Discourses of 'Generation Y': where are the sociologists?

The discourses surrounding 'Generation Y' in the public domain are pervasive and powerful. The magnitude and impact of the barrage of public scholarship in this area raises interesting questions for sociologists. As a means to beginning a dialogue with this body of discourse, this research sought to explore the apparent purpose of this literature, the audience for whom the material appeared to have been published and to record the most prominent voices within this field. Data comprised the collection of materials from 6 publicly accessible websites. Most of the data retrieved through this process were coded as 'media sources', and a small proportion were 'academic peerreviewed sources'. Analysis revealed that the purpose of this material tended to be descriptive and that most seemed to be targeted towards a general audience. There were, however, many sources which were clearly targeted to particular readerships and were instructive rather than simply descriptive. Of the prominent authors within this field, sociologists were few. This small study has shown that academic scholarship, and in particular sociological voices, are markedly absent from a popular discourse around 'Generation Y'.