I know a huge thing that you see online is talks about different generations, and it almost seems as if to me that for some folks, “generational conflict” has replaced class conflict. Furthermore, I worry that the American dream was supposed to die so everyday baby boomers could buy houses and see their property values go up hundredfold and invite otherwise working class folk into an “honorary bourgeoisie” system. But ultimately this is still a class struggle rather than a generation struggle. Like I’m gen Z and I do not see baby boomers as my oppressor, there’s plenty of millennial landlords ready to rip me off because LinkedIn told him to liquidate his assets’ or whatever idk I don’t speak Porkuguese.
I’m no exception, I’ve made my guesses on why any given generation is the way it is, but I can’t help but wonder when did this focus on generation over class all start? Did baby boomers grow up identifying as baby boomers, and when they were in their 20s-40s was there this idea that millennials were going to be their designated bagholders? If so, did baby boomers always have a consistent culture and identity?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, it’s just that the generational struggle seems really flimsy upon further scrutiny.
The modern concept of generations and labeling them is bullshit because its all taken from marketing. They’re only profiling a specific cohort of these “generations” - the ones with disposable income to buy the products of their clients. So when things are written about them its generally about relatively wealthy people from similarly wealthy families.
That’s because unlike people my age who had to misfortune of being raised by boomers, you didn’t have them as parents. Even though i know generations are bullshit, it feels good to hate on them after what many of us unfortunately experienced. Plus the current concept of “boomer” is more about a state of mind - a type of reactionary attitude that isn’t exclusive to when someone was born, but does tend to be associated with them. So while “generational struggle” is bullshit, in my view, the boomers don’t need anyone to defend them. No one needs to speak up and say “not all boomers” anymore than anyone shouod be saying “not all men” or “not all white people.”
All of that being said, there are some material reasons for the differences. Its not inherent to “boomers” because of when they were born obviously, but because of the relative prosperity they lived in and ease many of them had accumulating wealth. Because of those conditions they tend to refuse to accept the present reality. They think their lives were “normal”, when in fact they lived through a massive anamoly. They won the being born lottery. They got to live their whole lives fucking around, and will never have to find out (with the exception of their children rightly not speaking to them).
In short, its important to recognize that it’s not generation but class, and the modetn coception of generations is bullshit anyway. But, there does tend to be a major divide for material, but not “generational,” reasons