Generation Jones

Generation Jones is a term coined by the author Jonathan Pontell to describe those born from approximately 1954 to 1965, while other sources place the start point at 1956 or 1957. This group is essentially the latter half of the baby boomers to the first years of Generation X.

The name "Generation Jones" has several connotations, including a large anonymous generation, a "keeping up with the Joneses" competitiveness and the slang word "" or "jonesing", meaning a yearning or craving. It is said that Jonesers were given huge expectations as children in the 1960s, and then confronted with a different reality as they came of age during a long period of mass unemployment and when de-industrialization arrived full force in the mid-late 1970s and 1980s, leaving them with a certain unrequited "jonesing" quality for the more prosperous days of the past.

The generation is noted for coming of age after a huge swath of their older brothers and sisters in the earlier portion of the baby boomer population had come immediately preceding them; thus, many Generation Jones members complain that there was a paucity of resources and privileges available to them that were seemingly abundant to those older boomers born earlier. Therefore, there is a certain level of bitterness about and a "jonesing" for the level of freedom and affluence granted to older boomers but denied to their generation.

The term has enjoyed some currency in political and cultural commentary, including during the 2008 United States presidential election, where Generation Jonesers Barack Obama and Sarah Palin were candidates.

Generation Jones has been covered and discussed in newspapers and magazines and on TV and radio shows. Pontell has appeared on TV networks such as CNN, MSNBC, and the BBC, discussing the cultural, political, and economic implications of this generation's emergence.

In the business world, Generation Jones has become a part of the strategic planning of many companies and industries, particularly in the context of targeting Jonesers through marketing efforts.Carat UK, a European media buying agency, has done extensive research into Generation Jones consumers.

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