Background information

In this section, you can read some information that may be useful when working with the interview “Adam” by Michael Lee Cohen. 

The interview is part of a collection of interviews that Michael Lee Cohen took of 161 young Americans who are part of Generation X. The term refers to people who were born between 1965 and 1980. The preceding generation was the Baby Boomers, so-named because the prosperity of post-World War II in America resulted in a high number of births – a “baby boom”. However, the generation that followed did not have an obvious characteristic that could be attributed to them. Therefore, the letter “X” was chosen to illustrate the lack of clear descriptive traits. 

However, as this generation grew up, it did gain some distinctive traits, living through important society-changing events such as the rise of personal computers and the internet, the emergence of new genres of music like hip hop and grunge, and the values and type of culture these created. Generation X children grew up during the 1980s, which in America saw a surge of crack cocaine use and addiction, an increase in violent crime, and the emergence of AIDS. 

The media often stereotyped young people belonging to Gen X as cynical, lacking a strong work ethic, or as simply aimless. As this generation grew up, however, studies showed that they generally valued entrepreneurship and a good work-life balance, ideas that are also reflected by Adam in the interview. ...