Baby boomers

Baby boomers (also known as boomers) are the demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. There are varying timelines defining the start and the end of this cohort; demographers and researchers typically use birth years starting from the early- to mid-1940s and ending anywhere from 1960 to 1964.

The term "baby boomer" is also used in a cultural context, so it is difficult to achieve broad consensus of a precise date definition. Different people, organizations, and scholars have varying opinions on who is a baby boomer, both chronologically and culturally. Some define "baby boomers" as those born between 1946 and 1964.[1] Ascribing universal attributes to any generation is tricky, and some believe it is invalid to make generalizations about individuals who happen to be born in the same timeframe. Still, many have attempted to discern in this group cultural similarities and historical impact, helping to popularize the designation "baby boomer."

Baby boomers are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values. Many commentators, however, have disputed the extent of that rejection, noting the widespread continuity of values with older and younger generations. In Europe and North America, boomers are widely associated with privilege, as many grew up in a time of widespread government subsidies in post-war housing and education, and increasing affluence.[2]

As a group, baby boomers were the wealthiest, most active, and most physically fit generation up to the era in which they arrived, and were amongst the first to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time.[3] They were also the generation that received peak levels of income; they could therefore reap the benefits of abundant levels of food, apparel, retirement programs, and sometimes even "midlife crisis" products. The increased consumerism for this generation has been regularly criticized as excessive.[4]

One feature of the boomers was that they have tended to think of themselves as a special generation, very different from those that had come before or that has come afterward. In the 1960s, as the relatively large numbers of young people became teenagers and young adults, they, and those around them, created a very specific rhetoric around their cohort, and the changes they were bringing about.[5] This rhetoric had an important impact in the self perceptions of the boomers, as well as their tendency to define the world in terms of generations, which was a relatively new phenomenon. The baby boom has been described variously as a "shockwave"[2] and as "the pig in the python".[3]

The term "Generation Jones" is sometimes used to describe those born roughly between 1954 and 1964. The term is typically used to refer to the later years of the Baby boomer cohort and the early years of Generation X.[6][7]

Definition

United States birth rate (births per 1,000 population). The segment for the years 1946 to 1964 is highlighted in red, with birth rates peaking in 1949 and dropping steadily around 1958 reaching pre-war depression era levels in 1963.[8] The drop in 1970 was due to excluding births to nonresidents of the United States.

The term baby boom refers to a noticeable increase in the birth rate. The post-war population increase was described as a "boom" by various newspaper reporters, including Sylvia F. Porter in a column for the May 4, 1951, edition of the New York Post, based on the increase in the population of the U.S. of 2,357,000 in 1950.[9] The first recorded use of "baby boomer" is in a January 1963 Daily Press article describing a massive surge of college enrollments approaching as the oldest boomers were coming of age.[10]

Various authors have delimited the baby boom period differently. Landon Jones, in his book Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation (1980), defined the span of the baby-boom generation as extending from 1943 through 1960, when annual births increased over 4,000,000. Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe, well known for their generational theory, define the social generation of Boomers as that cohort born from 1943 to 1960, who were too young to have any personal memory of World War II, but old enough to remember the postwar American High.[11]

Pew Research Center defines baby boomers as being born between 1946 and 1964.[12] In the U.S., the generation can be segmented into two broadly defined cohorts: The Leading-Edge Baby Boomers are individuals born between 1946 and 1955, those who came of age during the Vietnam War era. This group represents slightly more than half of the generation, or roughly 38,002,000 people of all races. The other half of the generation was born between 1956 and 1964. Called Late Boomers, or Trailing-Edge Boomers, this second cohort includes about 37,818,000 individuals, according to Live Births by Age and Mother and Race, 1933–98, published by the Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics.[13]

An ongoing battle for "generational ownership" has motivated a handful of marketing mavens and cultural commentators to coin and/or promote their own terms for sub‑segments of the baby-boomer generation. These monikers include, but are not limited to, "golden boomers," "generation Jones," "alpha boomers," "hippies," "yippies," "yuppies," "zoomers," and "cuspers."

In Ontario, Canada, one attempt to define the boom came from David Foot, author of Boom, Bust and Echo: Profiting from the Demographic Shift in the 21st century (1997). He defines a Canadian boomer as someone born from 1947 to 1966, the years that more than 400,000 babies were born. However, he acknowledges that is a demographic definition, and that culturally it may not be as clear-cut.[14]

Doug Owram argues that the Canadian boom took place from 1942 to 1960, but that culturally boomers everywhere were born between the late war years and about 1955 or 1956. He notes that those born in the years before the actual boom were often the most influential people among boomers; for example, musicians such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones, as well as writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, who were either slightly or vastly older than the boomer generation. Those born in the 1960s might feel disconnected from the cultural identifiers of the earlier boomers.[15]

Bernard Salt places the Australian baby boom between 1943 and 1960,[16][17] while the Australian Bureau of Statistics defines the boom as 1946 to 1964.[18]

Characteristics

Size and economic impact

76 million Americans were born between 1946 and 1964, representing a cohort that is significant in size alone. In 2004, the British baby boomers held 80% of the UK's wealth and bought 80% of all high-end cars, 80% of cruises and 50% of skincare products.[19]

In addition to the size of the group, Steve Gillon has suggested that one thing that sets the baby boomers apart from other generational groups is the fact that "almost from the time they were conceived, Boomers were dissected, analyzed, and pitched to by modern marketers, who reinforced a sense of generational distinctiveness."[20] This is supported by the articles of the late 1940s identifying the increasing number of babies as an economic boom, such as a 1948 Newsweek article whose title proclaimed "Babies Mean Business",[21] or a 1948 Time magazine article called "Baby Boom."[22]

The age wave theory suggests an economic slowdown when the boomers started retiring during 2007–2009.[23] Projections for the aging U.S. workforce suggest that by 2020, 25% of employees will be at least 55 years old.[24]

The Baby Boomers came into being the largest voting demographic in the early 1980s, a period which ushered in a long running trend of rapidly increasing income inequality. From 1979-2007, those receiving the highest 1 percentile of incomes saw their already large incomes increase by 278% while those in the middle at the 40th-60th percentiles saw a 35% increase. Since 1980, after the vast majority of Baby Boomer college goers graduated, the cost of college has been increased by over 600% (inflation adjusted).[25]

A survey found that nearly a third of baby boomer multimillionaires polled in the United States would prefer to pass on their inheritance to charities rather than pass it down to their children. Fifty-seven percent of these boomers believed it was important for each generation to earn their own money; fifty four percent believed it was more important to invest in their children while they were growing up.[26]

Cultural identity

Boomers grew up at a time of dramatic social change. In the United States, that change marked the generation with a strong cultural cleavage, between the proponents of change and the more conservative individuals. Some analysts believe this cleavage played out politically since the time of the Vietnam War to the mid‑2000s, to some extent defining the political landscape and division in the country.[27][28] Starting in the 1980s, the boomers became more conservative, many of them regretting the cultural changes they brought in their youth.[29]

In 1993, Time magazine reported on the religious affiliations of baby boomers. Citing Wade Clark Roof, a sociologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the articles stated that about 42% of baby boomers were dropouts from formal religion, 33% had never strayed from church, and 25% of boomers were returning to religious practice. The boomers returning to religion were "usually less tied to tradition and less dependable as church members than the loyalists. They are also more liberal, which deepens rifts over issues like abortion and homosexuality."[30]

The early and mid-boomers were coming of age at the same time across the world, so that they experienced events like Beatlemania and Woodstock, organizing against the Vietnam War, or fighting and dying in the same war. Boomers in Italy were dressing in mod clothes and "buying the world a Coke." Boomers in India were seeking new philosophical discoveries. Some American boomers in Canada had found a new home after escaping the draft. Canadian Boomers were organizing support for Pierre Trudeau. It is precisely because of these experiences that many believe those born in the second half of the birth boom belong to another generation, as events that defined their coming of age have little in common with leading or core boomers. Politically, early Boomers in the United States tend to be Democrats, while later boomers tend to be Republicans.[31]

The baby boomers found that their music, most notably rock and roll, was another expression of their generational identity. Transistor radios were personal devices that allowed teenagers to listen to The Beatles, the Motown Sound, and other new musical directions and artists.

In the west, baby boomers comprised the first generation to grow up with the television; some popular Boomer-era shows included Howdy Doody, The Mickey Mouse Club, Captain Video, The Soupy Sales Show, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, The Twilight Zone, Batman, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Star Trek, The Ed Sullivan Show, All in the Family and Happy Days.

In the 1985 study of U.S. generational cohorts by Schuman and Scott, a broad sample of adults was asked, "What world events over the past 50 years were especially important to them?"[32] For the baby boomers the results were:

Some debate exists regarding the generational identity of those born from 1961 to 1964, as some demographers and researchers consider these individuals to be part of the younger demographic cohort, Generation X.[33][34][35][36]

Healthcare

The density of Baby Boomers can put a strain on Medicare. According to the American Medical Student Association, the population of individuals over the age of 65 will increase by 73 percent between 2010 and 2030, meaning one in five Americans will be a senior citizen.[37]

Aging and end-of-life issues

As of 1998, it was reported that, as a generation, boomers had tended to avoid discussions and long-term planning for their demise.[38] However, beginning at least as early as that year, there has been a growing dialogue on how to manage aging and end-of-life issues as the generation ages.[39] In particular, a number of commentators have argued that Baby Boomers are in a state of denial regarding their own aging and death and are leaving an undue economic burden on their children for their retirement and care. According to the 2011 Associated Press and LifeGoesStrong.com surveys:

  • 60% lost value in investments because of the economic crisis
  • 42% are delaying retirement
  • 25% claim they will never retire (currently still working)[40][41]

In 2009, the earliest baby boomers (If someone uses Strauss and Howe's range of 1943-1960) reached a common retirement age in the United States: 66 years.

Impact on history and culture

Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Donald Trump
Three American Presidents were born in 1946: Bill Clinton (42nd), George W. Bush (43rd), and Donald Trump (45th).

An indication of the importance put on the impact of the boomer was the selection by TIME magazine of the Baby Boom Generation as its 1966 "Man of the Year." As Claire Raines points out in Beyond Generation X, "never before in history had youth been so idealized as they were at this moment." When Generation X came along it had much to live up to according to Raines.[42]

Boomers are often associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and the "second-wave" feminist cause of the 1970s. Conversely, many trended in moderate to conservative directions opposite to the counterculture, especially those making professional careers in the military (officer and enlisted), law enforcement, business, blue collar trades, and Republican Party politics. They are also associated with the spending trends and narcissism of the "Me" generation.

People often take it for granted that each succeeding generation will be "better off" than the one before it. When Generation X came along just after the boomers, they would be the first generation to enjoy a lesser quality of life than the generation preceding it.[43][44][45][46]

Baby boomers continue to have a significant effect on politics, as the United States presidential election, 2016 came down to two controversial candidates in Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, both boomers, with a majority of Trump's support coming from the Baby Boomer generation.[47][48] Three American presidents were born in 1946: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

Within the UK, numerous Baby Boomers have served as major party leaders, including three prime ministers (Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Theresa May), and three leaders of the opposition (Tony Blair, Iain Duncan Smith and Jeremy Corbyn).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "What Do Millennials Think About Security Issues?". Posard, Marek N., Kavanagh, Jennifer, Edwards, Kathryn, Efron, Sonni. 2018.
  2. 1 2 Owram, Doug (1997), Born at the Right Time, Toronto: Univ Of Toronto Press, p. x, ISBN 0-8020-8086-3
  3. 1 2 Jones, Landon (1980), Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation, New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan
  4. ↑ Pinker, Steven (2011). The Better Angels Of Our Nature. P.524: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-141-03464-5.
  5. ↑ Owram, Doug (1997), Born at the Right Time, Toronto: Univ Of Toronto Press, p. xi, ISBN 0-8020-8086-3
  6. ↑ FNP Interactive - http://www.fnpInteractive.com (December 19, 2008). "The Frederick News-Post Online – Frederick County Maryland Daily Newspaper". Fredericknewspost.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
  7. ↑ Noveck, Jocelyn (2009-01-11), "In Obama, many see an end to the baby boomer era"..
  8. ↑ CDC Bottom of this page https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/vsus.htm "Vital Statistics of the United States, 2003, Volume I, Natality", Table 1-1 "Live births, birth rates, and fertility rates, by race: United States, 1909–2003."
  9. ↑ Reader's Digest August 1951 pg. 5
  10. ↑ http://mentalfloss.com/article/542159/how-generations-named-baby-boomers-generation-x-millennials
  11. ↑ Howe, Neil; Strauss, William (1991). Generations: The History of Americas Future, 1584 to 2069. New York: William Morrow. pp. 299–316. ISBN 0-688-11912-3.
  12. ↑ "Defining generations: Where Millennials end and post-Millennials begin". Pew Research Center. March 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  13. ↑ Green, Brent (2006). Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers: Perceptions, Principles, Practices, Predictions. New York: Paramount Market Publishing. pp. 4–5. ISBN 0976697351.
  14. ↑ Canada (June 24, 2006). "By definition: Boom, bust, X and why". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Archived from the original on May 20, 2009. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
  15. ↑ Owram, Doug (1997), Born at the Right Time, Toronto: University Of Toronto Press, p. xiv, ISBN 0-8020-8086-3
  16. ↑ Salt, Bernard (2004), The Big Shift, South Yarra, Vic.: Hardie Grant Books, ISBN 978-1-74066-188-1
  17. ↑ Archived March 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ↑ Statistics, c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=Australian Bureau of. "Main Features - About this Release". www.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  19. ↑ Walker, Duncan (Sept 16, 2004) "Live Fast, Die Old", BBC News site. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
  20. ↑ Gillon, Steve (2004) Boomer Nation: The Largest and Richest Generation Ever, and How It Changed America, Free Press, "Introduction", ISBN 0-7432-2947-9
  21. ↑ "Population: Babies Mean Business", Newsweek, August 9, 1948. Retrieved 2007-01-26. Archived January 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  22. ↑ "Baby Boom", Time, February 9, 1948. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
  23. ↑ Economy faces bigger bust without Boomers, Reuters, Jan 31, 2008
  24. ↑ Chosewood, L. Casey (July 19, 2012). "Safer and Healthier at Any Age: Strategies for an Aging Workforce". National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
  25. ↑ Planes, Alex (June 29, 2013). "How the Baby Boomers Destroyed America's Future". The Motley Fool. The Motley Fool. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  26. ↑ Half of Baby Boomers to Leave Inheritance to Kids
  27. ↑ Sullivan, Andrew (November 6, 2007). "Goodbye to all of that". Theatlantic.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  28. ↑ Broder, John M. (January 21, 2007). "Shushing the Baby Boomers". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
  29. ↑ Bowman, Karlyn (2011-09-12). "As the boomers turn". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  30. ↑ Ostling, Richard N., "The Church Search", April 5, 1993 Time article retrieved 2007-01-27
  31. ↑ "The Whys and Hows of Generations Research". Pew Center. September 3, 2015
  32. ↑ Schuman, H. and Scott, J. (1989), Generations and collective memories, American Sociological Review, vol. 54 (3), 1989, pp. 359–81.
  33. ↑ Howe, Neil (27 August 2014). "Generation X: Once Xtreme, Now Exhausted". Forbes. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  34. ↑ Miller, Jon (Fall 2011). "The Generation X Report: Active, Balanced, and Happy" (PDF). Longitudinal Study of American Youth – University Of Michigan. p. 1. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  35. ↑ "National Geographic Channel's Six-Part Limited Series "Generation X," Narrated by Christian Slater, Premieres Sunday, Feb. 14, at 10/9c". Multichannel News. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  36. ↑ "Generation X Employees Struggle the Most Financially, Most Likely to Dip into Retirement Savings, According to PwC Study". PrincewaterhouseCoopers. 18 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  37. ↑ "How baby boomers will affect the health care industry in the U.S. | Carrington.edu". carrington.edu. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  38. ↑ Baby boomers lag in preparing funerals, estates, etc. The Business Journal of Milwaukee – December 18, 1998 by Robert Mullins. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  39. ↑ Article in The New York Times, March 30, 1998 Archived July 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
  40. ↑ "Retirement? For More Baby Boomers, The Answer Is No". ThirdAge Staff. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
  41. ↑ "Redefining Retirement: A Much Longer Lifespan means more to Consider". Living Better at 50. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  42. ↑ Raines, Claire (1997). Beyond Generation X. Crisp Publications. ISBN 978-1560524496.
  43. ↑ Isabel Sawhill, Ph.D; John E. Morton (2007). "Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 29, 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  44. ↑ Steuerle, Eugene; Signe-Mary McKernan; Caroline Ratcliffe; Sisi Zhang (2013). "Lost Generations? Wealth Building Among Young Americans" (PDF). Urban Institute. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  45. ↑ Economic Mobility Project
  46. ↑ Ellis, David (2007-05-25). "Making less than dad did". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  47. ↑ Beutler, Brian (2016-09-20). "Don't Blame Millennials for This Scarily Close Election. Blame Baby Boomers". New Republic. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  48. ↑ Metcalf, Stephen (1 May 2016). "Donald Trump, Baby Boomer". Slate. Retrieved 28 January 2017.

Further reading

  • Betts, David (2013). Breaking The Gaze. Kindle. ISBN 1494300079.
  • Cheung, Edward (2007). Baby Boomers, Generation X and Social Cycles, Volume 1: North American Long-waves. Longwave Press. ISBN 9781896330068.
  • Gibney, Bruce (2017). A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0316395786.
  • Green, Brent (2006). Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers: Perceptions, Principles, Practices, and Predictions. Ithaca, NY: Paramount Market Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-0976697350.
  • Green, Brent (2010). Generation Reinvention: How Boomers Today Are Changing Business, Marketing, Aging and the Future. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse. ISBN 978-1-4502-5533-2.
  • Willett, David (2011). The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future - and Why They Should Give It Back. Atlantic Books. ISBN 9781848872325.
  • Foot, David K. (1996). Boom Bust & Echo--How to Profit From the Coming Demographic Shift. Toronto, Canada: Macfarlane, Walter & Ross. ISBN 0-921912-97-8.
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