Russian and American generations of the 20 th century: Where have millennials come from?

Abstract

The article addresses Russian and American generation concepts largely based on the works of N. Howe and W. Strauss. In the 1990s, they put forward an idea that individuals within one generational group share similar values, beliefs and behaviors because they grew up in the same historical conditions, were influenced by the same events and faced the same problems. The article explores the shortcomings and criticism of this concept in the United States, provides a critical analysis of multiple adaptations of this concept to the Russian conditions and shows that the use of alien concepts, i. e. mentality, psychology, a set of values shared by different generations of young Americans in country-specific economic and political conditions and under different international circumstances, on domestic soil is wrong. The author investigates the conditions which form values and views of young cohorts in six major time periods and their respective generations serving as the basis for the last generation of the 20 th century which has significant similarities in the two countries and is at the forefront of political life.