baby boomer

Definition of Baby Boomer

(noun) An individual born after World War II (1939–1945) roughly between 1946–1964, typically referring to people in Australia, Europe, and the United States.

Examples of Baby Boomer

• Tony Blair (born 1953)
• Bill Clinton (born 1946)
• Maureen Dowd (born 1952)
• Chris Evert (born 1954)
• Fabio (born 1959)
• Bill Gates (born 1955)
• Emmylou Harris (born 1947)

Baby Boomer Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: ba·by boom·er

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /ˈbeɪbi ˈbumər/
• British English – /ˈbeɪbi ˈbuːmə/

Usage Notes

• Plural: baby boomers
• Baby boomers are typically associated with the United States but a baby boom also happened in other countries.
• Due to the large cohort size baby boomers are sometimes divided into two cohorts: leading edge boomers (1946–1955) and trailing edge boomers (1956–1964).
• The children of baby boomers are called post-boomers and part of the baby boomerang generation.
• A baby boomer is part of the baby boomer generation.
• A type of ascribed status, generation, and individual.
• Variant spellings:
  • Baby Boomer
  • baby-boomer
  • babyboomer
• Informally called boomer.

Related Quotation

• “The Baby Boomers are a defining feature of American society and a touchstone for research on aging and the life course. Boomers have embodied many trends, from the sexual revolution to rising women’s workforce participation to changes in intergenerational relationships. While unique for its sheer size, the cohort is also unique for its trajectory. The Baby Boomers came of age during a period of great technological and social innovation. With important implications for family life, their aging is a testing ground for theories of cohort and generation, and it underscores the importance of research on the older population and later life. To review facts well known to sociologists, the Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. Their defining feature is the cohort’s size. Much to the surprise of demographers accustomed to the low fertility of the 1930s, the U.S. birth rate remained high for nearly 20 years before it fell to the low levels we know today” (Treas and Marcum 2011:132).

Related Video

Additional Information

• Aging and Social Gerontology Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Word origin of “baby boomer” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Bonvalet, Catherine, Céline Clément, and Jim Ogg. 2013. “Baby Boomers and their Entourage.” International Review of Sociology 23(1):123–40. doi:10.1080/03906701.2013.771054.
• Cornman, John M., and Eric R. Kingson. 1996. “Trends, Issues, Perspectives, and Values for the Aging of the Baby Boom Cohorts.” Gerontologist 36(1):15–26. doi:10.1093/geront/36.1.15.
• Delgado, Melvin. 2015. Baby Boomers of Color: Implications for Social Work Policy and Practice. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Goldsmith, Jeff Charles. 2008. The Long Baby Boom: An Optimistic Vision for a Graying Generation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Guile, Melanie. 2005. Baby Boomers: Children Growing Up after World War ll 1945–1975. Port Melbourne, Australia: Heineman Library.
• Hamilton, Neil A. 2000. Atlas of the Baby Boom Generation. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA.
• Jones, Landon Y. 1981. Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation. New York: Ballantine Books.
• Larsen, Gretchen. 2015. “Talking about My Generation: A Sociology of Baby Boomer Music Fans.” Symbolic Interaction 38(2):312–14. doi:10.1002/symb.150.
• Leach, Rebecca, Chris Phillipson, Simon Biggs, and Annemarie Money. 2013. “Baby Boomers, Consumption and Social Change: The Bridging Generation?” International Review of Sociology 23(1):104–22. doi:10.1080/03906701.2013.771053.
• Macunovich, Diane J. 2002. Birth Quake: The Baby Boom and its Aftershocks. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Monhollon, Rusty L. 2010. Baby Boom: People and Perspectives. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
• Russell, Cheryl. 1993. The Master Trend: How the Baby Boom Generation is Remaking America. New York: Plenum Press.
• Weil, Joyce. 2014. The New Neighborhood Senior Center: Redefining Social and Service Roles for the Baby Boom Generation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
• Weiss, Jessica. 2000. To Have and to Hold: Marriage, the Baby Boom, and Social Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Related Terms

• age
• ascribed status
• birth rate
• centenarian
• continuity theory
• demography
• dependency ratio
• generation
• gerontology
• population
• role exit
• sandwich generation

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Reference

Treas, Judith, and Christopher Steven Marcum. 2011. “Diversity and Family Relations in an Aging Society.” Pp. 131–41 in Handbook of Sociology of Aging, edited by R. A. Settersten, Jr., and J. L. Angel. New York: Springer.

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Cite the Definition of Baby Boomer

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “baby boomer.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 16, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/baby-boomer/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

baby boomer. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/baby-boomer/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “baby boomer.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 16, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/baby-boomer/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“baby boomer.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/baby-boomer/>.