You Belong in the Baby Boomer Generation |
You fit in best with people born between 1943 and 1960. You are optimistic, rebellious, and even a little self centered. You still believe that you will change the world. You detest authority and rules. Deep down, you're a non conformist. |
I was actually born in 1964; but I had at least one parent from the previous generation (my dad was 42 when I was born), so I guess that's why I tend to fall into the "baby boomer" outlook. It's nice to find a test that DOESN'T lump us kids from the mid-sixties in with the baby boomers anyway; I've never been able to figure that one out. The boom apparently lasted, to those folks, for a full 20 years.
There aren't that many questions on the test. I'm rather startled at the "noncomformist rebel" part - I answered "respected my parents," not "rebelled against authority."
Boring day. Nothing to report.
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curious
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The birthrate had been going down since the mid-20s (before the Depression, something not often mentioned), then about 1943 it started to rise again, and rose dramatically in 1946. It remained at an unusual high level, but did not drop back down to something like the pre-war levels until the mid-60s. (We will set aside for now the debate about which pre-war birth rate should be considered "normal.")
As a statistical phenomenon, the "boom" in babies literally lasted from 1943 to 1964 or 1965.
However, once identified, the statistical phenomenon became a sociological phenomenon, and began to acquire additional layers of meaning. I.e., the overly simplistic explanation that the boom was caused by the soldiers coming home immediately shaped the way people perceived the statistical phenomenon.
My mom was born before the war actually ended, but after the birthrate had turned from negative to positive. She is, therefore, part of the statistical phenomenon. My dad was conceived just before my Grandpa shipped out to boot camp, January, 1942, putting his birth just before the uptick in the birth rate. He's not technically part of the statistical phenomenon.
Yet they both grew up in the 50s, and most everyone considers them Boomers.
I was born in 1960 (six days before my dad's 18th birthday, to be exact). Technically, my birth is part of the statistical boom, but my parents are Boomers, and since that word "generation" got tacked onto the statistical phenomenon, that creates a paradox in some people's minds. I can't possibly be a child of Boomers and a Boomer myself.
Except I can, because there is more than one reasonable way to define the category.
Edited at 2008-04-17 07:35 pm (UTC)