Generation X

Members of the reactive, nomadic Generation X, which include some of our kin, were born between 1961 and 1981; there will probably be members of this generation playing on the world's stage at least until about 2071.1 Their parents were either the last wave of the adaptive Silent Generation or the first wave of the idealistic Boom Generation, who "nurtured" them in an underprotective way.

Generation X grew up as underprotected (even neglected) and highly criticized youths during a spiritual awakening (the Boom Awakening of the late 1960s and early 1970s) and matured into risk-taking, alienated rising adults. They are now mellowing into pragmatic midlife leaders during a secular crisis, and they will later maintain respect (but wield little influence) as savvy but reclusive elders. Generation X (of the Nomad archtype in the Millennial Saeculum, or Cycle) survived a hurried childhood of divorce, latchkeys, open classrooms, devil-child movies, and a shift from G to R movie ratings. They came of age curtailing the earlier rise in youth crime and fall in test scores--yet heard themselves denounced as so wild and stupid as to put The Nation at Risk. As young adults, maneuvering through a sexual battlescape of AIDS and blighted courtship rituals, they date and marry cautiously. In jobs, they embrace risk and prefer free agency over loyal cooperation. From grunge to hip-hop, their splintery culture reveals a hardened edge. Politically, they lean toward pragmatism and nonaffiliation and would rather volunteer than vote. Widely criticized as slackers, they inhabit a Reality Bites economy of declining young-adult living standards.2

Generations in the past whose peer personality closely resembled that of Generation X include:

Here is a table of contents for the Generation X's lifecycle:

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Birthyears for Generation X


(Linked names are ancestors of ours;
linked "G-" numbers refer to the family generations of those ancestors.)

 

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