The first boomers hit middle age around 1980, and America shifted its emphasis
again, from adolescence to middle age. A new era of conservatism began, with con-
cern for the “midlife crisis,” and the “now generation” became the “me generation.”
In the first years of the twenty-first century, this wave of baby boomers is
reaching retirement age, and they promise to have an enormous impact on the Social
Security system, health care, and ideas about what it means to be old. They are
“staying young” (through exercise, attitude, and plastic surgery), redefining what is
appropriate at different stages in the life course, and revising the expression “Act your
age!” by answering “What age?” Once being over 65 was considered “over the hill,”
the “sunset years.” But they’ve been transformed into “the golden years” and even
the “power years” (Dychtwald, 2005).
Boomers are often portrayed as a single group with a shared history and similar
demographic characteristics. They are White, well educated, liberal, affluent,
innovative, and obsessed with self-discovery, stereotyped as Dustin Hoffman in The
Graduate(1967), Peter Fonda in Easy Rider(1968), or Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw
inLove Story(1970). But they are actually a very diverse group. About 30 percent are
people of color (12 percent Black, 10 percent Hispanic, 4 percent Asian and 4 percent
“other”). Twelve percent of early and 15 percent of late boomers are immigrants
(including 86 percent of all foreign-born Latinos and 57 percent of foreign-born Asians
in the country). The economic disparities between White and non-White boomers are
as profound as in any other generation. Many members are poor or conservative. The
baby boom lasted for 20 years, after all, so the earliest boomers are a full generation
removed from the latest (and could even be their parents) (Hughes and O’Rand, 2004).Generation X (Baby Busters)
The generation that followed the baby boom cohort (those born 1945 to 1954) has
been called baby busters, or also generation X(from Douglas Coupland’s 1991 book).
There weren’t many of them. A society can maintain a stable population with a
fertility rate of 2.1; that is, 2.1 lifetime births per woman (the 0.1 because typically
5 to 10 percent of a population does not reproduce). But since 1970, the fertility rate
in rich countries has been lower than 2.1, sometimes considerably lower.
In 2006, the United States was the highest of any rich country, at 2.05; the
fertility rate was 1.98 in France, 1.79 in the United Kingdom, and 1.32 in Japan (Hong
Kong was the lowest, at 0.98) (Population Reference Bureau, 2007). These countries
are stable rather than depopulating because population is determined by many
factors besides fertility, including infant mortality, longevity, and immigration.
Still, a stable population after years of enormous expansion means school clos-
ings, sharp declines in college enrollment, and a decrease in television, movies, and
other mass media aimed at children or families. The 10-year-old boomers of 1963
could spend their evenings watching the kid-friendly My Favorite Martian, Beverly
Hillbillies, Ozzie and Harriet,andMy Three Sons;evenThe Flintstoneswas on prime
time. In 1973, 10-year-old gen-Xers could watch the more adult-oriented All in the
Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Maude, The Bob Newhart Show, and
M*A*S*H. Gen-X often felt like an afterthought for the “me generation.”
Like the boomers, gen-Xers are often seen as a homogeneous group of White,
middle-class, affluent liberals, but they are predictably as diverse as their parents:
35 percent are Black, Hispanic, or Asian. They are, however, dominated by single men:
In 1972 to 1973, unmarried males outnumbered unmarried females by a ratio of
54 to 46; by 1994 to 1995, the ratio had increased to 62 unmarried males and
38 unmarried females (Paulin and Riordon, 1998).368 CHAPTER 11AGE: FROM YOUNG TO OLD