I think you’re conflating two different things. There are a variety of social factors that affect age cohorts differently, and a lot of that comes down to the experience during formative years. We are a product of our environment in many ways, and it’s not nonsense to study and opine on these shared experiences and how they shape us. Class solidarity is an entirely different subject. You likely do have more in common with your social class across generations, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have anything in common with wealthy millennials. I wouldn’t let lazy journalism own the concept of generations itself.
The lived experience of people differs as much, or more, within age cohorts, as it does between age cohorts. They are lazy and hasty generalisations, with very little benefit outside of garbage op-eds and zombie statistics.
Do you often get your personal beliefs from garbage op-eds?
If you would like to learn about generational cohorts from a higher quality source, I recommend The Fourth Turning, a rather prophetic book on generations.
Oh, great, let’s swap garbage op-ed’s for garbage airport pop-science books. Why not recommend Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, next? Or maybe Rich Dad, Poor Dad?
Some lovely reviews about The Fourth Turning:
many academic historians dismiss the book as about as scientific as astrology
cyclical theories tend to end up in the Sargasso Sea of pseudoscience, circling endlessly (what else?). *The Fourth Turning is no exception.
their predictions about the American future turn out to be as vague as those of fortune cookies
I haven’t read those books, so I don’t have an opinion on them. You haven’t read The Fourth Turning, so maybe you shouldn’t be so set on your opinion of the book.
I think you’re conflating two different things. There are a variety of social factors that affect age cohorts differently, and a lot of that comes down to the experience during formative years. We are a product of our environment in many ways, and it’s not nonsense to study and opine on these shared experiences and how they shape us. Class solidarity is an entirely different subject. You likely do have more in common with your social class across generations, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have anything in common with wealthy millennials. I wouldn’t let lazy journalism own the concept of generations itself.
The lived experience of people differs as much, or more, within age cohorts, as it does between age cohorts. They are lazy and hasty generalisations, with very little benefit outside of garbage op-eds and zombie statistics.
Do you often get your personal beliefs from garbage op-eds?
If you would like to learn about generational cohorts from a higher quality source, I recommend The Fourth Turning, a rather prophetic book on generations.
Oh, great, let’s swap garbage op-ed’s for garbage airport pop-science books. Why not recommend Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, next? Or maybe Rich Dad, Poor Dad?
Some lovely reviews about The Fourth Turning:
I haven’t read those books, so I don’t have an opinion on them. You haven’t read The Fourth Turning, so maybe you shouldn’t be so set on your opinion of the book.
I’ll just wait for the If Books Could Kill episode, I think.