0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 6 Dec 2023 \ parent \ on: Generational Theories econ
That's definitely one of the problems.
However, some of the fuzzy boundaries do help capture something. Entering the labor market during the Great Recession for instance was a formative experience for millenials that isn't shared by other generations.
You can say that and it sounds plausible but it's not a reliable insight unless you can back it up with data. Anecdotes aren't data.
And social sciences often get muddy and complicated when you measure it. Simple narratives often don't have that strong of an observation afterwards. Although sometimes they do. Sometimes.
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I'm not sure exactly how you'd back something like that up with data.
I also don't think the broader point is arguable. Millenials were all young adults or teenagers during the Great Recession, which is not the case for any other generations. In the same way, any other loosely defined generation will have experienced certain things at a different stage of life than other generations experienced the same events.
Just because there's no perfect way to draw certain distinctions, doesn't mean you can't capture something useful with imperfect distinctions. Of course, it's possible "generations" aren't a useful idea.
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