Generation Jones

{{Short description|Social cohort spanning the late Baby Boomer Generation and the early Generation X}}

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| image1 = Visit of Bill Gates, Chairman of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, to the European Commission 5 (cropped).jpg

| image2 = MadonnaO2171023 (97 of 133) (53269593787) (cropped).jpg

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| image4 = Sarah Palin (51769866572) (cropped).jpg

| image5 = President Barack Obama.jpg

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| caption1 = Bill Gates, born 1955

| caption2 = Madonna, born 1958

| caption3 = Michael Jackson, born 1958

| caption4 = Sarah Palin, born 1964

| caption5 = Barack Obama, born 1961

| caption6 = Tom Cruise, born 1962

| caption7 = Brad Pitt, born 1963

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Generation Jones is the generation or social cohort between the Baby Boom generation and Generation X. The term was coined in 1999 by American cultural commentator Jonathan Pontell, who argues that the term refers to a full distinct generation born from 1954 to 1965.{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Jeffrey J. |date=March 31, 2014 |title=Not My Generation |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/Generation-Jones/145569 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009033716/https://www.chronicle.com/article/Generation-Jones/145569 |archive-date=October 9, 2017 |access-date=January 27, 2019 |work=The Chronicle of Higher Education}} Media coverage of Generation Jones typically has described it as a distinct generation, using Pontell's dates.{{Cite news |last=Boylan |first=Jennifer Finney |date=2020-06-23 |title=Opinion {{!}} Mr. Jones and Me: Younger Baby Boomers Swing Left |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/opinion/baby-boomers-trump.html |access-date=2024-08-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |title=Not My Generation |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/not-my-generation-145569/ |access-date=2024-08-01}} Others see this as a subset of the Baby Boom Generation, primarily its second half.{{Cite web |last=Astor |first=Bart |title=Baby Boomers Are Different Than Generation Jones - We're Proud Of Being Old |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bartastor/2018/07/30/baby-boomers-are-different-than-generation-jones-were-proud-of-being-old/ |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=Forbes |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Lubrano |first=Alfred |date=2023-02-23 |title=Generation Jones folks can't relate to their Baby Boomer brethren |url=https://www.inquirer.com/life/baby-boomer-millennial-generation-jones-vietnam-woodstock-401-k-pensions-20230223.html |access-date=2024-08-01 |website= |language=en}} A third view is that Generation Jones is a cusp or micro-generation between the Boomers and Xers.{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Wayne |date=2017-07-02 |title=Carter: What's an xennial? Me, apparently |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2017/07/02/carter-whats-an-xennial-me-apparently/ |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=Baltimore Sun |language=en-US}}{{cite book |last1=McCrindle |first1=Mark |last2=Wolfinger |first2=Emily |title=The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations |page=34 |date=April 1, 2010 |publisher=University of New South Wales Press |isbn=978-1742230351 |language=en |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dD157cVnAPgC&dq=generation+jones+cusp+generation&pg=PA35 |access-date=January 6, 2025}}

Members of Generation Jones were children and teens during Watergate, the oil crisis, and stagflation.{{Cite news |date=December 19, 2008 |title=Jump up |url=http://www.fnpInteractive.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221183359/http://www.fnpinteractive.com/ |archive-date=February 21, 2010 |access-date=August 2, 2010 |work=The Frederick News-Post}}{{Cite news |date=January 11, 2009 |title=In Obama, many see an end to the baby boomer era |url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1372376,w-obama-baby-boomer-era-011109.article |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125183857/http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1372376,w-obama-baby-boomer-era-011109.article |archive-date=January 25, 2009 |access-date=September 19, 2015 |work=Chicago Sun-Times}} Unlike "Leading-Edge Boomers," most of Generation Jones, primarily its latter segment born from 1960 forward, did not grow up with World War II veterans (although some were Korean War veterans) as parents, and, as they reached adulthood, there was no compulsory military service and no defining political cause, as opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War was for the older boomers. For many, their parents' generation was sandwiched between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers.{{Cite web |last=Buck |first=Stephanie |date=2017-11-03 |title=This niche generation within the Baby Boom is a highly coveted—and persuadable—voting bloc |url=https://timeline.com/generation-jones-baby-boom-923270cb2010}} Also, by 1955, a majority of U.S. households had at least one television set,{{Cite web |last=Stevens |first=Mitchell |title=History of Television |url=https://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/History%20of%20Television%20page.htm |publisher=New York University}} and so unlike Leading-Edge Boomers born from 1946 to 1953, many members of Generation Jones (trailing-edge boomers) have never lived in a world without television. Generation Jones were children or teenagers during the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s and were young adults when HIV/AIDS became a worldwide threat in the 1980s. The majority of Joneses reached maturity from 1972 to 1979, while younger members came of age from 1980 to 1983, just as the older Baby Boomers had come of age from 1964 to 1971.

The name "Generation Jones" has several connotations, including a large anonymous generation, a "keeping up with the Joneses" competitiveness and the slang word "jones" or "jonesing", meaning a yearning or craving.{{Cite news |last=Anne |first=Braly |date=January 18, 2009 |title='Generation Jones' soon to have its man in Washington |url=http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/jan/18/generation-jones-soon-have-its-man-washington/ |work=Chattanooga Times Free Press |access-date=June 13, 2009 |archive-date=February 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219190810/http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/jan/18/generation-jones-soon-have-its-man-washington/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite news |last=Button |first=Eileen |date=April 5, 2009 |title=Generation Jones has a few good reasons to be suspicious of technology |url=http://www.mlive.com/communitynewspapers/opinion/index.ssf/2009/04/generation_jones_has_good_reas.html |work=The Community Newspapers}}{{Cite news |last=Stuart Wells |first=Amy |date=4 March 2009 |title=Commentary - From Obama's Generation The Audacious Hope of More Racially Diverse Public Schools |url=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/03/04/23wells_ep.h28.html?tkn=RUZF51zK56EOobsyL5j2907YVcXVtHgAAf2Q |publisher=Education Week}} Pontell suggests that Jonesers inherited an optimistic outlook as children in the 1960s, but were then confronted with a different reality as they entered the workforce, in the case of the United States, during either the inflationary period of the Ford administration, the recessionary period of the Carter administration, or the Reaganomics of the Reagan administration and the shift from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, which ushered in a long period of mass unemployment or underemployment. Mortgage interest rates increased to above 12 percent in the mid-eighties,{{Cite web |date=7 November 2021 |title=FreddieMac - 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgages Since 1971 |url=http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/pmms30.html}} making it virtually impossible to buy a house on a single income. De-industrialization arrived in full force in the mid-late 1970s and 1980s; wages would be stagnant for decades, and 401(k)s replaced pensions in nearly all avenues of employment except those in the public sector, leaving them with a certain abiding "jonesing" quality for the more prosperous days of the past.

Generation Jones is noted for coming of age after a huge swath of their older siblings in the earlier portion of the Baby Boomer population; thus, many note that there was a paucity of resources and privileges available to them that were seemingly abundant to older Boomers. For example, Baby Boomers often filled senior and more lucrative employment positions vacated by retiring Greatest Generation and older Silent Generation members, leaving Jonesers with fewer opportunities for promotion because their Boomer siblings would enter retirement windows only slightly ahead of them. Therefore, there is a certain level of bitterness and "jonesing" for the level of doting and affluence granted to older Boomers but denied to them.{{Cite web |last=Pontell |first=Jonathan |year=2007 |title=Generation Jones |url=http://www.jonathanpontell.com/aboutgenjones.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713115711/http://www.jonathanpontell.com/aboutgenjones.htm |archive-date=July 13, 2011 |access-date=October 30, 2012 |website=The Jonathan Pontell Group}}

The term has enjoyed some currency in political and cultural commentary, including during the 2008 United States presidential election, where Barack Obama (born 1961) and Sarah Palin (born 1964) were on the presidential tickets. {{as of|2025}}, the two most recent former vice presidents, Kamala Harris (born 1964) and Mike Pence (born 1959) respectively, are members of Generation Jones.{{Cite web |last=Wiltz |first=Teresa |date=2020-10-07 |title=What Prince Tells Us About Kamala Harris |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/07/kamala-harris-generation-veep-debate-426994 |access-date=2023-12-14 |publisher=Politico}}

Cultural, economic, and political dimensions

While charismatic leaders like John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. inspired millions of older Boomers to work for—and witness—positive social change, Generation Jones were in elementary school or not yet born.{{cite news |last=Ewald|first=Patti |title=Generation Jones: Meet the Jonesers |work=Tampa Bay Times |date=March 26, 2014 |language=en |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2014/03/26/generation-jones-meet-the-jonesers/ |access-date=January 6, 2025}} The Woodstock pop festival (1969) was a defining moment for older Boomers; Generation Jones tends to remember the Watergate scandal (1972–1974) and the cultural cynicism it begat. While in high school, members of Generation Jones had a distinct feeling of having just missed the real hippie era.

Generation Jones has been covered and discussed in newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio shows.{{Cite news |last=Lang |first=John |date=January 8, 2000 |title=Generation Jones: Between the Boomers and the Xers |url=http://www.cincypost.com/news/2000/jones010800.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050115184413/http://www.cincypost.com/news/2000/jones010800.html |archive-date=January 15, 2005 |work=The Cincinnati Post |publisher=E. W. Scripps Company}}{{Cite web |last=Rowan |first=David |date=May 2005 |title=A guide to electionspeak |url=http://www.davidrowan.com/2005/05/times-op-ed-guide-to-electionspeak.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070407011729/http://www.davidrowan.com/2005/05/times-op-ed-guide-to-electionspeak.html |archive-date=April 7, 2007}}{{Cite news |date=October 30, 2006 |title=Political analyst Jonathan Pontell on what political party different generations vote for and why |url=http://talkradionews.com/2006/10/talk-radio-news-service-interviews-political-analyst-jonathan-pontell-on-what-political-party-different-generations-vote-for-and-why/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110911013454/http://talkradionews.com/2006/10/talk-radio-news-service-interviews-political-analyst-jonathan-pontell-on-what-political-party-different-generations-vote-for-and-why/ |archive-date=September 11, 2011 |access-date=December 7, 2008 |publisher=Talk Radio News Service}}{{Cite news |last=Aguilar |first=Louis |date=December 2000 |title=Many in the 35-46 Age Bracket Identify with 'Generation Jones' |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6452129_ITM |publisher=The Denver Post |location=Denver, Colorado}} Pontell has appeared on TV networks such as CNN, MSNBC, and BBC, discussing the cultural, political, and economic implications of this generation's emergence.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7vbsVu75do |title=Generation Jones discussion on CNN day before ElectionDay'08 |date=January 15, 2009 |access-date=September 19, 2015 |work=YouTube}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBk1GZ747F8 |title=Generation Jones conversation on Canada's most popular national TV talk show |date=February 27, 2009 |access-date=September 19, 2015 |work=YouTube}}{{Cite news |last=Ollivier |first=Debra |date=December 15, 2011 |title=So You Think You're A Boomer? Think Again |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/debra-ollivier/gen-jones_b_1149703.html |access-date=February 10, 2014 |work=The Huffington Post}}

In the business world, Generation Jones has become a part of the strategic planning of many companies and industries, particularly in the context of targeting Jonesers through marketing efforts.{{Cite web |last=Campanelli |first=Melissa |date=September 20, 2007 |title=How to Reach 'Generation Jones' Online |url=http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/content/how-reach-generation-jones-online |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213193139/http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/content/how-reach-generation-jones-online |archive-date=December 13, 2019 |access-date=July 9, 2009 |publisher=eMarketing & Commerce}}{{Cite journal |last=Wells |first=Ellen C. |date=September 2005 |title=Keeping Up With The Jonesers |url=http://www.flowerink.com/pdfs/GardeningThruAges_Jones.pdf |journal=Today's Garden Center |pages=44–45 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}{{Citation |last=Green |first=Brent |title=Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lHeYQrZA4VMC&dq=%22Generation+Jones%22&pg=PA29 |publisher=Paramount Market Publishing |isbn=978-0-9766973-5-0}}{{Cite book |last1=Welch |first1=Jim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tyfr-dU5Na0C&dq=%22Generation+Jones%22&pg=PA104 |title=Grow Now |last2=Bill Althaus |publisher=The Growth Leader, Inc. |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-934144-02-2 |pages=204}}{{Cite book |last=Stroud |first=Dick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wU3Mgdaxc8EC&dq=%22Generation+Jones%22&pg=PA108 |title=The 50 plus market |publisher=Kogan Page Publishers |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7494-4939-1 |pages=314}}{{Cite web |title=Toops Scoops: Keeping up with the Jonesers |url=http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2003/343.html |access-date=September 19, 2015 |website=foodprocessing.com |archive-date=August 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815225151/http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2003/343.html |url-status=dead }} Carat UK, a European media buying agency, has done extensive research into Generation Jones consumers.{{Cite web |title=Who is Generation Jones? |url=http://www.generationjones.co.uk/gen_jones/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050215211523/http://www.generationjones.co.uk/gen_jones/ |archive-date=February 15, 2005 |access-date=February 10, 2014 |website=Project Britain |publisher=Carat UK}}{{Cite news |last=Dutta |first=Kunal |date=January 23, 2006 |title=Carat taps into singleton spending |url=http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/537226/carat-taps-singleton-spending?DCMP=ILC-BETASEARCH |access-date=February 10, 2014 |work=MediaWeek}}

Politically, Generation Jones has emerged as a crucial voting segment in US and UK elections. In the U.S. 2006 congressional and 2004 presidential elections, and the 2005 U.K. elections, Generation Jones's electoral role was widely described as pivotal by the media and political pollsters.{{Cite news |date=September 13, 2005 |title=Press Release: Generation Jones is driving NZ Voter Volatility |url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0509/S00161.htm |access-date=February 18, 2007 |publisher=Scoop Independent News (NZ) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314041147/http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0509/S00161.htm |archive-date=March 14, 2007}}{{Cite web |title=Key to election is 'keeping up with Joneses' |url=http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200504/85503c19-df76-48ab-a2fb-3ef731c1459a.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013223238/http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200504/85503c19-df76-48ab-a2fb-3ef731c1459a.htm |archive-date=October 13, 2008 |access-date=September 19, 2015 |website=epolitix.com}}{{Cite web |date=December 9, 2004 |title=Pollster says Generation Jones tipped election for Bush |url=http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2004/12/09_genjones2/ |access-date=September 19, 2015 |website=publicradio.org}} In the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, Generation Jones was again seen as a key electoral segment because of the high degree to which its members were swing voters during the election cycle. Influential journalists, like Clarence Page{{Cite news |last=Page |first=Clarence |author-link=Clarence Page |date=October 22, 2008 |title=Generation Jones is in play |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped1022pageoct22,0,2775732.column |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201174422/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped1022pageoct22,0,2775732.column |archive-date=December 1, 2008 |access-date=December 7, 2008 |work=Chicago Tribune |df=mdy-all}} and Peter Fenn,{{Cite web |last=Fenn |first=Peter |date=October 23, 2008 |title=Why the 'Generation Jones' Vote May Be Crucial in Election 2008 |url=http://pundits.thehill.com/2008/10/23/why-the-%E2%80%98generation-jones%E2%80%99-vote-may-be-crucial-in-election-2008/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130012949/http://pundits.thehill.com/2008/10/23/why-the-%E2%80%98generation-jones%E2%80%99-vote-may-be-crucial-in-election-2008/ |archive-date=January 30, 2009 |access-date=December 7, 2008 |website=The Hill's Pundits Blog}} singled out Generation Jones voters as crucial in the final weeks of the campaign.{{Cite news |last=Paulsen |first=David |date=October 26, 2008 |title=Attention GenY'ers! Talk To Your Parents! Don't Let GenJonesers Vote Against Themselves! |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-paulsen/attention-genyers-talk-to_b_137937.html |access-date=December 7, 2008 |work=The Huffington Post |department=Politics}} Numerous studies have been done by political pollsters and publications analyzing the voting behavior of Gen Jonesers.{{Cite news |last=Rentoul |first=John |date=April 10, 2005 |title=Introducing Generation Jones voters who hold the key to No 10 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/introducing-generation-jones-voters-who-hold-the-key-to-no-10-482274.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523163756/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/introducing-generation-jones-voters-who-hold-the-key-to-no-10-482274.html |archive-date=May 23, 2009 |work=The Independent |location=London}}{{Cite web |date=October 27, 2004 |title=Generation Jones Women are Swing Voters |url=http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/generation_jones_women_are_swing_voters |access-date=September 19, 2015 |publisher=Rasmussen Reports}} Generation Jones voters are likely to contain the highest proportion of Brexit voters.

The election to the presidency of Barack Obama, born in 1961, plus Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, born 1964, focused more attention on Generation Jones. Many journalists, publications, and experts – including Jonathan Alter (Newsweek) have classified Obama as a member of Generation Jones.{{Cite news |last=Alter |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Alter |date=February 11, 2008 |title=Twilight of the Baby Boom |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/107583 |access-date=December 7, 2008 |publisher=Newsweek}}

Key characteristics assigned to members are pessimism, distrust of government, and general cynicism.{{Cite news |last=Derbyshire |first=David |date=November 24, 2004 |title=Generation Jones is given a name at last |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1477344/Generation-Jones-is-given-a-name-at-last.html |access-date=May 3, 2010 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London}}

In Pontell's opinion, US Jonesers shifted left in 2020, which he attributed to Trump's response to the COVID-19 crisis and President Trump's mocking of President Biden's senior moments. "There are lots of seniors out there that also have senior moments," Pontell says. "They don't really like the president mocking those one bit."{{Cite news |last=Boylan |first=Jennifer Finney |date=2020-06-23 |title=Opinion {{!}} Mr. Jones and Me: Younger Baby Boomers Swing Left |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/opinion/baby-boomers-trump.html |access-date=2021-09-16 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}