Editing Generation X (section)

{{Short description|Cohort born from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s}}
{{Redirect|Gen X|other uses|Gen X (disambiguation)|and|Generation X (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Xer||XER (disambiguation){{!}}XER}}
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'''Generation X''' (often shortened to '''Gen X''') is the [[Demography|demographic]] [[Cohort (statistics)|cohort]] following the [[Baby Boomers]] and preceding [[Millennials]]. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the late 1970s as its ending birth years, with the [[generation]] generally defined as people born from 1965 to 1980.<!-- This date range is based on the sources given in the text below; please seek talk page consensus before changing --><ref name= "Twenge">{{cite web |last1=Twenge |first1=Jean |title=How Are Generations Named? |url=https://trend.pewtrusts.org/en/archive/winter-2018/foreword-how-are-generations-named |website=Trend |publisher=The Pew Charitable Trusts |access-date=30 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830135027/http://trend.pewtrusts.org/en/archive/winter-2018/foreword-how-are-generations-named |archive-date=30 August 2018 |date=26 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/chart/ |title=Distribution of Household Wealth in the U.S. since 1989 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2024-06-14 |publisher=[[Federal Reserve Board of Governors]] |access-date=2024-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Sarah |date=2023-08-25 |title=Hate Gen X? Get in Line (Behind a Gen X-er). |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/style/gen-x-generation-discourse.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230826080748/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/style/gen-x-generation-discourse.html |archive-date=2023-08-26 |work=[[New York Times]] |access-date=2024-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Bump |first=Philip |date=2023-08-21 |title=Gen X is not the Trumpiest generation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/21/trump-genx-voters/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=2024-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Hecht |first=Evan |date=2022-09-02 |title=What years were Gen X born? Detailed breakdown of the age range for each generation. |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/09/02/what-years-gen-x-millennials-baby-boomers-gen-z/10303085002/ |work=[[USA Today]] |access-date=2024-07-22}}</ref> By this definition and [[United States Census|U.S. Census]] data, there are 65.2 million Gen Xers<ref>{{cite web |title=Gen Xer |url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/gen_xer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227180206/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/gen_xer |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 February 2020 |website=Lexico |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries |access-date=2 December 2019}}</ref> in the [[United States]] as of 2019.<ref name="2020Overtake">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/|title=Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America's largest generation|last=Fry|first=Richard|date=28 April 2020|website=[[Pew Research Center]]|access-date=28 April 2020|archive-date=28 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428233813/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of Generation X are the children of the [[Silent Generation]];<ref name="Strauss 2000 54">{{cite book|title=Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation|year=2000|publisher=Vintage Original|location=New York|isbn=978-0-375-70719-3|page=54|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=To_Eu9HCNqIC |first1=William|last1=Strauss|first2=Neil|last2=Howe|others=Cartoons by R.J. Matson|access-date=17 October 2013}}</ref><ref name="Gordinier">{{cite book|last1=Gordinier|first1=Jeff|url=https://archive.org/details/xsavesworldhowg00gord|title=X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking|date=27 March 2008|publisher=Viking Adult|isbn=978-0-670-01858-1}}</ref> Xers are also often the parents of [[Generation Z]].<ref name=":23">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/fashion/move-over-millennials-here-comes-generation-z.html|title=Move Over, Millennials, Here Comes Generation Z|last1=Williams|first1=Alex|date=18 September 2015|access-date=8 April 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|archive-date=19 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919162333/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/fashion/move-over-millennials-here-comes-generation-z.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

As children in the 1970s and 1980s, a time of shifting societal values, Gen Xers were sometimes called the "[[Latchkey kid|Latchkey]] Generation", a reference to their returning as children from school to an empty home and using a key to let themselves in. This was a result of what is now called [[free-range parenting]], increasing [[divorce]] rates, and increased maternal participation in the workforce before widespread availability of childcare options outside the home.

As adolescents and young adults in the 1980s and 1990s, Xers were dubbed the "[[MTV Generation]]" (a reference to the [[MTV|music video channel]]) and sometimes characterized as [[slacker]]s, cynical, and disaffected. Some of the many cultural influences on Gen X youth included a proliferation of musical genres with strong social-tribal identity, such as [[alternative rock]], [[hip-hop]], [[punk rock]], [[rave]], and [[hair metal]], in addition to later forms developed by Xers themselves (e.g., [[grunge]] and related genres). Film was also a notable cultural influence, via both the birth of franchise mega-sequels and a proliferation of [[independent film]] (enabled in part by [[video]]). Video games, in both amusement parlors and devices in Western homes, were also a major part of juvenile entertainment for the first time. Politically, Generation X experienced the last days of [[communism]] in the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[Eastern Bloc]] countries of [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]], witnessing the transition to [[capitalism]] in these regions during their youth. In much of the Western world, a similar time period was defined by a dominance of [[conservatism]] and [[free market]] economics.

In their midlife during the early 21st century, research describes Gen Xers as active, happy, and achieving a work–life balance. The cohort has also been more broadly described as entrepreneurial and productive in the workplace.