Do 'generations' exist?
It's a compelling question, given how much we hear about (& even identify as) Gen-X, or Millennials, or Boomers.
According to some new work from Harry Guild at BBH Labs, our generational generalizations might be, ah, overly generous.
They created a Cohesion Score to see how different groups of people (in this case in the UK) agree across over 400 lifestyle, behavior, and attitude questions.
They found that Guardian readers, introverts, and crossword fans were more cohesive groups than Gen-Xers or other generations.
Other fun facts: Financial Times readers, the 4% (the wealthy), and marketers / marketeers (yes, that's us) are quite homogeneous. Salespeople and the working class are much more heterogeneous.
Does this mean that there really aren't Boomers or Millennials? Do I not share values and experiences with my fellow Gen-Xers? Well of course there ARE differences. Other studies using other methods (this is panel survey data) do indeed find differences among the generations. But they apparently show up more in the socioeconomic foundations of the groups than in their attitudes about reusable water bottles.
But it's important to note that there is major variation within these groups, not just between them. I mean, they're big honkin' groups.
(As usual, caveats galore & read the whole article. It's good.)