Everyday Canvas

Labeling Generations

PROMPT: Is it fair to generalize, stereotype, or even label all members of a specific generation with a particular nickname (for example, "baby boomers" or "millennials")? Why do you think we still do this?

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Good question and prompt! I think putting human beings into groups is a bad idea, on top of being unfair. Any type of labeling or stereotyping people is rotten, let alone a whole generation of people.

In a nutshell, this is prejudice with lingering effects, which might be adverse. Yuppies, generation X, generation Y…people of all these generations could have been my kids. I know some of them try to fight their ways out of such generalizations instead of focusing on themselves as specific people.

But then, it may be inside the human mind to classify people into separate sections, possibly because it simplifies the social world for human understanding. People presume a range of traits, abilities, and disabilities by using such classifications when they meet a new person. (Fat people are jolly; yuppies are selfish and fortune-seeking, etc.)

This type of a practice I also noticed within the several psychology courses I took. For some reason, even while in my young adult years, I thought the discipline of psychology labeled people and put them in separate boxes, and surprisingly, with very good intentions for the most part.

This type of grouping may make life a bit easier by reducing the amount of our thinking and discovery processes on the surface, but deep down, it harms both the people who generalize and the people who are stereotyped. Even if some generalizations may be on the positive side, most stereotypes are far more common and negative. Then, even if the labeled persons do not believe in such stereotypes, they may experience negative input by the society, say in job searches.

In short, even if such practices can enable us to agree with and respond quickly to situations involving such groups, they also make us ignore the specific qualities in and differences between individuals, and this doesn’t help our lives within the human community at all.