An Old Concept Gets a New Lease on Life

When I was growing up "the generation gap" might have been the first "sociological" concept I was exposed to in the mass media. In 1968, it was a big deal. But over the next few decades you didn't hear so much about it. My guess is that for a while youth culture won and the folks raising kids in the late 70s, 80s, 90s were so numerous that we didn't even notice the older folks who "didn't get it." But now, the "don't get it crowd" is pretty big and, well, apparently the generation gap is back.

This article in today's NYTimes covers some familiar, and maybe we'd say, trite, territory, but it does remind us of how important a component in social location our position in the life course and our year of birth are.

The article appears to have been inspired by a research report from The Pew Research Center (a reputable non-profit social sciency outfit where you should try to get an internship!) featured in a post at their "Social and Demographic Trends blog, "Forty Years After Woodstock, A Gentler Generation Gap." There's link to the survey data -- interesting stuff.

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Bridging the Workplace Generation Gap: It Starts With a Text

By ALINA TUGEND

Published: November 7, 2009

The book “How Not to Act Old” has some tips to help the 40-plus crowd communicate with younger co-workers.