Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future

by Jean M. Twenge

Psychologists group life goals into two primary categories: intrinsic (meaning, ideas, helping others) and extrinsic (money, fame, image). The shift away from the ephemeral and toward the material started almost as soon as the 1970s began: College students became much less likely to say that “developing a meaningful philosophy of life” was important, and much more likely to say that “becoming very well-off financially” was important (see Figure 4.11). This was a trend begun by late Boomers and cemented by Gen X; like many trends, it built over more than one generation. By the late 1970s, students rated becoming well-off as more important than developing a life philosophy, and by the time first-year college students were Gen X’ers in the 1980s, nearly 3 out of 4 said that being well-off was important. In the words of Gen X’s favorite Boomer (Madonna, b. 1958), they were material girls living in a material world. (“ ’Cause the boy with the cold hard cash / Is always Mister Right.”) This shift was only the beginning: Millennials and Gen Z college students have continued to be motivated less by intrinsic values and more by extrinsic values than Boomers were at the same age. In the 2019 American Freshman Survey of incoming college students, a record 84.3%, said that becoming very well-off financially was important. Gen X cemented a trend that has only grown more pronounced.