 1980 and 1983. It is widely considered to have been the most severe recession since World War II. A key event leading to ...
saw unemployment rise to 10.8% in 1982; requiring, more often than not, dual parental incomes. One-in-five American children grew up in poverty during this time. The federal debt almost tripled during Reagan's time in office, from $998 billion in 1981 to $2.857 trillion in 1989, placing greater burden of repayment on the incoming generation. Government expenditure shifted from domestic programs to defense. Remaining funding initiatives, moreover, tended to be diverted away from programs for children and often directed toward the elderly population, with cuts to
Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...
and programs for children and young families, and protection and expansion of Medicare and
Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
for the elderly population. These programs for the elderly were not tied to economic need. Congressman David Durenberger criticized this political situation, stating that while programs for poor children and for young families were cut, the government provided "free health care to elderly millionaires".


=The crack epidemic and AIDS

= Gen Xers came of age or were children during the 1980s crack epidemic, which disproportionately impacted urban areas as well as the African-American community. The U.S. Drug turf battles increased violent crime. crack addiction impacted communities and families. Between 1984 and 1989, the homicide rate for black males aged 14 to 17 doubled in the U.S., and the homicide rate for black males aged 18 to 24 increased almost as much. The crack epidemic had a destabilizing impact on families, with an increase in the number of children in foster care. In 1986, President Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act to enforce strict mandatory minimum sentencing for drug users. He also increased the federal budget for supply-reduction efforts. Fear of the impending AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s loomed over the formative years of Generation X. The emergence of AIDS coincided with Gen X's adolescence, with the disease first clinically observed in the U.S. in 1981. By 1985, an estimated one-to-two million Americans were HIV-positive. This particularly hit the
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
community. As the virus spread, at a time before effective treatments were available, a public panic ensued.
Sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...
programs in schools were adapted to address the AIDS epidemic, which taught Gen X students that sex could kill them.


=The rise of home computing

= Gen Xers were the first children to have access to
personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
s in their homes and at schools. In the early 1980s, the growth in the use of personal computers exploded. Manufacturers such as
Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...
, Atari, and
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...
responded to the demand via 8-bit and 16-bit machines. This in turn stimulated the software industries with corresponding developments for backup storage, use of the floppy disk, zip drive, and CD-ROM. At school, several computer projects were supported by the Department of Education under
United States Secretary of Education The United States secretary of education is the head of the U.S. Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on policies, programs, and activities re ...
Terrel Bell's "Technology Initiative". This was later mirrored in the UK's 1982 Computers for Schools programme and, in France, under the 1985 scheme '' Plan Informatique pour Tous (IPT).''


=The post–civil rights generation

= In the U.S., Generation X was the first cohort to grow up post-integration after the racist Jim Crow laws. They were described in a marketing report by ''Specialty Retail'' as the kids who "lived the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
". They were among the first children to be bused to attain integration in the public school system. In the 1990s, Strauss reported Gen Xers were "by any measure the least racist of today's generations". In the U.S.,
Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...
, which passed in 1972, provided increased athletic opportunities to Gen X girls in the public school setting. '' Roots'', based on the novel by Alex Haley and broadcast as a 12-hour series, was viewed as a turning point in the country's ability to relate to the afro-American history.


As young adults


=Continued growth in college enrollments

= In the U.S., compared to the boomer generation, Generation X was more educated than their parents. The share of young adults enrolling in college steadily increased from 1983, before peaking in 1998. In 1965, as early boomers entered college, total enrollment of new undergraduates was just over 5.7 million individuals across the public and private sectors. By 1983, the first year of Gen X college enrollments (as per Pew Research's definition), this figure had reached 12.2 million. This was an increase of 53%, effectively a doubling in student intake. As the 1990s progressed, Gen X college enrollments continued to climb, with increased loan borrowing as the cost of an education became substantially more expensive compared to their peers in the mid-1980s. By 1998, the generation's last year of college enrollment, those entering the higher education sector totaled 14.3 million. In addition, unlike Boomers and previous generations, women outpaced men in college completion rates.


=Adjusting to a new societal environment

= For early Gen Xer graduates entering the job market at the end of the 1980s, economic conditions were challenging and did not show signs of major improvements until the mid-1990s. In the U.S., restrictive monetary policy to curb rising inflation and the collapse of a large number of
savings and loan association A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. The terms "S&L" or "thrift" are mainly used in the United States; simi ...
s (private banks that specialized in
home mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...
s) impacted the welfare of many American households. This precipitated a large government bailout, which placed further strain on the budget. Furthermore, three decades of growth came to an end. The social contract between employers and employees, which had endured during the 1960s and 1970s and was scheduled to last until retirement, was no longer applicable. By the late 1980s, there were large-scale layoffs of boomers, corporate downsizing, and accelerated offshoring of production. On the political front, in the U.S. the generation became ambivalent if not outright disaffected with politics. They had been reared in the shadow of the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
and the
Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...
. They came to maturity under the Reagan and George H. W. Bush presidencies, with first-hand experience of the impact of neoliberal policies. Few had experienced a Democratic administration and even then, only, at an atmospheric level. For those on the left of the political spectrum, the disappointments with the previous boomer student mobilizations of the 1960s and the collapse of those movements towards a consumerist " greed is good" and "
yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...
" culture during the 1980s felt, to a greater extent, hypocrisy if not outright betrayal. Hence, the preoccupation on "authenticity" and not "selling-out". The
Revolutions of 1989 The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...
and the collapse of the socialist utopia with the
fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...
, moreover, added to the disillusionment that any alternative to the capitalist model was possible.


=Birth of the slacker

= In 1990, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine published an article titled "Living: Proceeding with Caution", which described those then in their 20s as aimless and unfocused. Media pundits and advertisers further struggled to define the cohort, typically portraying them as "unfocused twentysomethings". A MetLife report noted: "media would portray them as the '' Friends'' generation: rather self-involved and perhaps aimless...but fun". Gen Xers were often portrayed as apathetic or as "
slackers A slacker is someone who habitually work aversion, avoids work or lacks work ethic. Origin According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the UK, British Gezira Sch ...
", lacking bearings, a stereotype which was initially tied to Richard Linklater's comedic and essentially plotless 1991 film ''
Slacker A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic. Origin According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early ...
''. After the film was released, "journalists and critics thought they put a finger on what was different about these young adults in that 'they were reluctant to grow up' and 'disdainful of earnest action'".
Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known ...
's 1994 film ''
Reality Bites ''Reality Bites'' is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and directed by Ben Stiller, in his directorial debut. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with supporting roles by Janeane Garofalo and St ...
'' also sought to capture the zeitgeist of the generation with a portrayal of the attitudes and lifestyle choices of the time. Negative stereotypes of Gen X young adults continued, including that they were "bleak, cynical, and disaffected". In 1998, such stereotypes prompted sociological research at Stanford University to study the accuracy of the characterization of Gen X young adults as cynical and disaffected. Using the national
General Social Survey The General Social Survey (GSS) is a sociological survey created and regularly collected since 1972 by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. It is funded by the National Science Foundation. The GSS collects informa ...
, the researchers compared answers to identical survey questions asked of 18–29-year-olds in three different time periods. Additionally, they compared how older adults answered the same survey questions over time. The surveys showed 18–29-year-old Gen Xers did exhibit higher levels of cynicism and disaffection than previous cohorts of 18–29-year-olds surveyed. However, they also found that cynicism and disaffection had increased among all age groups surveyed over time, not just young adults, making this a period effect, not a
cohort effect The term cohort effect is used in social science to describe variations in the characteristics of an area of study (such as the incidence of a characteristic or the age at onset) over time among individuals who are defined by some shared temporal ex ...
. In other words, adults of all ages were more cynical and disaffected in the 1990s, not just Generation X.


=Rise of the Internet and the dot-com bubble

= By the mid-late 1990s, under
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
's presidency, economic optimism had returned to the U.S., with unemployment reduced from 7.5% in 1992 to 4% in 2000. Younger members of Gen X, straddling across administrations, politically experienced a "liberal renewal". In 1997, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine published an article titled "Generation X Reconsidered", which retracted the previously reported negative stereotypes and reported positive accomplishments. The article cited Gen Xers' tendency to found technology
startup companies A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...
and small businesses, as well as their ambition, which research showed was higher among Gen X young adults than older generations. Yet, the slacker moniker stuck. As the decade progressed, Gen X gained a reputation for
entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
. In 1999, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' dubbed them "Generation 1099", describing them as the "once pitied but now envied group of
self-employed Self-employment is the state of working for oneself rather than an employer. Tax authorities will generally view a person as self-employed if the person chooses to be recognised as such or if the person is generating income for which a tax return n ...
workers whose income is reported to the Internal Revenue Service not on a W-2 form, but on Form 1099". Consumer access to the Internet and its commercial development throughout the 1990s witnessed a frenzy of IT initiatives. Newly created companies, launched on stock exchanges globally, were formed with dubitable revenue generation or cash flow. When the dot-com bubble eventually burst in 2000, early Gen Xers who had embarked as entrepreneurs in the IT industry while riding the Internet wave, as well as newly qualified programmers at the tail-end of the generation (who had grown up with AOL and the first Web browsers), were both caught in the crash. This had major repercussions, with cross-generational consequences; five years after the bubble burst, new matriculation of IT millennial undergraduates fell by 40% and by as much as 70% in some information systems programs. However, following the crisis, sociologist Mike Males reported continued confidence and optimism among the cohort. He reported "surveys consistently find 80% to 90% of Gen Xers self-confident and optimistic". Males wrote "these young Americans should finally get the recognition they deserve", praising the cohort and stating that "the permissively raised, universally deplored Generation X is the true 'great generation', for it has braved a hostile social climate to reverse abysmal trends". He described them as the hardest-working group since the Greatest Generation, World War II generation. He reported Gen Xers' entrepreneurial tendencies helped create the high-tech industry that fueled the 1990s economic recovery. In 2002, ''Time'' magazine published an article titled ''Gen Xers Aren't Slackers After All'', reporting that four out of five new businesses were the work of Gen Xers.


=Response to 9/11

= In the U.S., Gen Xers were described as the major heroes of the September 11 terrorist attacks by author William Strauss. The firefighters and police responding to the attacks were predominantly from Generation X. Additionally, the leaders of the passenger revolt on United Airlines Flight 93 were also, by majority, Gen Xers. Author Neil Howe reported survey data which showed that Gen Xers were cohabitation, cohabiting and getting married in increasing numbers following the terrorist attacks. Gen X survey respondents reported that they no longer wanted to live alone. In October 2001, the ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' wrote of Gen Xers: "Now they could be facing the most formative events of their lives and their generation." The ''Greensboro News & Record'' reported members of the cohort "felt a surge of patriotism since terrorists struck" by giving blood, working for charities, donating to charities, and by joining the military to fight the War on Terror. ''The Jury Expert'', a publication of The American Society of Trial Consultants, reported: "Gen X members responded to the terrorist attacks with bursts of patriotism and national fervor that surprised even themselves."


In midlife


=Achieving a work-life balance

= In 2011, survey analysis from the ''Longitudinal Study of American Youth'' found Gen Xers (defined as those who were then between the ages of 30 and 50) to be "balanced, active, and happy" in midlife and as achieving a work-life balance. The Longitudinal Study of Youth is an NIH-National Institute on Aging, NIA funded study by the University of Michigan which has been studying Generation X since 1987. The study asked questions such as "Thinking about all aspects of your life, how happy are you? If zero means that you are very unhappy and 10 means that you are very happy, please rate your happiness." LSA reported that "mean level of happiness was 7.5 and the median (middle score) was 8. Only four percent of Generation X adults indicated a great deal of unhappiness (a score of three or lower). Twenty-nine percent of Generation X adults were very happy with a score of 9 or 10 on the scale." In 2014, Pew Research provided further insight, describing the cohort as "savvy, skeptical and self-reliant; they're not into preening or pampering, and they just might not give much of a hoot what others think of them. Or whether others think of them at all." Furthermore, guides regarding managing multiple generations in the workforce describe Gen Xers as: independent, resilient, resourceful, self-managing, adaptable, cynical, pragmatic, skeptical of authority, and as seeking a work-life balance.


=Entrepreneurship as an individual trait

= Individualism is one of the defining traits of Generation X, and is reflected in their entrepreneurial spirit. In the 2008 book ''X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking'', author
Jeff Gordinier Jeff Gordinier is an American writer and editor whose work is frequently published in various U.S. magazines and newspapers, including ''Esquire'' and ''The New York Times''. In addition, he is the author of two books of non-fiction, ''X Saves the W ...
describes Generation X as a "dark horse demographic" which "doesn't seek the limelight". Gordiner cites examples of Gen Xers' contributions to society such as: Google, Wikipedia, Amazon.com, and YouTube, arguing that if boomers had created them, "we'd never hear the end of it". In the book, Gordinier contrasts Gen Xers to baby boomers, saying boomers tend to trumpet their accomplishments more than Gen Xers do, creating what he describes as "elaborate mythologies" around their achievements. Gordiner cites Steve Jobs as an example, while Gen Xers, he argues, are more likely to "just quietly do their thing". In a 2007 article published in the Harvard Business Review, authors Strauss and Howe wrote of Generation X: "They are already the greatest entrepreneurial generation in U.S. history; their high-tech savvy and marketplace resilience have helped America prosper in the era of globalization." According to authors Michael Hais and Morley Winograd:
Small businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit that Gen Xers embody have become one of the most popular institutions in America. There's been a recent shift in consumer behavior and Gen Xers will join the "idealist generation" in encouraging the celebration of individual effort and business risk-taking. As a result, Xers will spark a renaissance of
entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
in economic life, even as overall confidence in economic institutions declines. Customers, and their needs and wants (including Millennials) will become the North Star for an entire new generation of entrepreneurs.
A 2015 study by Sage Group reports Gen Xers "dominate the playing field" with respect to founding Startup company, startups in the United States and Canada, with Xers launching the majority (55%) of all new businesses in 2015.


=Income benefits of a college education

= Unlike millennials, Generation X was the last generation in the U.S. for whom Issues in higher education in the United States#Financial value of degrees, higher education was broadly financially remunerative. In 2019, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis published research (using data from the 2016 ''Survey of Consumer Finances'') demonstrating that after controlling for race and age, cohort families with heads of household with post-secondary education and born before 1980 have seen wealth and income premiums, while, for those after 1980, the wealth premium has weakened to a point of statistical insignificance (in part because of the Cost and financing issues facing higher education in the United States, rising cost of college). The income premium, while remaining positive, has declined to historic lows, with more pronounced downward trajectories among heads of household with Postgraduate education, postgraduate degrees.


=Parenting and volunteering

= In terms of advocating for their children in the educational setting, author Neil Howe describes Gen X parents as distinct from baby boomer parents. Howe argues that Gen Xers are not helicopter parents, which Howe describes as a parenting style of boomer parents of millennials. Howe described Gen Xers instead as "stealth fighter parents", due to the tendency of Gen X parents to let minor issues go and to not hover over their children in the educational setting, but to intervene forcefully and swiftly in the event of more serious issues. In 2012, the Corporation for National and Community Service ranked Gen X volunteer rates in the U.S. at "29.4% per year", the highest compared with other generations. The rankings were based on a three-year moving average between 2009 and 2011.


=Income differential with previous generations

= A report titled ''Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well?'' focused on the income of males 30–39 in 2004 (those born April 1964March 1974). The study was released on 25 May 2007 and emphasized that this generation's men made less (by 12%) than their fathers had at the same age in 1974, thus reversing a historical trend. It concluded that, per year increases in household income generated by fathers/sons slowed from an average of 0.9% to 0.3%, barely keeping pace with inflation. "Family incomes have risen though (over the period 1947 to 2005) because more women have gone to work", "supporting the incomes of men, by adding a second earner to the family. And as with male income, the trend is downward."


Elsewhere

Although, globally, children and adolescents of Generation X will have been heavily influenced by U.S. cultural industries with shared global currents (e.g., rising divorce rates, the AIDS epidemic, advancements in Information and communications technology, ICT), there is not one U.S.-born raised concept but multiple perspectives and geographical outgrowths. Even within the period of analysis, inside national communities, commonalities will have differed on the basis of one's birth date. The generation, Christine Henseler also remarks, was shaped as much by real-world events, within national borders, determined by specific political, cultural, and historical incidents. She adds "In other words, it is in between both real, clearly bordered spaces and more fluid global currents that we can spot the spirit of Generation X." In 2016, a global consumer insights project from Viacom International Media Networks and Viacom (2005–present), Viacom, based on over 12,000 respondents across 21 countries, reported on Gen X's unconventional approach to sex, friendship, and family, their desire for flexibility and fulfillment at work and the absence of midlife crisis for Gen Xers. The project also included a 20 min documentary titled ''Gen X Today''.


Russia

In Russia, Generation Xers are referred to as "the last Soviet children", as the last children to come of age prior to the downfall of
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
in their nation and prior to the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. Those that reached adulthood in the 1980s and grew up educated in the doctrines of Marxism and Leninism found themselves against a background of economic and social change, with the advent of Mikhail Gorbachev to power and ''Perestroika''. However, even before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disbanding of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, surveys demonstrated that Russian young people repudiated the key features of the Communist worldview that their party leaders, schoolteachers, and even parents had tried to instill in them. This generation, caught in the transition between Marxism–Leninism and an unknown future, and wooed by the new domestic political classes, remained largely apathetic.


France

In France, "Generation X" is not as widely known or used to define its members. Demographically, this loosely denotes those born from the beginning of the 1960s to the early 1980s. Although fertility rates started to fall in 1965, number of births in France only followed suit in 1975. There is general agreement that, domestically, the event that is accepted in France as the separating point between the baby boomer generation and Generation X are the May 68, French strikes and violent riots of May 1968 with those of the generation too young to participate. Those at the start of the cohort are sometimes referred to as 'Génération Bof' because of their tendency to use the word 'bof', which, translated into English, means "whatever". The generation is closely associated with socialist François Mitterrand who served as President of France during two consecutive terms between 1981 and 1995 as most transitioned into adulthood during that period. Economically, Xers started when the new labour market was emerging and were the first to fully experience the advent of the post-industrial society. For those at the tail-end of the generation, educational and defence reforms, a new style ''Baccalauréat#Baccalauréat général, baccalauréat général'' with three distinct streams in 1995 (the preceding programme, introduced in 1968) the 2002 Licence Master Doctorat, licence-master-doctorat reform for first Millennials, millennial graduates (Diplôme d'études universitaires générales, DEUG, Maîtrise, Diplome d'Etudes Superieures Specialisees, DESS and Diplome d'Etudes Approfondies, DEA degrees no longer awarded), and the cessation of military conscription in 1997 (for those born after January 1979) are considered as new transition points to the next.


Republic of Ireland

The term "Generation X" is used to describe Irish people born between 1965 and 1985; they grew up during The Troubles and the 1980s economic recession, coming of age during the Celtic Tiger period of prosperity in the 1990s onward. The appropriateness of the term to Ireland has been questioned, with Darach Ó Séaghdha noting that "Generation X is usually contrasted with the one before by growing up in smaller and different family units on account of their parents having greater access to contraception and
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
– again, things that were not widely available in Ireland. [''Contraception was only available under prescription in 1978 and without prescription in 1985; divorce was illegal until 1996.''] However, this generation was in prime position to benefit from the Celtic Tiger, the Northern Ireland peace process, Peace Process and liberalisations introduced on foot of EU membership and was less likely to Irish diaspora, emigrate than those that came before and after. You could say that in many ways, these are Ireland’s real boomers." Culturally, Britpop, Celtic rock, the Irish traditional music, trad revival, ''Father Ted'', the 1990 FIFA World Cup and rave culture were significant. The Divine Comedy song "Generation Sex" (1998) painted a picture of hedonism in the late 20th century, as well as its effect on the media. David McWilliams (economist), David McWilliams' 2005 book ''The Pope's Children, The Pope's Children: Ireland's New Elite'' profiled Irish people born in the 1970s (just prior to the Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland, papal visit to Ireland), which was a baby boom that saw Ireland's population increase for the first time since the Great Famine (Ireland), 1840s Great Famine. The Pope's Children were in position to benefit from the Celtic Tiger and the newly liberal culture, where the Catholic Church had significantly less social power.


United Kingdom


= As children, adolescents and young adults

=


Political environment

The United Kingdom's Economic and Social Research Council described Generation X as "Thatcher's children" because the cohort grew up while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, "a time of social flux and transformation". Those born in the late 1960s and early 1970s grew up in a period of social unrest. While unemployment was low in the early 1970s, industrial and social unrest escalated. Strike action culminated in the "Winter of Discontent" in 1978–79, and the Troubles began to unfold in Northern Ireland. The turn to neoliberal policies introduced and maintained by consecutive conservative governments from 1979 to 1997 marked the end of the post-war consensus.


Education

The almost universal dismantling of the grammar school system in Great Britain during the 1960s and the 1970s meant that the vast majority of the cohort attended secondary modern schools, relabelled comprehensive schools. Compulsory education ended at the age of 16. As older members of the cohort reached the end of their mandatory schooling, levels of educational enrollment among older adolescents remained below much of the Western world. By the early 1980s, some 80% to 90% of school leavers in France and West Germany received vocational training, compared with 40% in the United Kingdom. By the mid-1980s, over 80% of pupils in the United States and West Germany and over 90% in Japan stayed in education until the age of eighteen, compared with 33% of British pupils. There was, however, broadly a rise in education levels among this age range as Generation X passed through it. In 1990, 25% of young people in England stayed in some kind of full-time education after the age of 18, this was an increase from 15% a decade earlier. Later, the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and the liberalisation of higher education in the UK saw greater numbers of those born towards the tail-end of the generation gaining university places.


Employment

The 1980s, when much of Generation X reached working age, was an era defined by high unemployment rates. This was particularly true of the youngest members of the working aged population. In 1984, 26% of 16 to 24 year olds were neither in full-time education or participating in the workforce. However, this figure did decrease as the economic situation improved reaching 17% by 1993.


= In midlife

= Generation X were far more likely to have children out of wedlock than their parents. The number of babies being born to unmarried parents in England and Wales rose from 11% in 1979, a quarter in 1998, 40% by 2002 and almost half in 2012. They were also significantly more likely to have children later in life than their predecessors. The average age of a mother giving birth rose from 27 in 1982 to 30 in 2012. That year saw 29,994 children born to mothers over the age 40, an increase of 360% from 2002. A 2016 study of over 2,500 British office workers conducted by Workfront found that survey respondents of all ages selected those from Generation X as the hardest-working employees and members of the workforce (chosen by 60%). Gen X was also ranked highest among fellow workers for having the strongest work ethic (chosen by 59.5%), being the most helpful (55.4%), the most skilled (54.5%), and the best troubleshooters/problem-solvers (41.6%).


= Political evolution

= Ipsos MORI reports that at the 1987 United Kingdom general election, 1987 and 1992 United Kingdom general election, 1992 general elections, the first List of United Kingdom general elections, United Kingdom general elections where significant numbers of Generation X members could vote, a plurality of 18 to 24 year olds opted for the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party by a small margin. The polling organisation's figures suggest that in 1987, 39% of that age group voted Labour, 37% for the Conservative Party (UK), Conservatives and 22% for the SDP–Liberal Alliance. Five years later, these numbers were fairly similar at 38% Labour, 35% Conservative and 19% Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats, a party by then formed from the previously mentioned alliance. Both these elections saw a fairly significant lead for the Conservatives in the popular vote among the general population. At the 1997 General election where Labour won a large majority of seats and a comfortable lead in the popular vote, research suggests that voters under the age of 35 were more likely to vote Labour if they turned out than the wider electorate but significantly less likely to vote than in 1992. Analysts suggested this may have been due to fewer differences in policies between the major parties and young people having less of a sense of affiliation with particular political parties than older generations. A similar trend continued at the 2001 United Kingdom general election, 2001 and 2005 United Kingdom general election, 2005 general elections as turnout dropped further among both the relatively young and the wider public. Voter turnout across the electorate began to recover from a 2001 low until the 2017 United Kingdom general election, 2017 general election. Generation X also became more likely to vote as they entered the midlife age demographics. Polling suggests a plurality of their age group backed the Conservatives in 2010 United Kingdom general election, 2010 and 2015 United Kingdom general election, 2015 but less overwhelming than much of the older generation. At the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016 EU membership referendum and 2017 United Kingdom general election, 2017 general election, Generation X was split with younger members appearing to back remain and Labour and older members tending towards Leave and Conservative in a British electorate more polarised by age than ever before. At the 2019 general election, voting trends continued to be heavily divided by age but a plurality of younger as well as older generation X members (then 39 to 55 year olds) voted Conservative.


Germany

In Germany, "Generation X" is not widely used or applied. Instead, reference is made to "Generation Golf" in the previous West German republic, based on a novel by Florian Illies. In the east, children of the "Mauerfall" or coming down of the wall. For former East Germans, there was adaptation, but also a sense of loss of accustomed values and structures. These effects turned into romantic narratives of their childhood. For those in the West, there was a period of discovery and exploration of what had been a forbidden land.


South Africa

In South Africa, Gen Xers spent their formative years of the 1980s during the "hyper-politicized environment of the final years of apartheid".


Arts and culture


Music

Gen Xers were the first cohort to come of age with MTV. They were the first generation to experience the emergence of music videos as teenagers and are sometimes called the
MTV Generation The MTV Generation refers to the adolescents and young adults of the 1980s and early-mid 1990s, a time when many were influenced by the television channel MTV, which launched in 1981. The term is often used to refer to Generation X. The development ...
. Gen Xers were responsible for the alternative rock movement of the 1990s and 2000s, including the grunge subgenre. Hip hop music, Hip hop has also been described as defining music of the generation, particularly artists such as Tupac Shakur, N.W.A., and The Notorious B.I.G.


Punk rock

From 1974 to 1976, a new generation of rock bands arose, such as the Ramones, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, The Dictators in New York City, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, The Damned (band), the Damned, and Buzzcocks in the United Kingdom, and The Saints (Australian band), the Saints in Brisbane. By late 1976, these acts were generally recognized as forming the vanguard of "punk rock", and as 1977 approached, punk rock became a major and highly controversial cultural phenomenon in the UK. It spawned a punk subculture which expressed a youthful rebellion, characterized by distinctive Punk fashion, styles of clothing and adornment (ranging from deliberately offensive T-shirts, leather jackets, studded or spiked bands and jewelry, as well as bondage and S&M clothes) and a variety of Punk ideologies, anti-authoritarian ideologies that have since been associated with the form. By 1977 the influence of punk rock music and its subculture became more pervasive, spreading throughout various countries worldwide. It generally took root in local scenes that tended to reject affiliation with the mainstream. In the late 1970s, punk experienced its second wave. Acts that were not active during its formative years adopted the style. While at first punk musicians were not Gen Xers themselves (many of them were late boomers, or
Generation Jones Generation Jones is the social cohort of the latter half of the Baby boomer generation to the first years of Generation X. The term Generation Jones was first coined by the American cultural commentator Jonathan Pontell, who identified the coh ...
), the fanbase for punk became increasingly Gen X-oriented as the earliest Xers entered their adolescence, and it therefore made a significant imprint on the cohort. By the 1980s, faster and more aggressive subgenres such as hardcore punk (e.g., Minor Threat), street punk (e.g., the Exploited, NOFX) and anarcho-punk (e.g., Subhumans (British band), Subhumans) became the predominant modes of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk often later pursued other musical directions, resulting in a broad range of spinoffs. This development gave rise to genres such as
post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...
, new wave music, new wave and later indie pop, alternative rock, and noise rock. Gen Xers were no longer simply the consumers of punk, they became the creators as well. By the 1990s, punk rock re-emerged into the mainstream. Punk rock and pop punk bands with Gen X members such as Green Day, Rancid (band), Rancid, The Offspring, and Blink-182 brought widespread popularity to the genre .


Hard rock

Arguably in a similar way to punk, a sense of disillusionment, angst and anger catalysed hard rock and heavy metal to grow from the earlier influence of rock.


Post-punk

The energy generated by the punk movement launched a subsequent proliferation of weird and eclectic post-punk sub cultures, spanning New wave music, new wave, Gothic rock, goth, etc., and influencing the New Romantics.


Grunge

A notable example of alternative rock is grunge music and the associated subculture that developed in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. Grunge song lyrics have been called the "...product of Generation X malaise".''Music Cultures in the United States: An Introduction''. Ed. Ellen Koskoff. Routledge, 2005. p. 359 Vulture.com, Vulture commented: "the best bands arose from the boredom of latchkey kids". "People made records entirely to please themselves because there was nobody else to please" commented producer Jack Endino. Grunge lyrics are typically dark, nihilism, nihilistic,DiBlasi, Alex (2013). "Grunge" in ''Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars and Stories that Shaped Our Culture'', pp. 520–524 [520]. Edited by Jacqueline Edmondson. ABC-CLIO angst-filled, anguished, and often addressing themes such as social alienation, despair and apathy. ''The Guardian'' wrote that grunge "didn't recycle banal cliches but tackled weighty subjects". Topics of grunge lyrics included homelessness, suicide, rape, broken homes, drug addiction, self-loathing,Gina Misiroglu. ''American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History''. Routledge, 2015. p. 343 misogyny, domestic abuse and finding "meaning in an indifferent universe". Grunge lyrics tended to be introspective and aimed to enable the listener to see into hidden personal issues and examine depravity in the world. Notable grunge bands include: Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden.


Hip hop

The golden age of hip hop refers to hip hop music made from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, typically by artists originating from the New York metropolitan area. The music style was characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence after the genre's emergence and establishment in the previous decade.Green, Tony, in Wang, Oliver (ed.) ''Classic Material'', Toronto: ECW Press, 2003. p. 132 There were various types of wikt:subject-matter, subject matter, while the music was experimental hip hop, experimental and the Sampling (music), sampling eclectic. The artists most often associated with the period are LL Cool J, Run–D.M.C., Public Enemy (group), Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, KRS-One, Eric B. & Rakim, De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, Slick Rick, Ultramagnetic MC's,Linhardt, Alex (10 June 2004)
Album Reviews: Ultramagnetic MC's: Critical Beatdown
Pitchfork (website), Pitchfork. Retrieved on 24 December 2014.
and the Jungle Brothers. Releases by these acts co-existed in this period with, and were as commercially viable as, those of early gangsta rap artists such as Ice-T, Geto Boys and N.W.A, the dirty rap, sex raps of 2 Live Crew and Too Short, and pop rap, party-oriented music by acts such as Kid 'n Play, The Fat Boys, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince and MC Hammer.Bakari Kitwan
"The Cotton Club"
, ''Village Voice'', 21 June 2005.
In addition to lyrical self-glorification, hip hop was also used as a form of social protest. Lyrical content from the era often drew attention to a variety of social issues, including afrocentric living, drug use, crime and violence, religion, culture, the state of the American economy, and the modern man's struggle. Conscious hip hop, Conscious and political hip hop tracks of the time were a response to the effects of American capitalism and former President Reagan's conservative political economy. According to Rose Tricia, "In rap, relationships between black cultural practice, social and economic conditions, technology, sexual and racial politics, and the institution policing of the popular terrain are complex and in constant motion". Even though hip hop was used as a mechanism for different social issues, it was still very complex with issues within the movement itself. There was also often an emphasis on black nationalism. Hip hop artists often talked about urban poverty and the problems of alcohol, drugs, and gangs in their communities. Public Enemy (group), Public Enemy's most influential song, "Fight the Power (Public Enemy song), Fight the Power", came out at this time; the song speaks up to the government, proclaiming that people in the ghetto have freedom of speech and rights like every other American.


Film


Indie films

Gen Xers were largely responsible for the "Independent film, indie film" movement of the 1990s, both as young directors and in large part as the film audiences which were fueling demand for such films. In cinema, directors Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Sofia Coppola, John Singleton, Spike Jonze, David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh, and Richard Linklater have been called Generation X filmmakers. Smith is most known for his View Askewniverse films, the flagship film being ''Clerks (1994 film), Clerks'', which is set in New Jersey circa 1994, and focuses on two convenience-store clerks in their twenties. Linklater's ''
Slacker A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic. Origin According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early ...
'' similarly explores young adult characters who were interested in philosophizing. While not a member of Gen X himself, director John Hughes (filmmaker), John Hughes has been recognized as having created classic 1980s teen films with early Gen X characters which "an entire generation took ownership of", including ''The Breakfast Club'', ''Sixteen Candles'', ''Weird Science (film), Weird Science'', and ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off''. In France, a new movement emerged, the ''Cinéma du look'', spearheaded by filmmakers Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beineix and Leos Carax. Although not Gen Xers themselves, ''Subway (film), Subway'' (1985), ''37°2 le matin'' (English: ''Betty Blue''; 1986), and ''Mauvais Sang'' (1986) sought to capture on screen the generation's malaise, sense of entrapment, and desire to escape.


Franchise mega sequels

The birth of franchise mega-sequels in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction genres, such as the epic space opera ''Star Wars'' and the ''Halloween (franchise), Halloween'' franchise, had a profound and notable cultural influence.


Literature

The literature of early Gen Xers is often dark and introspective. In the U.S., authors such as Elizabeth Wurtzel, David Foster Wallace, Bret Easton Ellis, and
Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms ''Generation X'' and ''McJ ...
captured the zeitgeist of this generation. In France, Michel Houellebecq and Frédéric Beigbeder rank among major novelists whose work also reflect the dissatisfaction and melancholies of the cohort. In the UK, Alex Garland, author of ''The Beach (novel), The Beach'' (1996), further added to the genre.


Health problems

While previous research has indicated that the likelihood of Myocardial infarction, heart attacks was declining among Americans aged 35 to 74, a 2018 study published in the American Heart Association's journal ''Circulation (journal), Circulation'' revealed that this did not apply to the younger half of that cohort (controlling for age, Generation X have not seen a reduction in heart attack risk, versus previous generations). Data from 28,000 patients from across the United States who were hospitalized for heart attacks between 1995 and 2014 showed that a growing proportion were between the ages of 35 to 54. The proportion of heart-attack patients in this age group at the end of the study was 32%, up from 27% at the start of the study. This increase is most pronounced among women, for whom the number jumped from 21% to 31%. A common theme among those who suffered from heart attacks is that they also had Hypertension, high-blood pressure, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. These changes have been faster for women than for men. Experts suggest a number of reasons for this. Conditions such as coronary artery disease are traditionally viewed as a man's problem, and as such female patients are not considered high-risk. More often than in previous generations, Generation X women are both the primary caretakers of their families and full-time employees, reducing time for self-care.


Offspring

Generation X are usually the parents of Generation Z, and sometimes millennials. Jason Dorsey, who works for the Center of Generational Kinetics, observed that like their parents from Generation X, members of Generation Z tend to be autonomous and pessimistic. They need validation less than the millennials and typically become financially literate at an earlier age, as many of their parents bore the full brunt of the Great Recession.


See also

*
Generation Jones Generation Jones is the social cohort of the latter half of the Baby boomer generation to the first years of Generation X. The term Generation Jones was first coined by the American cultural commentator Jonathan Pontell, who identified the coh ...
* List of generations


References


External links


''Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion''
, Christine Henseler, Ed.; 2012
"Generation X's journey from jaded to sated"
– ''Salon (website), Salon'', 1 October 2013
''Gen X Today''
��2016 documentary by Viacom International Media Networks {{Generation, state=expanded Generation X, 1950s neologisms 20th century Cultural generations, X Marketing by target group Popular culture Postmodernism