Gen X Tv

No generation eludes definition as much as Generation X. Rob Owens opens with a history of network and cable television since the birth of Generation X, but goes on to explore the symbiotic relationship between television and this largely misunderstood age group. From the first megahit The Brady Bunch to today's Friends, Owen unflinchingly describes the boob tube as the ubiquitous babysitter for millions of young people. Television, Owen maintains, consumes innocence as viewers encounter countless episodes of society's woes, from political strife and environmental decimation to everyday violence and crime.

With Baby Boomers now moving into retirement, members of Generation X have come to the forefront of American society. Consequently, understanding Generation X--and the potential impact of the independent, sometimes rebellious spirit that characterizes it--is critical. In Generation X Professors Speak: Voices from Academia, Elwood Watson has assembled a unique collection of thematically arranged essays by academics that offers insights into the issues, conflicts, and triumphs that epitomize this often overlooked generation. The essays cover topics ranging from career, class, family life, health, music, and physical disabilities to race, religion, and sexuality. Together, the essays define the characteristics and demonstrate the diversity of Generation X, and will appeal to scholars, students, and others interested in social history, psychology, gender studies, and popular culture.

The acclaimed author explores the hidden crises of Gen X women in this “engaging hybrid of first-person confession, reportage [and] pop culture analysis” (The New Republic). Ada Calhoun was married with children and a good career—and yet she was miserable. She thought she had no right to complain until she realized how many other Generation X women felt the same way. What could be behind this troubling trend? To find out, Calhoun delved into housing costs, HR trends, credit card debt averages, and divorce data. At every turn, she saw that Gen X women were facing new problems as they entered middle age—problems that were being largely overlooked. Calhoun spoke with women across America who were part of the generation raised to “have it all.” She found that most were exhausted, terrified about money, under-employed, and overwhelmed. And instead of being heard, they were being told to lean in, take “me-time,” or make a chore chart to get their lives and homes in order. In Why We Can’t Sleep, Calhoun opens up the cultural and political contexts of Gen X’s predicament. She offers practical advice on how to ourselves out of the abyss—and keep the next generation of women from falling in. The result is reassuring, empowering, and essential reading for all middle-aged women, and anyone who hopes to understand them.

Essays in this volume explore the popular cultural effects of rock culture on high literary production in Spain in the 1990s.

Sponsored by the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association (CITAMS), Millennials and Media brings together case studies from across the globe to provide a timely examination of Generation Y's media practices.

In Zero Hour for Gen X, Matthew Hennessey calls on his generation, Generation X, to take a stand against tech-obsessed millennials, apathetic baby boomers, utopian Silicon Valley “visionaries,” and the menace to top them all: the soft totalitarian conspiracy known as the Internet of Things. Soon Gen Xers will be the only cohort of Americans who remember life as it was lived before the arrival of the Internet. They are, as Hennessey dubs them, “the last adult generation,” the sole remaining link to a time when childhood was still a bit dangerous but produced adults who were naturally resilient. More than a decade into the social media revolution, the American public is waking up to the idea that the tech sector’s intentions might not be as pure as advertised. The mountains of money being made off our browsing habits and purchase histories are used to fund ever-more extravagant and utopian projects that, by their very natures, will corrode the foundations of free society, leaving us all helpless and digitally enslaved to an elite crew of ultra-sophisticated tech geniuses. But it’s not too late to turn the tide. There’s still time for Gen X to write its own future. A spirited defense of free speech, eye contact, and the virtues of patience, Zero Hour for Gen X is a cultural history of the last 35 years, an analysis of the current social and historical moment, and a generational call to arms.

Gen X and Millennials are explored in this double guide in Michigan State University’s Bias Busters series. It answers everyday questions and stereotypes about these two important generations. Learn how they got their names, how these generations are described and how their proud members identify themselves. You will find answers about when generations begin and end, and the seismic events defining them. This guide is for people in business, education, government, medicine, law and human resources who need a starting point for understanding the truth about these influential age cohorts.

Even for the casual viewer, the Netflix series Stranger Things will likely feel familiar, reminiscent of popular 1980s coming-of-age movies such as The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Stand by Me. Throughout the series, nods to each movie are abundant. While Stranger Things and these classic 1980s films are all tales of childhood friendship and shared adventures, they are also narratives that reflect and shape the burgeoning cynicism of the 1980s. In Ode to Gen X: Institutional Cynicism in "Stranger Things" and 1980s Film, author Melissa Vosen Callens explores the parallels between iconic films featuring children and teenagers and the first three seasons of Stranger Things, a series about a group of young friends set in 1980s Indiana. The text moves beyond the (at times) non-sequitur 1980s Easter eggs to a common underlying narrative: Generation X’s growing distrust in American institutions. Despite Gen X’s cynicism toward both informal and formal institutions, viewers also see a more positive characteristic of Gen X in these films and series: Gen X’s fierce independence and ability to rebuild and redefine the family unit despite continued economic hardships. Vosen Callens demonstrates how Stranger Things draws on popular 1980s popular culture to pay tribute to Gen X’s evolving outlook on three key and interwoven American institutions: family, economy, and government.