Editing Generation (section)

==Criticism==
[[Philip N. Cohen]], a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, criticized the use of "generation labels", stating that the labels are "imposed by survey researchers, journalists or marketing firms" and "drive people toward stereotyping and rash character judgment." Cohen's [[open letter]] to the [[Pew Research Center]], which outlines his criticism of generational labels, received at least 150 signatures from other demographers and social scientists.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Cohen|first=Philip N.|date=2021-07-07|title=Opinion {{!}} Generation labels mean nothing. It's time to retire them.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/07/generation-labels-mean-nothing-retire-them/|access-date=2021-08-30|newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>

[[Louis Menand]], writer at ''[[The New Yorker]]'', stated that "there is no empirical basis" for the contention "that differences within a generation are smaller than differences between generations." He argued that generational theories "seem to require" that people born at the tail end of one generation and people born at the beginning of another (e.g. a person born in 1965, the first year of Generation X, and a person born in 1964, the last of the Boomer era) "must have different values, tastes, and life experiences" or that people born in the first and last birth years of a generation (e.g. a person born in 1980, the last year of Generation X, and a person born in 1965, the first year of Generation X) "have more in common" than with people born a couple years before or after them.<ref name="Menand-2021">{{cite magazine |last1=Menand |first1=Louis |title=It's Time to Stop Talking About "Generations" |magazine=The New Yorker |date=11 October 2021 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/18/its-time-to-stop-talking-about-generations |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref>

In 2023, after a review of their research and methods, and consulting with external experts, [[Pew Research Center]] announced a change in their use of generation labels to "avoid reinforcing harmful stereotypes or oversimplifying people’s complex lived experiences", and said that, going forward, they will only conduct generational analysis when historical data is available that allows them to "compare generations at similar stage of life" and "won’t always default to using the standard generational definitions and labels."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Parker |first1=Kim |title=How Pew Research Center will report on generations moving forward |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/22/how-pew-research-center-will-report-on-generations-moving-forward/ |website=Pew Research Center|date=22 May 2023 }}</ref>