[generation next] breaking the social contract

A vicious gang of hell's grannies showing an ASBO

a special type of hugging

Generally speaking, the past few generations can be grouped this way:

The War Generation - born 1920 to 1931, now 76 to 87 years old
The Silent Generation - born 1931 to 1946, now 61 to 76 years old
The Baby Boomers - born 1946 to 1961, now 46 to 61 years old
Generation X - born 1961 to 1976, now 31 to 46 years old
Generation Y - born 1976 to 1991, now 16 to 31 years old
Generation Z - born 1991 to 2003, now 4 to 16 years old

Of course these years can be extended either side and there is considerable overlap but the pattern which emerges here is of two parallel sets of generations running side by side down through society:




This would explain the increasing Gen X hostility to the Boomers. It's not the ire of a child against the parent but that of a generation following 12 years or so later who have nothing to do with the former - they're not the children of, not personal friends, they're not anything to one another. Hence the total indifference and name calling.

I wrote this article about the coming generation wars and of course it's debatable. Now there's an interesting article on the cost of the aging generation, from the Gen X viewpoint.