In the United States As children and adolescents Rising divorce rates and women workforce participation Strauss and Howe, who wrote several books on generations, including one specifically on Generation X titled
13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? (1993), reported that Gen Xers were children at a time when society was less focused on children and more focused on adults. Xers were children during a time of increasing
divorce rates, with divorce rates doubling in the mid-1960s, before peaking in 1980. Strauss and Howe described a cultural shift where the long-held societal value of staying together for the sake of the children was replaced with a societal value of parental and individual
self-actualization. Strauss wrote that society "moved from what Leslie Fiedler called a 1950s-era 'cult of the child' to what Landon Jones called a 1970s-era 'cult of the adult'".
The Generation Map, a report from Australia's McCrindle Research Center writes of Gen X children: Boomer parents were the most divorced generation in Australian history". According to Christine Henseler in the 2012 book
Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion, "We watched the decay and demise (of the family), and grew callous to the loss." The Gen X childhood coincided with the
sexual revolution of the 1960s to 1980s, which Susan Gregory Thomas described in her book
In Spite of Everything as confusing and frightening for children in cases where a parent would bring new sexual partners into their home. Thomas also discussed how divorce was different during the Gen X childhood, with the child having a limited or severed relationship with one parent following divorce, often the father, due to differing societal and legal expectations. In the 1970s, only nine U.S. states allowed for joint custody of children, which has since been adopted by all 50 states following a push for joint custody during the mid-1980s.
Kramer vs. Kramer, a 1979 American legal drama based on
Avery Corman's best-selling novel, came to epitomize the struggle for child custody and the demise of the traditional nuclear family. The rapid influx of Boomer women into the labor force that began in the 1970s was marked by the confidence of many in their ability to successfully pursue a career while meeting the needs of their children. This resulted in an increase in
latchkey children, leading to the terminology of the "latchkey generation" for Generation X. These children lacked adult supervision in the hours between the end of the school day and when a parent returned home from work in the evening, and for longer periods of time during the summer. Latchkey children became common among all socioeconomic demographics, but this was particularly so among middle- and upper-class children. McCrindle Research Centre described the cohort as "the first to grow up without a large adult presence, with both parents working", stating this led to Gen Xers being more peer-oriented than previous generations.
Conservative and neoliberal turn Some older Gen Xers started high school in the waning years of the
Carter presidency, but much of the cohort became socially and politically conscious during the
Reagan Era. President
Ronald Reagan, voted in office principally by the Boomer generation, embraced
laissez-faire economics with vigor. His policies included cuts in the growth of government spending, reduction in taxes for the higher echelon of society, legalization of
stock buybacks, and deregulation of key industries. The
early 1980s recession saw unemployment rise to 10.8% in 1982; requiring, more often than not, dual parental incomes. One in five American children grew up in poverty during this time. The federal debt almost tripled during Reagan's time in office, from $998 billion in 1981 to $2.857 trillion in 1989, placing greater burden of repayment on the incoming generation. Government expenditure shifted from domestic programs to defense. Remaining funding initiatives, moreover, tended to be diverted away from programs for children and often directed toward the elderly population, with cuts to
Medicaid and programs for children and young families, and protection and expansion of
Medicare and
Social Security for the elderly population. These programs for the elderly were not tied to economic need. Congressman
David Durenberger criticized this political situation, stating that while programs for poor children and for young families were cut, the government provided "free health care to elderly millionaires".
Crack epidemic and AIDS Gen Xers came of age or were children during the 1980s
crack epidemic, which disproportionately impacted urban areas as well as the African-American community in the U.S. Drug turf battles increased violent crime, and
crack addiction impacted communities and families. Between 1984 and 1989, the homicide rate for black males aged 14 to 17 doubled in the U.S., and the homicide rate for black males aged 18 to 24 increased almost as much. The crack epidemic had a destabilizing impact on families, with an increase in the number of children in foster care. In 1986, President Reagan signed the
Anti-Drug Abuse Act to enforce strict
mandatory minimum sentencing for drug users. He also increased the federal budget for supply-reduction efforts. The
AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s loomed over the adolescence and young adulthood of Generation X. The disease was first clinically observed in the U.S. in 1981; by 1985, an estimated one-to-two million Americans were HIV-positive. This particularly hit the
LGBT community. As the virus spread, at a time before effective treatments were available, a public panic ensued.
Sex education programs in schools were adapted to address the AIDS epidemic, which taught Gen X students that sex could kill them.
Rise of home computing Gen Xers were the first children to have access to
personal computers in their homes and at schools. At school, several computer projects were supported by the Department of Education under
United States Secretary of Education Terrel Bell's "Technology Initiative". This was later mirrored in the UK's 1982 Computers for Schools programme and, in France, under the 1985 scheme
Plan Informatique pour Tous (IPT). Post–civil rights generation In the U.S., Generation X was the first cohort to grow up post-integration after
the racist Jim Crow laws. They were described in a marketing report by
Specialty Retail as the kids who "lived the
civil rights movement". They were among the first children to be
bused to attain
integration in the public school system. In the 1990s, Strauss reported Gen Xers were "by any measure the least racist of today's generations". In the U.S.,
Title IX, which passed in 1972, provided increased athletic opportunities to Gen X girls in the public school setting.
Roots, based on the novel by
Alex Haley and broadcast as a 12-hour series, was viewed as a turning point in the country's ability to relate to Afro-American history.
As young adults Continued growth in college enrollments In the U.S., compared to the Boomer generation, Generation X was more educated than their parents. The share of young adults enrolling in college steadily increased from 1983, before peaking in 1998. In 1965, as early Boomers entered college, total enrollment of new undergraduates was just over 5.7 million across the public and private sectors. By 1983, the first year of Gen X college enrollments (per Pew Research's definition), this figure had reached 12.2 million. This was an increase of 53%, effectively a doubling in student intake. As the 1990s progressed, Gen X college enrollments continued to climb, with increased loan borrowing as the cost of an education became substantially more expensive compared to their peers in the mid-1980s. By 1998, the generation's last year of college enrollment, those entering the higher education sector totaled 14.3 million. In addition, unlike Boomers and previous generations, women outpaced men in college completion rates.
Adjusting to a new societal environment For early Gen Xer graduates entering the job market at the end of the 1980s, economic conditions were challenging and did not show signs of major improvements until the mid-1990s. In the U.S., restrictive monetary policy to curb rising inflation and the collapse of a large number of
savings and loan associations (private banks that specialized in
home mortgages) impacted the welfare of many American households. This precipitated a large government bailout, which placed further strain on the budget. Furthermore, three decades of growth came to an end. The social contract between employers and employees, which had endured during the 1960s and 1970s and was scheduled to last until retirement, was no longer applicable. By the late 1980s, there were large-scale layoffs of Boomers, corporate downsizing, and accelerated
offshoring of production. On the political front, in the U.S. the generation became ambivalent if not outright disaffected with politics. They had been reared in the shadow of the
Vietnam War and the
Watergate scandal. They came to maturity under the Reagan and
George H. W. Bush presidencies, with first-hand experience of the impact of
neoliberal policies. Few had experienced a Democratic administration and even then, only, at an atmospheric level. For those on the left of the political spectrum, the disappointments with the previous Boomer student mobilizations of the 1960s and the collapse of those movements towards a consumerist "
greed is good" and "
yuppie" culture during the 1980s felt, to a great extent, like hypocrisy if not outright betrayal. Hence, the preoccupation on "authenticity" and not "selling-out". The
Revolutions of 1989 and the collapse of the socialist utopia with the
fall of the Berlin Wall, moreover, added to the disillusionment that any alternative to the
capitalist model was possible.
Birth of the "slacker" In 1990,
Time magazine published an article titled "Living: Proceeding with Caution", which described those then in their 20s as aimless and unfocused. Media pundits and advertisers further struggled to define the cohort, typically portraying them as "unfocused
twentysomethings". A
MetLife report noted: "media would portray them as the
Friends generation: rather self-involved and perhaps aimless...but fun". Gen Xers were often portrayed as
apathetic or as "
slackers", lacking bearings, a stereotype which was initially tied to
Richard Linklater's comedic and essentially plotless 1991 film
Slacker. After the film was released, "journalists and critics thought they put a finger on what was different about these young adults in that 'they were reluctant to grow up' and 'disdainful of earnest action'".
Ben Stiller's 1994 film
Reality Bites also sought to capture the
zeitgeist of the generation with a portrayal of the attitudes and lifestyle choices of the time. Negative stereotypes of Gen X young adults continued, including that they were "bleak, cynical, and disaffected". In 1998, such stereotypes prompted sociological research at
Stanford University to study the accuracy of the characterization of Gen X young adults as cynical and disaffected. Using the national
General Social Survey, the researchers compared answers to identical survey questions asked of 18–29-year-olds in three different time periods. Additionally, they compared how older adults answered the same survey questions over time. The surveys showed 18–29-year-old Gen Xers did exhibit higher levels of cynicism and disaffection than previous cohorts of 18–29-year-olds surveyed. However, they also found that cynicism and disaffection had increased among all age groups surveyed over time, not just young adults, making this a period effect, not a
cohort effect. In other words, adults of all ages were more cynical and disaffected in the 1990s, not just Generation X. In a 2023 interview with television host
Bill Maher on the podcast
Club Random with Bill Maher, vocalist and guitarist
Billy Corgan hinted at how
the Smashing Pumpkins spoke to the disillusionment felt by many Gen Xers as they reached adulthood, noting:
Rise of the Internet and the dot-com bubble By the mid-late 1990s, under
Bill Clinton's presidency, economic optimism had returned to the U.S., with unemployment reduced from 7.5% in 1992 to 4% in 2000. Younger members of Gen X, straddling across administrations, politically experienced a "liberal renewal". In 1997,
Time magazine published an article titled "Generation X Reconsidered", which retracted the previously reported negative stereotypes and reported positive accomplishments. The article cited Gen Xers' tendency to found technology
startup companies and small businesses, as well as their ambition, which research showed was higher among Gen X young adults than older generations. As the decade progressed, Gen X gained a reputation for
entrepreneurship. In 1999,
The New York Times dubbed them "Generation 1099", describing them as the "once pitied but now envied group of
self-employed workers whose income is reported to the
Internal Revenue Service not on a
W-2 form, but on
Form 1099". . When the
dot-com bubble eventually burst in 2000, older Gen Xers who had embarked as entrepreneurs in the IT industry while riding the Internet wave, as well as younger Gen Xers who were newly qualified programmers (having used
AOL and the first
web browsers in high school or college), were both caught in the crash. This had major repercussions, with cross-generational consequences; five years after the bubble burst, new matriculation of IT Millennial undergraduates fell by 40% and by as much as 70% in some information systems programs. However, following the crisis, sociologist
Mike Males reported continued confidence and optimism among the cohort. He reported "surveys consistently find 80% to 90% of Gen Xers self-confident and optimistic". Males wrote "these young Americans should finally get the recognition they deserve", praising the cohort and stating that "the permissively raised, universally deplored Generation X is the true 'great generation', for it has braved a hostile social climate to reverse abysmal trends". He described them as the hardest-working group since the
World War II generation. He reported Gen Xers' entrepreneurial tendencies helped create the high-tech industry that fueled the 1990s economic recovery. In 2002,
Time magazine published an article titled ''Gen Xers Aren't Slackers After All'', reporting that four out of five new businesses were the work of Gen Xers.
Response to 9/11 In the U.S., Gen Xers were described as the major heroes of the
September 11 terrorist attacks by author William Strauss. The firefighters and police responding to the attacks were predominantly from Generation X. Additionally, the leaders of the passenger revolt on
United Airlines Flight 93 were also, by majority, Gen Xers. Author Neil Howe reported survey data which showed that Gen Xers were
cohabiting and getting married in increasing numbers following the terrorist attacks. Gen X survey respondents reported that they no longer wanted to live alone. In October 2001, the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote of Gen Xers: "Now they could be facing the most formative events of their lives and their generation." The
Greensboro News & Record reported members of the cohort "felt a surge of
patriotism since terrorists struck" by giving blood, working for charities, donating to charities, and by joining the military to fight the
war on terror.
The Jury Expert, a publication of The American Society of Trial Consultants, reported: "Gen X members responded to the terrorist attacks with bursts of patriotism and national fervor that surprised even themselves." In 2014,
Pew Research provided further insight, describing the cohort as "savvy, skeptical and self-reliant; they're not into preening or pampering, and they just might not give much of a hoot what others think of them. Or whether others think of them at all." Furthermore, guides regarding managing multiple generations in the workforce describe Gen Xers as: independent, resilient, resourceful, self-managing, adaptable, cynical, pragmatic, skeptical of authority, and as seeking a work-life balance.
Entrepreneurship as an individual trait co-founder
Sergey Brin, speaking at a
Web 2.0 conference
Individualism is one of the defining traits of Generation X, and is reflected in their entrepreneurial spirit. In the 2008 book
X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking, author
Jeff Gordinier describes Generation X as a "
dark horse demographic" which "doesn't seek the limelight". Gordinier cites examples of Gen Xers' contributions to society such as:
Google,
Wikipedia,
Amazon.com, and
YouTube, arguing that if Boomers had created them, "we'd never hear the end of it". In the book, Gordinier contrasts Gen Xers to baby boomers, saying Boomers tend to trumpet their accomplishments more than Gen Xers do, creating what he describes as "elaborate mythologies" around their achievements. Gordinier cites
Steve Jobs as an example, while Gen Xers, he argues, are more likely to "just quietly do their thing". In a 2007 article published in the
Harvard Business Review, authors Strauss and Howe wrote of Generation X: "They are already the greatest entrepreneurial generation in U.S. history; their high-tech savvy and marketplace resilience have helped America prosper in the era of globalization." According to authors Michael Hais and Morley Winograd: Small businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit that Gen Xers embody have become one of the most popular institutions in America. There's been a recent shift in consumer behavior and Gen Xers will join the "idealist generation" in encouraging the celebration of individual effort and business risk-taking. As a result, Xers will spark a renaissance of
entrepreneurship in economic life, even as overall confidence in economic institutions declines. Customers, and their needs and wants (including Millennials) will become the North Star for an entire new generation of entrepreneurs. A 2015 study by
Sage Group reports Gen Xers "dominate the playing field" with respect to founding
startups in the United States and Canada, with Xers launching the majority (55%) of all new businesses in 2015.
Income benefits of a college education Generation X was the last generation in the U.S. for whom
higher education was broadly financially remunerative. In 2019, the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis published research (using data from the 2016
Survey of Consumer Finances) demonstrating that after controlling for race and age, families with heads of household born before 1980 had higher wealth and income when the head of household had post-secondary education. For those born after 1980, the wealth premium (of college education) was no longer statistically significant (in part because of the
rising cost of college). The income premium, while remaining positive, had declined to historic lows, with more pronounced downward trajectories among heads of household with
postgraduate degrees.
Parenting and volunteering In terms of advocating for their children in the educational setting, author Neil Howe describes Gen X parents as distinct from baby boomer parents. Howe argues that Gen Xers are not
helicopter parents, which Howe describes as a parenting style of Boomer parents of Millennials. Howe described Gen Xers instead as "stealth fighter parents", due to the tendency of Gen X parents to let minor issues go and to not hover over their children in the educational setting, but to intervene forcefully and swiftly in the event of more serious issues. In 2012, the
Corporation for National and Community Service ranked Gen X volunteer rates in the U.S. at "29.4% per year", the highest compared with other generations. The rankings were based on a three-year moving average between 2009 and 2011.
Communication style Generation X prefers the communication modes of face-to-face and phone, whereas the younger generations prefer e-mail and texting. In terms of writing, Generation X is more likely than Generation Z to know
cursive and more likely than Millennials to use postal
mail. Also, Generation X is less likely to
ghost than Millennials and Generation Z. Social media usage is also different, with Generation X preferring
LinkedIn and
Facebook, while Millennials and Generation Z prefer
Snapchat and
TikTok.
Income differential with previous generations A report titled
Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well? focused on the income of males 30–39 in 2004 (those born April 1964March 1974). The study was released on 25 May 2007 and emphasized that this generation's men made less (by 12%) than their fathers had at the same age in 1974, thus reversing a historical trend. It concluded that, per year increases in household income generated by fathers/sons slowed from an average of 0.9% to 0.3%, barely keeping pace with inflation. "Family incomes have risen though (over the period 1947 to 2005) because more women have gone to work", "supporting the incomes of men, by adding a second earner to the family. And as with male income, the trend is downward." In 2016, a global consumer insights project from
Viacom International Media Networks and
Viacom, based on over 12,000 respondents across 21 countries, reported on Gen X's unconventional approach to sex, friendship, and family, their desire for flexibility and fulfillment at work and the absence of
midlife crisis for Gen Xers. The project also included a 20-minute documentary titled
Gen X Today.
Russia In
Russia, Generation Xers are referred to as "the last Soviet children", as the last children to come of age prior to the downfall of
communism in their nation and prior to the
Dissolution of the Soviet Union. Those that reached adulthood in the 1980s and grew up educated in the doctrines of
Marxism and
Leninism found themselves against a background of economic and social change, with the advent of
Mikhail Gorbachev to power and
Perestroika. However, even before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disbanding of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union, surveys demonstrated that Russian young people repudiated the key features of the Communist worldview that their party leaders, schoolteachers, and even parents had tried to instill in them. This generation, caught in the transition between
Marxism–Leninism and an unknown future, and wooed by the new domestic political classes, remained largely apathetic.
France In France, "Generation X" is not as widely known or used to define its members. Politically, this loosely denotes those born in the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Although fertility rates started to fall in 1965, number of births in France only followed suit in 1975. There is general agreement that, domestically, the event that is accepted in France as the separating point between the baby boomer generation and Generation X are the
French strikes and violent riots of May 1968 with those of the generation too young to participate. Those at the start of the cohort are sometimes referred to as 'Génération Bof' because of their tendency to use the word 'bof', which, translated into English, means "whatever".
Republic of Ireland In Ireland, "Generation X" came of age during
The Troubles, the 1980s
economic recession, and the
Celtic Tiger prosperity of the 1990s onward. The appropriateness of the term to Ireland has been questioned, with
Darach Ó Séaghdha noting that "Generation X is usually contrasted with the one before by growing up in smaller and different family units on account of their parents having greater access to
contraception and
divorce – again, things that were not widely available in Ireland. [
Contraception was only available under prescription in 1978 and without prescription in 1985; divorce was illegal until 1996.] However, this generation was in prime position to benefit from the Celtic Tiger, the
Peace Process and liberalisations introduced on foot of
EU membership and was less likely to
emigrate than those that came before and after. You could say that in many ways, these are Ireland's real Boomers." Culturally,
Britpop,
Celtic rock, the
trad revival,
Father Ted, the
1990 FIFA World Cup and
rave culture were significant.
The Divine Comedy song "
Generation Sex" (1998) painted a picture of
hedonism in the late 20th century, as well as its effect on the media.
David McWilliams' 2005 book ''
The Pope's Children: Ireland's New Elite'' profiled Irish people born in the 1970s (just prior to the
papal visit to Ireland), which was a
baby boom that saw Ireland's population increase for the first time since the
1840s Great Famine. The Pope's Children were in position to benefit from the Celtic Tiger and the newly liberal culture, where the
Catholic Church had significantly less social power.
United Kingdom As children, adolescents and young adults Political environment The United Kingdom's
Economic and Social Research Council described Generation X as "Thatcher's children" because the cohort grew up while
Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, "a time of social flux and transformation". Those born in the late 1960s and early 1970s grew up in a period of social unrest. While unemployment was low in the early 1970s, industrial and social unrest escalated. Strike action culminated in the "
Winter of Discontent" in 1978–79, and
the Troubles began to unfold in
Northern Ireland. The turn to neoliberal policies introduced and maintained by consecutive conservative governments from 1979 to 1997 marked the end of the
post-war consensus. There was, however, broadly a rise in education levels among this age range as Generation X passed through it. In 1990, 25% of young people in England stayed in some kind of full-time education after the age of 18, this was an increase from 15% a decade earlier. Later, the
Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and the liberalisation of higher education in the UK saw greater numbers of those born towards the tail-end of the generation gaining university places.
Employment The 1980s, when some of Generation X reached working age, was an era defined by high unemployment rates. This was particularly true of the youngest members of the working aged population. In 1984, 26% of 16 to 24 year olds were neither in full-time education or participating in the workforce. However, this figure did decrease as the economic situation improved reaching 17% by 1993.
In midlife Generation X were far more likely to have children out of wedlock than their parents. The number of babies being born to unmarried parents in
England and Wales rose from 11% in 1979, a quarter in 1998, 40% by 2002 and almost half in 2012. They were also significantly more likely to have children later in life than their predecessors. The average age of a mother giving birth rose from 27 in 1982 to 30 in 2012. That year saw 29,994 children born to mothers over the age 40, an increase of 360% from 2002. A 2016 study of over 2,500 British office workers conducted by
Workfront found that survey respondents of all ages selected those from Generation X as the hardest-working employees and members of the workforce (chosen by 60%). Gen X was also ranked highest among fellow workers for having the strongest
work ethic (chosen by 59.5%), being the most helpful (55.4%), the most skilled (54.5%), and the best troubleshooters/problem-solvers (41.6%).
Political evolution Ipsos MORI reports that at the
1987 and
1992 general elections, the first
United Kingdom general elections where significant numbers of Generation X members could vote, a plurality of 18 to 24 year olds opted for the
Labour Party by a small margin. The polling organisation's figures suggest that in 1987, 39% of that age group voted Labour, 37% for the
Conservatives and 22% for the
SDP–Liberal Alliance. Five years later, these numbers were fairly similar at 38% Labour, 35% Conservative and 19%
Liberal Democrats, a party by then formed from the previously mentioned alliance. Both these elections saw a fairly significant lead for the Conservatives in the popular vote among the general population. At the 1997 General election where Labour won a large majority of seats and a comfortable lead in the popular vote, research suggests that voters under the age of 35 were more likely to vote Labour if they turned out than the wider electorate but significantly less likely to vote than in 1992. Analysts suggested this may have been due to fewer differences in policies between the major parties and young people having less of a sense of affiliation with particular political parties than older generations. A similar trend continued at the
2001 and
2005 general elections as turnout dropped further among both the relatively young and the wider public. Voter turnout across the electorate began to recover from a 2001 low until the
2017 general election. At the
2016 EU membership referendum and 2017 general election, Generation X was split with younger members appearing to back remain and Labour and older members tending towards Leave and Conservative in a British electorate more polarised by age than ever before. At the 2019 general election, voting trends continued to be heavily divided by age but a plurality of younger as well as older generation X members (then 39 to 55 year olds) voted Conservative.
Germany in 1989 was a landmark event in Generation X's formative years.|297x297px In Germany, "Generation X" is not widely used or applied. Instead, reference is sometimes made to "Generation Golf" in the previous
West German republic, based on a novel by
Florian Illies. In the east, children of the "Mauerfall" or coming down of the wall. For former
East Germans, there was adaptation, but also a sense of loss of accustomed values and structures. These effects turned into romantic narratives of their childhood. For those in the West, there was a period of discovery and exploration of what had been a forbidden land.
South Africa In
South Africa, Gen Xers spent their formative years of the 1980s during the "hyper-politicized environment of the final years of
apartheid". ==Arts and culture==