Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America's Future
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A groundbreaking, “lavishly informative” (The New York Times) portrait of the six generations that currently live in the United States and how they connect, conflict, and compete with one another—from the acclaimed author of Generation Me and iGen. Upending the conventional theory that generational differences are caused by major events, Dr. Jean Twenge analyzes data on 39 million people from robust national surveys—some going back nearly a century—to show that changes in technology are the underlying driver of each generation’s unique makeup. In this revelatory work, Twenge outlines key shifts in attitudes and lifestyle choices that define each generation regarding gender, income, politics, race, sexuality, marriage, mental health, and much more. Surprising, engaging, and informative, Generations “gets you thinking about how appreciating generational differences can, ironically, bring us together” (Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author). It will forever change the way you view your parents, peers, coworkers, and children, no matter which generation you call your own. Read more
Publisher : Atria Books
Publication date : January 14, 2025
Edition : Reprint
Language : English
Print length : 560 pages
ISBN-10 : 1982181621
ISBN-13 : 28
Item Weight : 15.2 ounces
Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.4 x 8.37 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #16,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #2 in Demography Studies #9 in Social Sciences Research #10 in Sociology Research & Measurement
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Hardcover
In her most recent book, "Generations," Dr. Jean Twenge has produced a spectacular volume that is the latest culmination of the work she has done to document and understand the characteristics of the various generations and to understand the differences between those generations. The direct concept of the book is to document the characteristics of the six generations that are alive at this time, the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomers, Generation X, the Millenials, Generation Z, and, as she calls them, the Polars. She does this in a very informative and interesting way, by focusing on various traits of the different generations. She uses the many very informative graphs as aids in order to explain those traits. A major example of this is in her chapter on the Millenials. She shows, certainly to my surprise, but with evidence that is hard to argue with, that the Millenials are doing considerably better financially than has generally been reported. Her basic point is that though the Great Recession certainly got them off to a slow start, they have essentially caught up in the time since then. Dr. Twenge then looks at the question of why Millennials feel poor even if they aren't. She presents and discusses six possible explanations for this perception, looking at which of these possible explanations are more likely and then her conclusions as to where the truth lies. It is this detailed examination of traits that provides a lot of the fascination that this book provides. The concept of there being different generations of people, who then exhibit common characteristics to a greater or lesser extent, along with differences from other generations, is one that is quite intuitive when we look at our history. Perhaps the greatest example of this that we are all familiar with is the generation prior to the Silent Generation, which is the generation that fought World War 2. The movie, "It's A Wonderful Life," which has now become a classic that is shown every Christmastime, illustrates this idea very well. The war affected everyone who came of age at that time. Millions of men were in the Army or the Navy. All of the women who came of age at that time were also greatly affected as well, for instance through the need to, as Donna Reed did in that movie, go through rationing of commodities, or be involved running drives for collecting different items needed for the war effort. And those that came of age at that time had also grown up during the Great Depression. It is inconceivable that there would not be a major effect on the attitudes and way of life that these people would lead following the end of the war that had dominated the lives of the generation that came of age during it. The Silent Generation, who were still children or adolescents at the time of World War 2, could not help but have a different experience from those who were directly involved with the war. They and the generation that fought World War 2 were the parents of the Baby Boomers, who were not alive at the time of the war. But the key characteristic of the Baby Boomers was that there were simply so many of them. The population of the United States in 1945 was about 140 million. The population of the United States in 1965 was about 195 million. In those 20 years, around 75 million babies were born, a major portion of that population. By comparison, even though a comparable number of babies were born in the Millenial Generation as were born during the Baby Boom Generation, they form a smaller percentage of the overall population. By the end of the period of the birth of the Millenial Generation, the population of the United States was 266 million, so the numerical impact of the Millenials is not as great as the impact of the Baby Boomers was. I think it is the three generations of the World War 2 Generation, the Silent Generation, and the Baby Boomers that have focused attention on the importance of the construct of generations. Interestingly, Dr. Twenge goes against the idea of looking at historical factors in determining the way that generations have differed from one another over time. Instead, she points to technological change and development as the prime factor separating the generations, along with, as she calls them, technology's daughters, individualism and the slow life strategy. As World War 2 has receded into history, her characterization of technology and it's daughters, individualism and the slow life strategy, make sense to me as the driving forces for Generation X and the generations that have followed. But for those earlier generations, the World War 2 Generation, the Silent Generation, and the Baby Boomers, I don't see how you can minimize how impactful World War 2 and the Great Depression were to those generations, either directly through their having lived through them, or indirectly, in the Baby Boomer case, by being the children of parents who were directly affected by the Great Depression and World War 2. One interesting consequence of this that I have heard came when the hippie culture emerged in the 1960s. The hippies were Baby Boomers. The parents of the hippies, who were of the World War 2 Generation and the Silent Generation, had difficulty understanding them. However, they say that many of the grandparents of the hippies had less difficulty understanding them because they had come of age to a great extent during the Roaring 20s, a time which had, among other wild things, speakeasys and flappers. And so hippie culture could remind the grandparents of some of the wildness that they lived through during the Roaring 20s! The key to how much can be learned from this book are the many very informative graphs that are provided throughout the book. It is this information, put together from many sources, that makes this book so much more than Dr. Twenge's opinions and shows it to be backed by a great deal of evidence. Her previous book, "iGen," which was focused primarily on Generation Z, used this same method of graphs to illustrate her points. However, what she has done in this book greatly exceeds what she accomplished in "iGen!" With regard to the Millenials and Generation Z, Dr. Twenge's previous two books, "Generation Me" and "iGen" provided illustrations of those generations at the time that she wrote them. In this book, she has been able to update her descriptions of the Millenials and Generation Z to the present and it is fascinating how life has developed for those generations even in the relatively short number of intervening years since Dr. Twenge wrote those previous books. As much as I admire what Dr. Twenge has accomplished in writing this book, perhaps the biggest item that I wish there was more on is the question of what caused the Baby Boom, particularly the length of time that it lasted. As she points out, the number of babies that were born was unprecedented. A big question is, why did the later World War 2 Generation and Silent Generation women (who were the mothers of the Baby Boomers) keep having baby after baby? As Dr. Twenge says, no one has ever come up with a definitive explanation of why the Baby Boom kept on going long after the obvious effect of the return of the servicemen from World War 2 had passed. I think the reason this question fascinates me so is that today, as is well known, birthrates keep on falling, not only in the United States, but throughout the industrialized world. Compared to this, the Baby Boom forms such a contrast that it makes me wonder. What were the characteristics that caused that to happen? And then, could those characteristics return or is the Baby Boom simply a historical curiosity, whose causes and characteristics are of no use to us today? One result of the Baby Boom, that I find interesting, is that without the Baby Boom producing so many children, the Millenial generation would not be as big as it is, relative to its adjacent generations. This is the case since, to a large degree, the parents of the Millenials are the Baby Boomers. One area that Dr. Twenge discusses is the politics and political power of the various generations, and the large number of Millenials derived from the large number of Baby Boomers would look to be setting them up for a lot of political power in the future.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2023 by E. Jones
Format: Kindle
I am reading this book later than I should have but it remains a must read despite being published over a year ago. We live in a time of rapid change in which it seems the rate of change is only increasing with geopolitical breaks as well as rapid advancement in technology improvements. Nonetheless this rapidly changing environment has been taking place for the last 100 years and the consequences can be seen in the vastly different life experiences of the cohabiting generations on the planet. Generations methodically documents both the cultural trends of the various living generations, the events which shaped those generations and their age overlapping differences in measured statistics. It both helps make sense of the divides of today as well as the precursors to the divisions. It is a remarkable book. The frustration with today is not to be disregarded as neo Luddite. The changes in technology for social patterns is both real as well as concerning for its impacts on mental health and community building. These are among the many facts presented in the book to show how age cohorts have been affected by different phenomenon in their upbringing. The author starts with the Silents, a generation who were born through the depression and through WII and ends with the polars, which are born where everyone has a smart phone. To frame things in that high level picture already gives a sense of how much the world has changed in the last 80 years. Nonetheless the book starts with this generation who still dominates much of politics, in particular the senate and presidency. This generation saw significant expansion in political rights and was the one which grew up with much less structure and entered the workforce much earlier. Times were leaner and challenges were more abundant and the Silents were a liberalizing generation but very far from the politics of the left today on many topics. The book moves on to the baby boomer generation, which was the product of the return of soldiers which led to the biggest demographic bulge in human history. This generation has been destabilizing for asset ownership where their lifecycle has witnessed the greatest accumulation of wealth in human history that is largely in their hands and part of the angst of younger generations who psychologically feel that they have less stake in ownership in a capital economy (this is despite their real wages growing and in middle age, higher than the boomer generation). This generation had a broader adoption of college education and growing women's rights as well as focus on more individual rights over collective rights. They were politically active and are also dominant in the senate. But their lives still mimicked the process of the previous generation which included getting married early with conservative values about the family unit. The generation that followed the boomers was Gen X, which included the likes of Elon Musk, Sergei Brin and other tech moguls, this generation had a longer adolescence with many families having both parents work leaving children more unattended. The author argues that this generation grew up slower than before in that more time was dedicated to education but they also had more freedoms than younger generations as parents had more responsibilities away from the family. This generation saw the adoption of the internet in their teens and 20s but grew up with a slower technology speed, largely prior to the home computer being in every home. The author has the next chapter on Millennials which is the longest chapter. Millennials and Gen X have many overlapping qualities but Millennials spend more of their lives saturated with technology with many being born around the launch of the web. This generation too had a longer adolescence, was a proponent of individualism over collective identity. The millennials are now often the CEOs of major tech companies and the prime example includes Mark Zuckerberg but also the likes of Sam Altman. Many of this generation are liberals and have higher education along with a higher earning more equal wage female cohort. The book then moves on to Gen Z which is a generation fully growing up with smartphones and changing social norms. For this generation behaviors are distinctly changing along with gender norms. For most older generations this is hard to understand but the proportion of the population which believes gender is fluid in Gen Z is significant and a source of much friction along with a host of other grievances, many directed towards boomers. Politics is more bifurcated in this generation and more extreme. The author highlights how smartphones and social media has been coincident with these trends and believes them to be causal along with the isolation that has seeped into its usage. What peoples aspirations are has been overly influenced by these platforms to the detriment of setting realistic goals for the individual. This is monitored through statistics on how generations rate themselves with more recent generations having strong and increasing bias to the illusion that they can all be above average. Furthermore objective competition is suppressed for greater inclusiveness giving a false sense of accomplishment in much of the upbringing conditions of this generation. This is also associated with the authors belief that in needing narrower expertise with greater technological change to be useful in the job market, growing up is getting extended and people are protected from the world for longer (with questionable results). Having safe spaces and cancel culture are outgrowths of this culture of believing disagreement doesn't need to be resolved it can be escaped from. The author spends a few pages on the polar generation but being so young this is largely irrelevant. Overall the book does two things of significant value, it describes the conditions under which generations grew up and how that effects their world view and beliefs on cultural norms and it tracks how statistics on well being and other goals have changed through time so that one can measure the effect of these changes on broad categories of livelihood measurement that brings things back to real data. It is really illuminating for these two reasons and gives much food for thought. It is a long book but it needs to be and it was enjoyable throughout. Definitely one of the most important perspectives to consider for framing why there are generation differences, what conditions led to them and is there something to learn about the consequences of technology that should be considered as we continue to roll out more and more products for which there are measurable spillovers into generation behavior.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2024 by A. Menon
Format: Hardcover
My parents were Boomers, I'm an X, and my kids are Zs - this book was satisfying 👍. What I found most enjoyable was how much attention was put on Gen Z. I was introduced to this book by an interview the author gave on TV and Generations seemed like it would be a good read. I was glad i got it. No doubt Jean did alot of research and put a ton of energy into real facts instead of opinion. Perhaps a bit of an overkill on the graphs but still made the book unique. I would recommend this book for someone who is interested in knowing more about the different generations and what makes them tick.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2024 by Shane
Format: Hardcover
I've long been drawn to books that shed light on differences in human behavior, from personality types to personality disorders. But until recently, I'd never read much on generational differences, as I basically viewed age-group descriptions as stereotypical, divisive, and all too often derogatory. (You know, fodder for auto insurance commercials and the like.) Jean Twenge's Generations set me straight. With an almost dizzying amount generational data, Twenge's work makes it abundantly clear how we -- our attitudes and behaviors -- are profoundly shaped by the times in which we live, the generation with whom we come of age, and the technology on which we come to rely. Covering every generation alive today, she lays out all the differences. This book will benefit any reader of any age, in any field and walk of life. And that may well be an understatement. While Generations is well worth the time, brace yourself for data overload. There's a graph on virtually every page and a tremendous amount of analysis, too. It's what gives this work real weight. But rest assured, the book is no chore to read. To me, it read like a data-infused US history book covering the past 100 years, only better. And with unexpected gifts. The book endeared me to my parents' generation, removed the rose-tinted lens through which I've always viewed my own, and woke me up to the realities, challenges and potential consequences of my daughter's high-tech, social media-driven world. That's no small feat. In many ways, for me, the book wasn't so much a type-caster as a myth-buster and bridge-builder. That's not to say you won't always like what you read. Twenge isn't shy about conveying what she sees as the good, the bad and the ugly in every living generation today -- from the Silents and their Baby Boomer progeny to Gen X, the Millennials, Gen Z and the youngest generation whom she calls Polars (as in polarization and melting polar caps, not bears). If you're like me, you might find yourself peeved and even a little anxious when she describes your generation's issues and shortcomings and relieved when she gets around to its finer attributes. But the big picture she paints with her detailed generational descriptions makes clear that every generation plants the seeds of what sprouts in the next. It's cause and effect, so you'd better pay attention. Major technological advances just keep coming and, as Twenge asserts, they not only shape generations, they define them and perhaps at our peril. After all, technology is always at least one step ahead of its safeguards. (Think of all the lives lost before seat belts and headrests.) In its final section, Generations swings from descriptions to prophecies, offering a wide-angle view of the future, one that touches on everything from birth rates to work life to politics, the economy, technology, mental health and more. Twenge has all the data to back up her crystal ball, and her speculations and insights are not only logical but also riveting and concerning. I highly recommend this work to anyone who wants to better understand their children, parents, grandparents, and peers. But it's also a terrific resource for educators and academics, psychologists, social and political scientists, religious, political and corporate leaders, economists and virtually anyone in the fields of technology, e-commerce, and public policy. City planners and developers will benefit too. It's the rare book that offers something for everyone. And if you're lucky enough to be part of a multigenerational book group, choose it for your next discussion and please invite me. :)
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Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2024 by Tucker Mackenzie
Format: Hardcover
In her 2023 release, Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future Jean M. Twenge, A Psychology Professor from San Diego State University, along with her research staff, offers an impressive cache of research, surveys and charts that document the opinions, whether they be financial, political, religious, or any other topic from before World War II to the present time. As part of this large volume of research, she is able to offer a number of conclusions that are supported by data from a number of reliable sources in the field of data collection, and her analyses for these conclusions are thought provoking and greatly at odds with what one might think, if all one is being informed by is the internet or television. Many conventional theories of historical analyses center around major events in history. We’ve all had the water cooler conversation about what they were doing when they got word of the Twin Towers Attacks on 9/11, as just one example. Twenge’s analysis is based on data from the collected surveys of 39 million Americans from every generation in the title. For example, my father is from the Silent Generation (born 1932) and would have been in the earlier part of that generation which began in 1925, according to sociologists and demographers, and ended in 1945 with the end of World War II. She argues that, unlike traditional historical theories of “major events,” technology represents the greater influence for change which drives each generations unique makeup. This, in and of itself explains much of why we see what we see in the world today, and especially in the younger generations coming of age here in America. Many of the opinions that we have in America, regardless of one’s opinion, get blown out of the water with the torpedo of facts presented in graphic form by Professor Twenge and the research staff in these pages. Just for one example, it was considered for decades that women had a distinct disadvantage in college graduation rates, when in fact the opposite was true and is easily verifiable. There is just so much research on a myriad of topics across each generation that this brief book review would be too voluminous to cover, but everything is exceptionally well documented, explained, and graphed. The world has changed a great deal since the book was published in 2023, she and other scholars refer to the generation coming of age into mid-teenaged tears as Polars back then, but now the most widely used generational reference for that age group (born 2013 and later) is Generation Alpha, thus starting the Greek Alphabet over again. There is a chapter detailing specifics for each generation, and includes topics such as marriage patterns, race relations, political affiliations, mental health, economic well-being perceptions, lifestyle values, religious feelings, and so many other things, too lengthy to detail here. Fun fact, though—Dr. Twenge includes the most popular birth names for each generation (girls and boys), famous people of that generation, and the population breakdown by ethnicity for each time period. Back to the technological impact of historical change. Twenge argues that more than historical events, technological change is the driver of each generation’s abilities, opinions, and means of moving forward in the world, and in their individual lives. This is a well founded argument in the age of the internet, and nowhere has the world seen, for better or worse, this change impact the world than with the invention of the Smartphone. Thirty-two years since the first one came out we now have the most powerful technological devices in history in practically every American hand. It can record everything, navigate one to nearly anywhere in the world, make financial trades in seconds, and make or ruin lives just as quickly. It is a profoundly powerful device, potentially for good use, but usually resulting in the negative result taking place. To sum up, Jean M. Twenge, PhD has assembled a monumental volume of research in layman’s terms, and supported it with great and well established research as far back as records have been kept. While one may disagree with some of the findings for what the future may bring in the Alpha Generation, one never knows how things might change or what technology will become known that improve lives, or give greater hope to mankind from America, the greatest nation in history.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2024 by Sandy Sandmeyer
Format: Paperback
Interesting. Bought it as a gift for someone.
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2026 by juan chavez
Format: Hardcover
I'll be honest. I expected that this would be trashy nonsense. After all, the very notion of distinct generations with a specific beginning and ending is a silly extension of the human drive to categorize. And the idea that a Black girl growing up in rural Mississippi has more in common with a White boy the same age in an affluent suburb, as compared their neighbors who happen to be a couple years older or younger... This is absurdity. However, this book, despite referring repeatedly to these artificial categorizations, puts most of its energy into year-by-year analysis of a vast array of data. Over and over she notes the actual year that some specific data changed, and she tests such observations against other available information for support or contradiction. Quite a few of her conclusions fit well with conventional wisdom, but others are contrarian. In both cases, though, she explores the details as to why alternate conclusions fit the facts less persuasively. And to my way of looking at it, she mostly makes good sense. (Although, like in all such analysis, she strikes me as being on firmer ground discussing further back, where it is now clear how lives turned out.) One of the best aspects of her analysis, however, is her emphasis on technology rather than events as influencers of peoples' lives. In other words, the result of growing up with television or smart phones affects lives more profoundly than an assassination, for example. If I have any criticism of her insights, though, it would be that she very much under emphasizes the way technological innovations eclipse past technology. For example, it was not just that television by its nature nudged people towards individualism, by showing them choices that might have never occurred to them otherwise. (a strong point) But that television replaced reading, and print had always nudged people in a cognitive, reflective direction. Again, she rightly emphasizes the role of smart phones and social media in the rise of emotional problems by cutting off important kinds of interaction. But she does not discuss the way digital has replaced network television which, for better or worse, nudged people towards a national culture, a national set of stories. Still, very few books that I read about contemporary life are as helpful in thinking about today's challenges as this one, and I admire the way she acknowledges opposing theories and then presents the case for her theory in a matter-of-fact tone. A very readable book unless you are absolutely allergic to data, no matter how clearly laid out.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2023 by Finnegan's Father
Format: Hardcover
This book is very well researched and an excellent read. My daughter and I have discussed it a lot. Pretty hard to get through all the details tho.
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2023 by Carol de Perczel