Generational analysis has long been part of the study of immigrant groups. The classic analysis of 19th and early 20th century groups posited a three generation scheme and contrasted second generational desire to blend in with mainstream American society to the third generation's effort to retriever what their parents' rejected: language, food ways, etc. More recently we've heard (and said) so much about 20th century generations shaped by shared formative events. the "greatest" generation shaped by WWII, the "Boomers" in the boom years on the mid-20th century, etc.
In the midst of our class discussion of gender, race, ethnicity, and class generation was introduced both as useful for identifying Doctrow's themes and for understanding our selves. "Which generation are we?" my students asked? Well . . . .
this link takes you to the Pew Research Center quiz "How Millennial Are You?" Fourteen quick questions. Your score is displayed both in general and relative to others in your age bracket. I scored higher than I expected.
2 comments:
DeAne-
I took the quiz and scored a 93. What was your score? I was a little surprised I received that high of a score given some of my answers to the questions, but I have no idea how these questions are weighted. I feel like the "millennial generation" is such a large group of people who actually have a lot of differences.
Liza,
I got 38, low but higher than most in my age bracket.
you are particularly aware of the dangers of generalization! First you point out the limits of case studies; now you notice that a generation based on year of birth will include folks with many differences as well as many commonalities. Consider the Boomers. We are 33% of the population of the USA and have many differences, but we may clump together in ways that are most evident in contrast to other generations.
LDL
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