Atlantic article examines Cohen open letter
In an article in The Atlantic Joe Pinsker reports on an open letter signed by Faculty Associate Philip Cohen and 170 other social scientists suggesting that the Pew Research Center cease labeling generations (X, Z, Millenial, etc.).
He quotes from Dr. Cohen's letter, "Once word gets out (through research or other means) about a particular trait or practice associated with a ‘generation,’ like avocado toast or student debt, it gets processed and reprocessed reflexively by people who don’t, or do, want to embody a stereotype or trend for their supposed group,” he wrote. In this way, a label “falls irretrievably into a vortex of cultural pastiche.”
See the article in The Atlantic
‘Gen Z’ Only Exists in Your Head, The Atlantic, October 14, 2021, Philip Cohen