The naming of generations is the sport of marketers. It is also serious business, not just for companies looking for customers but for the rest of us as well. A generation's name is an attempt to identify the shared characteristics of a group of people. By naming the generations, we get a better sense of the chaotic jumble of 300-million-plus diverse and individualistic Americans.
The youngest Americans--the current crop of children--have been a generation looking for a name. There have been lazy attempts to name them, such as "Generation Z." And there have been more serious attempts, such as the iGeneration, so dubbed by demographic reference publisher New Strategist Publications. Now, the market research firm Magid Generational Strategies has added muscle to the naming business. Magid surveyed children and their parents, people ranging in age from 8 to 66, then pondered the findings. The result is a new name for the youngest Americans: The Pluralist Generation, but you can call them Plurals.
Plurals are today's 67 million children aged 15 or younger in 2012--born in 1997 or later. Only 55 percent are non-Hispanic white, making them the last generation with a non-Hispanic white majority. "This unprecedented transition to a multicultural, pluralistic society will be a major aspect of their lives," says Magid in its press release announcing the name. The pluralistic features of the society in which today's children are growing up extend from race and ethnicity to sex roles, sexual orientation, religion, family life, communication, politics, and media. The Plurals, says Magid, are the children of Gen Xers and reflect Gen X's different parenting style, which is more individualistic than group-oriented Boomers who raised Millennials. Reports Magid: "Those differences will only increase over time and solidify a new mindset separating Plurals from Millennials."
To download Magid's free white paper about the Plurals, click here.
Source: Magid Generational Strategies, The First Generation of the Twenty-First Century--An Introduction to The Pluralist Generation
1 comment:
I was born on July 14th 1997 and I don't think you should consider us as plurals because we are way different then the kids of today. I already have a job and I grew up with non-hispanic whites in east danforth,Toronto,Canada and we are way different than those born in the 2000s, we even finished elementary school in the 2000s and we could remember a time before 9/11, youtube, facebook and an African American president. This is just my opinion.
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