- "Much Ado About Twentysomethings" by Richard Morin.
Report of poll data which failed to find significant generational differences in attitudes towards the US government, personal economic prospects, etc. With a few editorial comments by myself.
- "Educating the Generation Called `X' " by Prof. Douglas Brinkley.
An extremely bad and inconsistent essay which attempts to argue simultaneously that (a) Generation X is a myth; (b) Generation X is a good thing; and (c) we have to baby-feed education to Generation X, since it won't take it any other way. So ludicrous it cried out for preservation; I have loaded on my editorial comments.
- "Talk About My Generation" by Ruth Conniff.
How the "twentysomething" media bubble is being used for self-promotion and to further special interests.
- "Generation X-onomics," an unsigned article
in The Economist.
- "Targeting the Stoned Cyberpunk," a marketing
research report for the Lollapalooza festival, excerpted in Harper's
Magazine. This is one of the most astounding pieces of instrumental
cynicism it has even been my good fortune to encounter, and it is hard to
imagine retaining any illusions about "alternative culture," advertising, or
social science and "]critical theory" after reading it. [Update, 6 September
2006: My copy seems to have vanished in the course of multiple server
migrations, but there seem to be many others,
e.g. here
and here.]