Demographics, Psychographics, and Generation X

Thoughts on the limitations of labels

Writers collect weird reader responses. My favorite was from a reader of Hedge Fund for Dummies who said that I was obviously a feminist because I referred to fund managers as “she”, and of course everyone knows that all hedge fund managers are men.

I am a feminist, which may explain how I don’t understand the use of genitalia in money management. But I digress because today’s newsletter is about my second-favorite weird reader response. Many years ago, I did a story for an education trade organization about how to change fundraising messaging for Generation X parents. The editor and I included a little info box giving short definitions for Baby Boom, Generation X, and Generation Y, as was the style at the time.

A reader informed me that Generation Y (which was and is a term used in demographic circles to describe people born between 1981 and 1996) was NOT the correct term. He said that this showed my ignorance and that people in that group (of which he was not a member) preferred to be called Millennials.

Which struck me as ridiculous because these terms are all marketing blather. Marketers want to describe their target customers. There are certain things that people born between 1965 and 1980 have in common (were exposed to punk/rap/grunge, are currently in middle age, almost definitely have parents who were born sometime before 1965), but just about everything else is individual. Generations are one of many ways that any of us can be categorized. But they are only one.

In May, Pew Research Center announced that it would stop using labels for generational cohorts. I think it makes perfect sense.

Now, I know this contradicts the way that I positioned this newsletter, but I also know that I have subscribers from many different age groups, and that many of the things covered should be of interest to a lot of people. And some people my age really don’t care about any of the things I write about, and that’s okay.

What do you think I should write about? Email or post a comment!