Warning: Long and probably boring unless you like this stuff!
A Discussion of Cohorts and All That
Back when I was in my forties and had a lot of energy, I ‘went back to school’ – I took a two-year ‘certificate’ course in Advertising at a local Community College. It was quite a culture shock; the next oldest student to me was about 25, and one of them had been in the same high school class as my daughter. It was fascinating, being back in class at that age. I was a whole lot worse at memorizing things than my classmates, but better at synthesizing, at putting a concept together in a coherent form.
The discussion and teaching around ‘generational cohorts’
was an area that I really loved. I suspect that we have all, for most of our
reading lives, run into tags like ‘baby boomers’, ‘the beat generation’, and on
and on. Journalists generated and used them, but it is in marketing that you hear
about it constantly. My age group was often dismissed, not even mentioned much,
in these lessons. It puzzled me as to why at first but, as the discussions
continued, it became clearer that older people did not spend enough money to
warrant the attention paid to younger cohorts. Like that really old joke about
the ladies of Boston who, when asked where they bought their hats responded
that they ‘had their hats’.
At any rate, I have been keyed into this kind of analysis
ever since I took the course. I am putting up this second discussion, really,
in answer to two comments; one that the reader had not heard about the tag and
another that the tag was unfair, or unpleasant. Not sure which. It was not, as
I told her, my tag, but one I found online. And so, the following material is from
information I found online in a quick search.
“This birth period links groups in
time together, Karl Mannheim says in his seminal work on generations, because
it “creates the potential for the development of a shared consciousness that
unites and motivates people…[and] represents nothing more than a particular
kind of identity of location, embracing related age groups embedded in a
historical-social process.”[2]
“I have to acknowledge that it is easier to call for more
generational research than it is to actually do it... As we all know, many
people who are born within a fifteen-year or so period will differ a great deal
in consumption behaviour, religious beliefs, political views, etc. This does
not mean there are not key similarities in comparison to previous groups, but
it does bring significant noise into data analysis.” [3]
“The issue is that people confuse generations,
which are specifically defined by birth dates, with "cohorts," a
slightly more vague grouping of people based on common experiences. The divisions we know and reference are
usually hybrids of the two. Here's the breakdown of the terms used and what
people mean by them.”
The Silent Generation, also known
as: The Depression Cohort, The Silent Generation (later), the G.I. Generation
(early), the post-war generation, the seekers. Approximate dates: Born
1901-1924 (early) 1924-1943 (later)
Defining characteristics: Grew up,
and frequently were defined by their experiences growing up, during The Great
Depression and World War 2. Those too young to serve, called "The Silent
Generation," experienced the war as children or very young adults, and
were described by the Time story that named them as "grave and
fatalistic," inclined to work very hard, but not say all that much.
Baby Boomers, Also known as: Boom
generation, hippies (subculture) Approximate dates: 1946-1964
Defining characteristics: Loosely, those born during the
post war "baby boom" of the late '40s and ensuing decades, where
birth rates significantly increased. Among their defining experiences were the
first space flight, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and later, the
Vietnam War and Watergate. They developed some of the first counter-cultures,
and though early boomers were known for their tendencies towards freedom and
experimentation, that grew into a sense of disillusionment and distrust for the
government for the latter members. In the '60s, the stereotype of the
generation was a navel-gazing hippie, but now, the generation is more
identified with those currently in power.”[4]
Enough, already. But the material does show some of the
stronger issues we discussed.
What I tried to express in my post on the 11th is
that I felt, from my twenties on, a gap between myself and those just a few
years younger. My nieces, only a few years younger than I was, seemed to be
coping with a different culture than I had ever encountered. One of them, at
the same university my husband and I had attended, really did describe a
different ambiance entirely. Also, the teenagers I taught, in my first years
out of university myself, dressed, spoke and acted in ways I never would have.
Never would have been allowed to attempt, in fact, even if I had wanted to try.
The extreme example? The 1969 Sir George William University
student riots.[5] « In
1969, Sir George Williams University students occupied the ninth-floor computer
lab to protest how complaints of racism made by Black and Caribbean students
had been mishandled and allegations dismissed. On February 11, after
negotiations failed, university leaders called the police which resulted in the
arrest of 97 students and long-lasting psychological, physical and social
repercussions.”[6]. The
nasty confrontation at Concordia (same university) last week appears to me to
be not that different. I am not sure why it bothered me so much; the
confrontation at the American Congress structured by Trump et al should have
worried me more, but, no. Perhaps it is so distasteful because these students
should be debating, thinking, researching, LISTENING to one another. Perhaps it
is my age. I am just sad and discouraged.
[2] From:
Generational research and advertising to various age cohorts by Charles R.
Taylor
Pages 683-685 | Published online: 30 Aug 2021 Location
is https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02650487.2021.1959986
[3] From
How To Know If You're Too Old To Call Yourself A Millennial by Max Nisen,
https://www.businessinsider.com/definition-of-generational-cohorts-2013-5
[4]
Nisen, ibid
[5] . Citation:
https://www.concordia.ca/about/history/1969-student-protest.html.
[6] You
can find the details of the incident at
https://www.concordia.ca/about/history/1969-student-protest/timeline.html#:~:text=January%2026%2C%201969,-During%20the%20hearing&text=After%20several%20months%20of%20inaction,Hall%20Building You can find the details of
the incident at https://www.concordia.ca/about/history/1969-student-protest/timeline.html#:~:text=January%2026%2C%201969,-During%20the%20hearing&text=After%20several%20months%20of%20inaction,Hall%20Building
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