Generation-X culture vs Boomer culture

[Trevor]

I've actually never heard that saying. So according to GD, what is the last birth year considered to be in the Gen X cohort? I know with Generational Theory it's 1961-1981, but what about GD?

[Marc]

Hi, Trevor,

I've heard John (in a recent video he appeared in) place Generation-X in a birth-year cohort starting as early as 1959. Maybe John or others have additional perspectives here. —Best regards, Marc

[Trevor]

Hi, Trevor,

I've heard John (in a recent video he appeared in) place Generation-X in a birth-year cohort starting as early as 1959. Maybe John or others have additional perspectives here. —Best regards, Marc

Well, I was actually wondering what the last birth year was. If that's the case, I have both a Boomer parent and an X-er parent. I think the Millennials are from 1982-2003, or something like that. Can't help but feel some sympathy for the new Artist Generation.

[Marc]

Hi again, Trevor,

Your start date for the Millennials (i.e., 1982) is probably right, or at least very close, for both what Strauss & Howe as well as what John feels is correct. I do believe that Neil Howe places the start of the "Homeland Generation" (our new Artists) at 2005 — in other words, starting it at a point in where any Homelanders wouldn't be likely to have any personal memories of the financial crisis really kicking in in 2008. Again, maybe John has a different perspective here (e.g., starting Homelanders at around 2005), especially if he feels that the current Crisis era started earlier than Neil Howe does. (And, I likewise can feel sympathy for the Homelanders, as well as for all the Millennials, too.) Thanks for the relevant questions. —Best regards, Marc

[Trevor]

2005 is about where I see it starting, with public trust imploding, the political battles getting extremely bitter in addition to being able to accomplish nothing, and when all hint of fiscal discipline went out the window.

I wonder if part of the reason our will faded in Iraq and Afghanistan is because they collapsed pretty quickly. I could be wrong, but it's something I'm wondering.

[John]

I've actually never heard that saying.

[Trevor]

Well,as the Crisis unfolds, I think those kinds of ideas will shrink, at least if I interpreted the song correctly; music isn't something I understand very well.

Another thought about the coming disaster: what about, say, Northern Island? There's still a fault line between people who want independents and those who prefer to remain as part of Britain.

[Marc]

2005 is about where I see it starting, with public trust imploding, the political battles getting extremely bitter in addition to being able to accomplish nothing, and when all hint of fiscal discipline went out the window.

I personally, respectfully like to go, at least so far, with the 2008 start date for the current Crisis era for the reason that I feel that up until the Lehman Brothers collapse, it seemed that most everyone still, to quote Prince, liked to "party like it's 1999." With the Lehman Brothers collapse, it seemed that the mood of America and the West changed quickly. But again, others may well discern elements that make them feel that 2005 or so is a better start date for the current Fourth Turning. It does make for intelligent, stimulating debate. —Best regards, Marc

[Trevor]

I would still put it at 2005. That was when the problems were beginning to become apparent to some. It's not always easy to tell when a new era has begun, particularly since it can start out kind of slowly. Even if GD theory was around in the past, they wouldn't have guessed that 1963 was when the awakening began because it appeared like life was going on as usual, at least at first.

Personally, I think we'll only know for sure looking back. I'm expecting things to really go to hell in 2012.

[Marc]

Even if GD theory was around in the past, they wouldn't have guessed that 1963 was when the awakening began because it appeared like life was going on as usual, at least at first.

I do agree that the boundary between one turning and the next can sometimes be hard to discern, especially when we are contemporaneous to what later on seems convincing as the changing of a turning. I do know that there were some alarming financial signs a year or more before the famous stock-market crash of 1929, but since that crash seems so dramatic in terms of its "shock element" (even if in 1929 and 1930, credit in America was still ample), it's for that reason that I choose 1929 as the changing from the "Roaring '20s" Third Turning to the Great Depression/World War II Fourth Turning. Going into the next saeculum, it seems like the "baby-boom rebellion" suddenly really came charging forth in 1964 (e.g., early rock'n'roll changing to the Beatles and such; the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley). The change from the current-saeculum Second Turning to the current-saeculum Third Turning is harder to discern, but as with Strauss & Howe, I'll go along with Reagan's "Morning in America" in 1984 as a good changeover date (and it also seemed to me that the music that was being produced after about 1983 pretty much fully broke away from a 1970s-style sound [with some exceptions] to the hair metal, rap/hip-hop, mall rock, and such that seemed to have more of a Third Turning attitude).

But again, there can be healthy debate as to when a turning has ended and has changed to what comes next. And, of course, there is the vigorous debate among many here as to "what will happen when" in regards to the current Fourth Turning. Thanks again for the worthwhile insights. —Best regards, Marc