2023-08-19 04:00:20
After baby boomers, generation X, millennials and Z, here comes the alpha generation. Categorizing and unraveling the mystery of generations is an endless source of heated discussion, which also generates tension between academics, who argue that these designations have no meaning, and consultants, who make it a lucrative industry.
“Oh no, not a new label yet! some readers will spontaneously say to themselves. The so-called alpha generation this time concerns children born between 2010 and 2024 inclusive. Naming age groups is a phenomenon that has become firmly established in popular culture since the baby boomers, and the labels are renewed on a 15-year cyclical period.
A division with altogether arbitrary categories, which can lead to excessive generalization, stereotyped reflections and a tendency to homogenize too much, say several experts consulted by Le Devoir. But which, for some, nevertheless remains to be monitored.
Mark McCrindle, an Australian social science consultant and researcher who runs a consulting firm, and who describes himself as a futurist in particular, is considered the “father” of the term “alpha generation”, which he supposedly coined a Fifteen years. The word “alpha” refers to the Greek letter, explains in an email exchange with Le Devoir Ashley Fell, consulting director of the McCrindle firm and co-author with the Australian researcher of a book on the subject.
The name was tested with others in a poll. Among respondents’ suggestions, the term “generation A” came up often, since generation Z refers to the last letter of the alphabet. But the Greek rather than Latin alphabet was ultimately chosen to symbolize “the beginning of something new”, a generation growing up in a “new era of technological integration”.
« back to start [de l’alphabet latin] didn’t seem appropriate, because the alpha generation represents a whole new generation, which was born entirely in a new century, argues Ashley Fell. While previous generations have been shaped by technology, we consider Generation Alpha to be distinctly visual, global, mobile and virtual. »
Growing trends
Young generation alphas are being born into a sea of screens, with easily accessible social networks, and into a world shaped by the pandemic. However, it is difficult at present to identify characteristics cast in concrete to describe this precise cohort, because it is still young and there is not yet a good basis for comparison, believes for his part Dan Woodman, a professor of sociology at the University of Melbourne, who studies youth and generations.
He warns against the tendency to want to homogenize too much, but still thinks that there are things to watch out for as these youngsters grow. “This is the third generation to be considered digital native. In a way, it really is, he says. These young people will grow up with a hybrid online and offline socialization from a very young age, and one can wonder about the effects [qu’aura cette socialisation hybride] ».
Trends that the researcher notes in other age groups could be accentuated. “These young people are likely to study longer, live at home with their families longer, and their careers could be longer and more complex,” he says.
However, he emphasizes that attitudes could be linked to people’s age, or to a specific phenomenon, rather than being a generation trait.
Naming generations can be a lucrative industry for speakers, consultants and marketing firms, propelled by people’s love of these topics. On social networks, it is impossible to spend a day without seeing a video or an image that targets a generation with a witticism that supports perceptions. Others can’t take it anymore, “young people today” or their elders, in the continuity of a thousand-year-old tradition.
Finding a name for the alpha generation was very fast, notes Dan Woodman. “No one was talking about Generation Y [les millénariaux] when they were five, he says, noting a new phenomenon. If your name, that of your company or the title of your book becomes associated with the name of this generation because you found it, you can go far. And I think that’s why with the alpha generation, finding a name for her and talking about her in generational terms was quick. »
Becoming the “authority” to talk about a generation can be worth its weight in gold. “If you go to a marketing conference or to a big company and you tell them there’s this cohort of new people who are completely foreign to them, who they don’t understand, but you, yes, and you You can tell them how these people are, he says… It’s a key element in selling a product, telling people that they’re in trouble if they don’t understand them. »
Slingshot against labels
The sociologists and demographers that Le Devoir has contacted in various universities in Quebec affirm that there is no scientific basis for the idea of a generation change every 15 years and that they do not use the names as a basis for their work.
With the exception of baby boomers, a group defined by a historical and demographic event, “these designations do not refer to anything specific and are less significant than the simple reference to the year of birth of the persons concerned”, thinks of his alongside Sarah Brauner-Otto, director of the Center on Population Dynamics at McGill University.
In the United States, dozens of demographers and social scientists led a sling to ask the renowned research center Pew Research to drop these labels, deeming them meaningless.
“We have reached a point where the gap has widened and where it has become an increasingly important source of friction, explains to Devoir Philip N. Cohen, professor of sociology at the University of Maryland. We don’t use these categories in our research, yet the media keep talking about them. »
He accuses consultants of “selling stereotypes”. “These are ways of simplifying society that are not unrelated to reality. So we start wrapping them up, and that may sound reasonable, but it’s not good science, says the researcher. Some things are periodic effects: everyone is exposed to social media and mobile technology, regardless of age. »
The Pew Research Center has taken note of the growing number of critics and, in May, acknowledged in a publication that generational research had “been inundated with content that is often sold as research, but which is more akin to clickbait, or marketing mythology”.
“We will only conduct generational analyzes when we have historical data that allows us to compare generations at similar life stages,” writes Pew Research.
For her part, Ashley Fell, of the McCrindle firm, replies that, if it is true that generational analysis is used in marketing, this work makes it possible to understand the differences. She defends herself from spreading stereotypes. “Appreciating the stories, events and experiences that have shaped each generation, and especially Generation Alpha, is essential to enabling parents, educators and leaders to adapt effectively to the changing world. society,” she says.
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