Reply to If you were born between 1960-1964 do you consider yourself a boomer or generation Xer.

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[quote=Anonymous]As a former sociology major, I have found this thread really interesting -- and a great procrastination device.:)  The concept of generational differences  is most useful in a broad brush context -- e.g., demographics, marketing, polling -- but less so when you look at individuals, especially those born in transition years.  For those folks, factors like birth order, region of origin, significant other's birthyear -- can make a big difference in generational identity.  So, for me, born in 1960, the fact that I have older sibs and cousins and that my DH is 3 years older make me feel more like a Boomer.  Similarly, growing up in the Bay Area, I was probably more aware of and influenced by Boomer culture.

Pegging generational identity to memories of historical events is trickier because those events can be experienced very differently by folks of different ages.  For example, I don't remember JFK's assassination at all, but do remember RFK's because it was the only time I can remember seeing my dad cry other than at a funeral or wedding.  Similarly, I remember Kent State because my cousins came home when their campuses shut down.  At my last college reunion, several of my classmates and I discovered that we share the same memories of watching the Watergate hearings in the summer of 1973. 
I asked my DH, younger and older sibs and cousins about this and their memories were hazier, probably because they were either at daycamp (younger) or working at summer jobs (older), while I had nothing to do but go to swim practice in the morning and then watch the hearings all afternoon.

Finally, I'll note that while the end of the military draft has eliminated a useful marker for demographers in defining generations, the advent of new technologies might serve as a replacement tool.  So, for example, my kids, nephews and nieces, including Millennials and Gen Z-ers, have had astonishingly different experiences of technology in their lives.             [/quote]

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