IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v56y2019i1p210-225.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inter-generational housing inequalities: ‘Baby Boomers’ versus the ‘Millennials’

Author

Listed:
  • Jennifer Hoolachan

    (Cardiff University, UK)

  • Kim McKee

    (St Andrews University, UK)

Abstract

In contrast to the post-war period, the late 20th and early 21st centuries in the UK have been characterised by the advancement of neoliberal policies including privatisation of the housing system and employment casualisation. Consequently, there are growing socioeconomic inequalities between those born in the post-war period – the ‘Baby Boomers’ – and the younger generation – the ‘Millennials’. Such inequalities have led to narratives of inter-generational conflict with Baby Boomers framed as jeopardising the futures of Millennials. Drawing on Mannheim’s theory of social generations, the concept of generational habitus and qualitative data from 49 Baby Boomers and 62 Millennials, we unpack the ways in which inter-generational inequalities are intersubjectively understood and discussed. Our data indicate that while young people are aware of inter-generational inequalities, they do not feel resentful towards their parents’ generation for profiting at their expense. Instead, many blame the government for not representing their interests. Thus, narratives of inter-generational conflict misleadingly direct blame towards the agency of Baby Boomers rather than political structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Hoolachan & Kim McKee, 2019. "Inter-generational housing inequalities: ‘Baby Boomers’ versus the ‘Millennials’," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(1), pages 210-225, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:56:y:2019:i:1:p:210-225
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098018775363
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098018775363
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098018775363?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim McKee & Jenny Muir & Tom Moore, 2017. "Housing policy in the UK: the importance of spatial nuance," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 60-72, January.
    2. Juliet Stone & Ann Berrington & Jane Falkingham, 2014. "Gender, Turning Points, and Boomerangs: Returning Home in Young Adulthood in Great Britain," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(1), pages 257-276, February.
    3. Melek Cigdem & Stephen Whelan, 2017. "Intergenerational transfers and housing tenure – Australian evidence," European Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 227-248, April.
    4. Peter A. Kemp, 2015. "Private Renting After the Global Financial Crisis," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 601-620, July.
    5. Kim McKee, 2012. "Young People, Homeownership and Future Welfare," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(6), pages 853-862.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rory Coulter & Michael Thomas, 2019. "A new look at the housing antecedents of separation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(26), pages 725-760.
    2. Kim Mckee & Tom Moore & Adriana Soaita & Joe Crawford, 2017. "‘Generation Rent’ and The Fallacy of Choice," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 318-333, March.
    3. Cody Hochstenbach, 2018. "Spatializing the intergenerational transmission of inequalities: Parental wealth, residential segregation, and urban inequality," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(3), pages 689-708, May.
    4. Adrienne Csizmady & Lea Kőszeghy, 2022. "‘Generation Rent’ in a Super Homeownership Environment: The Case of Budapest, Hungary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    5. Ian Cole & Ryan Powell & Elizabeth Sanderson, 2016. "Putting the Squeeze on ‘Generation Rent’: Housing Benefit Claimants in the Private Rented Sector - Transitions, Marginality and Stigmatisation," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 21(2), pages 23-36, May.
    6. Michael Warlters, 2023. "Stamp Duty Reform and Home Ownership," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 99(327), pages 492-511, December.
    7. Rory Coulter, 2017. "Local house prices, parental background and young adults’ homeownership in England and Wales," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(14), pages 3360-3379, November.
    8. Brian Joseph Gillespie & Clara H. Mulder & Christiane Reichert, 2022. "The Role of Family and Friends in Return Migration and Its Labor Market Outcomes," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(1), pages 115-138, February.
    9. Lusi Liao & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat, 2022. "Alternative boomerang kids, intergenerational co-residence, and maternal labor supply," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 609-634, June.
    10. Eoin Corrigan, 2019. "The Scale and Impact of the Local Authority Rent Subsidy," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 50(1), pages 159-211.
    11. Jie Chen & Zan Yang, 2017. "What do young adults on the edges of homeownership look like in big cities in an emerging economy: Evidence from Shanghai," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(10), pages 2322-2341, August.
    12. Viviana Amati & Giulia Rivellini & Susanna Zaccarin, 2015. "Potential and Effective Support Networks of Young Italian Adults," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 122(3), pages 807-831, July.
    13. David Byrne & David Duffy & John FitzGerald, 2018. "Household Formation and Tenure Choice: Did the Great Irish Housing Bust Alter Consumer Behaviour?," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 49(3), pages 287-317.
    14. Park, Gum-Ryeong, 2024. "Housing cost burden and external causes of mortality: Variations across housing regimes in high-income countries, 2010–2020," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 345(C).
    15. Ann Berrington & Brienna Perelli-Harris & Paulina Trevena, 2015. "Commitment and the changing sequence of cohabitation, childbearing, and marriage," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(12), pages 327-362.
    16. Parkinson, Sharon & James, Amity & Liu, Edgar, 2018. "Navigating a changing private rental sector: opportunities and challenges for low-income renters," SocArXiv 4yjsw_v1, Center for Open Science.
    17. Dooruj Rambaccussing, 2021. "The price–rent ratio inequality in Scottish Cities: fluctuations in discount rates and expected rent growth," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(9), pages 1-15, September.
    18. Hill Kulu & Júlia Mikolai & Michael J. Thomas & Sergi Vidal & Christine Schnor & Didier Willaert & Fieke H. L. Visser & Clara H. Mulder, 2021. "Separation and Elevated Residential Mobility: A Cross-Country Comparison," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(1), pages 121-150, March.
    19. McGinnity, Frances & Privalko, Ivan & Russell, Helen & Curristan, Sarah & Stapleton, Amy & Laurence, James, 2022. "Origin and Integration: Housing and family among migrants in the 2016 Irish Census," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT422.
    20. Rowan Arundel & Jose Manuel Torrado & Ricardo Duque-Calvache, 2024. "The spatial polarization of housing wealth accumulation across Spain," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(6), pages 1686-1709, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:56:y:2019:i:1:p:210-225. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.