A few months ago while researching my generational report for my job I came across something very interesting, at least to me. According to the two aged based marketing books I was reading - When Generations Collide and Generations at Work, we mid 70’s thru early 80’s born cohorts belong to a special subgroup which one dubbed as a Xr-Milli Cusp and the other “Gold Collar Workers” or “Generation X2". Both had small sections describing this little subset.

* For discussion purposes only

From : When Generations Collide- Who they are. Why they clash. How to solve the generational puzzle at work. Lancaster, Stillman. 2002 New York. Ch. 3 Pg. 38

"Generation Xer/Millennial. The next group of Cuspers (born approximately 1975-1980) are definitely prime candidates for a bipolar generational personality. On one hand, they absorbed some of the cautiousness of the skeptical Xers who entered the workforce when jobs were almost impossible to get and were always told that they would be first to do worse than their parents. The younger Cuspers may never have attended a rave, dyed their hair purple, or gotten even a single tattoo, and they resent having been stereotyped with all the negative images heaped upon Generation X. At the same time, they have been imbued with the optimism of the Millennial generation, whose career confidence has been fueled by an unprecedented economic and technological boom.

It’s no wonder so many Cuspers we meet have a generational identity crises…However while Cuspers may struggle personally, our experience shows that they fill incredibly important roles and may be one of the most precious assets corporate America has access to today….If nothing appreciate that you’re the only ones who can use the language and wear the clothes of more than one generation and not look dumb."

In : Generations at Work- Managing the clash between Veterans, Boomers, Xrs, and Nexters in your workplace. Zemke, Raines, Filipczak. 2000 New York Ch. 4 Pg. 105

They use a quote from a Fortune article which referred to second wave Xrs as “Gold Collar Employees”. While the section is too long to quote, the theme from the book is that late wave Xrs entered the career field at an opportune time opposite of the first wave Xrs. They report that 1st wave Xrs who started looking for work in the 80’s which was a time filled with downsizing and competition
from experienced Boomers in their prime. However 2nd wave Xrs came on the scene in the 90’s during the time of labor shortages and a desperate need for technologically skilled laborers which our wave readily had.

In case you’re wondering, here are their generational definitions.

When Generations Collide:

The Traditionalist - 1900 to 1945

The Baby boomers - 1946 to 1964

The Generation Xrs - 1965 to 1980

The Millennials - 1981 to 1999

Generations at Work:

The Veterans - 1922 to 1943

The Baby Boomers - 1943 to 1960

Generation Xrs - 1960 to 1980

Generation Nexters - 1980 to 2000

Cool article - I agree with alot of what they're saying even if I disagree on some of the dates (then again, that's one of the oldest debates on this board probably, lol).

I always got the impression that one reason Generation X probably resents the Boomers, was because it was harder for them to get jobs during the recession of the early '90s. This was more for the early Gen Xers, though (former '80s high schoolers, like the Brat Pack crowd). Once you get to c. 1975ers, this wouldn't really affect them in the job market if they were still in high school.

The point about being able to get away with dabbling in multiple generation fashion makes sense too. In a way, you could say people born in the second half of the '70s are sort of the oldest "Zeroes people" (I know people in their early 30s who like South Park, 50 Cent or Halo II). Just personally, as a Fall 1981er I always felt like a huge cusper, which I guess is why I knew exactly what they were talking about. I like quite a bit of both X and Y culture, technology and mindset, even a little Boomer thrown in there too - probably secondhand from people like my parents or celebrities whom I like.

I think the one line from Boomer to Generation X culture would either be Reagan's election (for politics and world affairs), or MTV premiering (for pop culture). So it makes sense to say the cutoff from Xers to Yers is sometime in the first two thirds of 1981, but extending it to 1999 is ridiculous. I could see myself in the same basic generation as early '90s babies (especially the more time goes on and the differences become less obvious) - they had some cursorary old-school experience, but to put me in the boat with a current day 7 or 8-year old is insane. Even as adults, that's a pretty big difference (i.e. a 35 year old compared to a 55-year old).

Probably 1973ers to 1988/'89ers (but centrally about '75 to '85) seem to feel like "my generation" in terms of people I can usually commonly relate to on a peer level, but that's a different story. ;)

Cool article - I agree with alot of what they're saying even if I disagree on some of the dates (then again, that's one of the oldest debates on this board probably, lol).

Probably 1973ers to 1988/'89ers (but centrally about '75 to '85) seem to feel like "my generation" in terms of people I can usually commonly relate to on a peer level, but that's a different story. ;)


I'd go with that  :)

Actaully on the Fourthturning forums the common concensus is that the term "Gen Y" is really a Cusp (mid 70's to mid 80's) between the X (61-81) and Millennial generations (82-00) using Srauss and Howe definitions.

For people born around 81\82 S&H use the Class of 2000 as the cut off. So according to them if you were the class of 2000 your a Milli, the class of 99 your an Xr.

^That's interesting, I graduated in 2000 but I'm a late '81er, so I'm just about as cuspy as you can possibly get, according to them. ;)