Book review of The Generation Myth: Why When You're Born Matters Less Than You Think
THE GENERATION MYTH: Why When You’re Born Matters Less Than You Think
Author: Bobby Duffy
Publisher: Basic Books
Price: $30
Pages: 272
Why is it that making sweeping generalisations about people on the basis of gender, race, sexuality or nationality is unacceptable, but stereotyping them based on arbitrarily defined “generations” is totally fine? Millennials (roughly, those born between 1980 and 1995) have been demonised as narcissistic snowflakes who spend so much on avocado toast that they cannot afford to buy property. Baby boomers, meanwhile, are selfish, technophobic sociopaths who have stolen the younger generations’ future. And so on. What is the reality behind such stereotypes, and is there any merit at all in seeing the world through a lens that is generational?
These are the questions addressed by Bobby Duffy, a British social researcher, in “The Generation Myth.” The title gives the impression that he wants to dynamite the whole idea of dividing people into generations. In fact, he offers a careful dissection of such “generational thinking” that rejects lazy myths and superficial punditry in favour of a more nuanced analysis of the factors that shape long-term changes in attitudes and behaviour. “A lot of what you’ve been told is generational,” he writes, “in fact isn’t.”
Three separate mechanisms cause such long-term changes, Duffy argues. “Period effects” are experiences that affect everyone, regardless of age, such as the 2008 financial crisis or the Coronavirus pandemic. “Life-cycle effects” are changes that occur as people age, or as a result of major events such as leaving home, getting married or having children. People tend to get heavier as they age, for example, regardless of which generation they belong to. Finally, “cohort effects” are the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours common to people of a particular generation.
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