Keeping Up With The Joneses

By Maria Elena Duron

Multi-Cultural Networking Editor

If you’re thinking that this might be a title of a new reality TV show (similar to Keeping up with the Kardashians), think again. In fact, I am actually referring to the “Lost Generation” better known as Generation Jones. You’ll be surprised to know that aside from Generation X, there’s another generation that sprang post World War II. So how do we keep up with them? The best thing to do at this point is to really get to know them.

Meet Generation Jones: the largest adult generation in the US with serious spending power. This generation refers to those people who were born in the US (or UK) between 1954 to1965. So how exactly did they become a lost generation? Before American social commentator Jonathan Pontell discovered about the Jonesers, they are either classified as Baby Boomers or members of Generation X. But then again, Pontell made a good point that they are too young to be a Boomer and too old to be an X-er. He found that they are not as idealistic as the Boomers and not as cynical as Gen X-ers. Pontell believes that this generation that put their idealism on hold has achieved financial security and is rediscovering their idealism as they enter middle age. This is maybe due to the fact that they rode on to the lingering promises given to the Boomers before them and then a new world came as did sizable disappointment.

Why Jones? It’s not like Pontell can’t think of a cool name to call this group. Actually, the name originated from the word “jonesing” or from the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses.” This is because this generation tends to yearn or crave for a better life while having many unrealized expectations. Raised on TV and turmoil, they inherited a good economy that later on turned sour. They are also the kind of people who care about their relative standard of living in relation to their societal peers especially in terms of acquiring material goods. In the book Generation Blend by Rob Salkowitz, he described this generation as a generation that “share many of the values and assumptions of their elders but came of age under somewhat different historical circumstances. Too young to participate in the Civil Rights marches of the early 60s, experience the Summer of Love or Woodstock firsthand, or to be subject to the draft, young American Boomers reached their late teens in a period of cultural exhaustion and drift. They were still products of the postwar consumer culture, still optimistic and full of high ideals, but they arrived at the big party just as it was heading into its weird late-night mode.”

How do you know if you’re a member of this cohort? Some people don’t even know that they’re a part of Generation Jones. If you grew up watching Twister and The Brady Bunch until Watergate interrupted them, then you are most likely a Joneser. During a typical Gen Jones’ formative years, they’ve must have seen Neil Armstrong step on the moon, the fall of Saigon, the Missile Crisis, hyper-inflation, as well as how Oswald was shot on live TV. They are also the first ones who can’t recall not having a television at home or going to a disco. They are also techno-savvy, having played Pong (their first video game) and owned (or at least desperately wanted) a Sony Walkman. The Jonesers have a wallet-full of credit cards and they were happy (before the bills arrive). About 1/3 of internet-users in America are actually members of Generation Jones. It was said that they are the early computer pioneers like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The fact that they are internet-savvy makes them an extremely powerful market to technology industries. They have the skill to use the latest gadgets, the yearning of not being left out in terms of accumulation of material things, plus the spending power to boot.

The Jonesers at work. According to Gen X innovator Dr. Scott Mills, they were perhaps the “First Yuppies.” “The Jones’ have a very different way of viewing the world. They were a little too late for the great expectations; we can change the world, attitude of the Boomers. And a little too early for the crushing sense of being completely powerless in a world gone mad that X-ers inherited. So they are the roll of your sleeves folks who have been described as practical idealists.” Aside from this, inflation and recession are not exactly new or foreign words to them. Since they’ve known about these hardships, this turned them into practical people who wanted to see measurable results. Finally, while Boomers are starting to retire, Jonesers are expected to work until they are about 70 years old.

Generation Jones and Politics. One of the things that people talk most about Generation Jones is how they played a big role in politics. An article from the Huffington Post mentioned about how the Jonesers, “unlike Xers, embrace the 1960s' idealism and beatified its heroes, while both generations view of government is colored by Watergate and Washington gridlock. As a result, Jonesers adopted a less ideological and more nuanced approach to politics than Boomers and this has made them key swing voters in the last few elections. In general, Jonesers have rewarded candidates exuding confidence and decisiveness but have punished the timid.” Aside from this, the Jonesers are thought largely responsible in the US for the election and re-election of President George W. Bush, but also for the 2006 turnaround when voters successfully elected a Democratic majority Senate and House of Representatives. Barack Obama, another member of this lost generation, has shown one distinctive characteristic of a typical Joneser – someone who wants change from your not-so-typical kind of politics. Jonesers are more likely to vote for a candidate out of their political party if they want change.

This generation has proven that they are not truly a lost generation. Instead, they’ve made their presence known in the internet, heard in the world of politics, and of course, seen by their ability to pay for their luxuries. Apart from their craving to belong, it is also important to take note that they are media and culture savvy. With this in mind, they’ve become attractive targets, not only by political parties, but employers and advertising hooks as well. As Steve Kebler, founder of Kleber & Associates Marketing and Communications (K&A) puts it, “Now that they are all grown up and have accepted that life is (or at least seems) more complicated than it was for their parents, they expect the same comfort level from you that they get from their media-inspired memories of childhood.” So if you want to get a Joneser’s attention, you better be on the internet or at least have seen a couple of Brady Bunch episodes.

Maria Elena Duron is chief buzz agent and inspiring identity coach of buzz to bucks-a personal branding firm.

To claim your FREE gift, Crafting Your On Brand Intro Toolkit, visit her site www.buzz2bucks.com . Join our online growing community of people inspired to develop their identity at www.inspiringidentity.com

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Keeping Up With The Joneses