Today in the West, we often mark generational shifts by decade: Our concept of "the '70's" is materially different from "the '80's" in myriad aesthetic and cultural ways. How far back in history has this been common?

by TheJucheisLoose

Did Romans, for example, think of the A.D. 20's as a sea change from the A.D. 30's? How about Frenchmen from 1750 to 1760? Etc.

Followup question: where did this decade-based sense of generational shift originate? Was it a result of the nice, round number 10? Or were there historiographers who posited it? Or something else?

lap215

I think it goes back to the 1920s, but really a recognizable phenomena that resulted from the consumer culture of the post-WWII economy. Like, for example, I don’t think the 1900s look that much different from the 1890s.

I also think this is mostly a Western phenomena. India in the 70s and 80s is isn’t all that different.