WHAT I AM READING – The Fourth Turning is Here – What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End (July 2023) - by Neil Howe
WHY I AM READING IT – I have three children and eleven grandchildren that I love deeply and unconditionally. I am amazed at the love and creativity and dedication they put into crafting their life paths in this changing landscape. It would be good to gain a sense of the complex matrix of landscape in which each generation sees itself, with the bonds of love, the limitations and advantages they see in their decision-making. I feel we are at a tipping point – a decision point for what kind of life we choose for our future selves and for the generations beyond.
Neil Howe (and his former partner William Strauss) studied politico-sociological patterns in this country, and arrived at the conclusion that we cycle in 4-generation periods, which they name Saeculae. Each Saeculum lasts a generation, and is associated with a season of the year.
AUTHOR’S PREMISE
The most recent “Millennial” Saeculum began right after World War II. The nation was welcoming home its conquering heros, the women who supported the war by producing airplanes, bombs, guns and other things necessary for the war returned home. Returning soldiers had the GI bill for college education or returned to work producing the new homes, appliances, automobiles and other amenities available in the United States. And they built the interstate highway system. This was the SPRINGTIME phase. In the Howe-Strauss model, the adults of the generation were deemed “Hero” generation, protected and praised by their parents and peers. (Rising adulthood 1929-1946)
The next generation settled into the roles established during the “Hero” generation, and just played along. This was the generation that benefitted from their parents’ unionization and stabilization, and benefited from lifelong employment at a company with pension and health benefits. Howe dubs this the “Lost” generation. (Rising adulthood 1946-64). This was the SUMMER phase. The importance of the individual was becoming more important, people were becoming more individualized and cynical and national pride was diminishing. Howe names this the “nomad” archetype, abandoned by their elders: personally tough, and not necessarily bound to an ideology.
The next generation was the Boom generation, who questioned the status quo and shook things up with the civil rights movement, feminism, the protests against the war in Viet Nam. During the early part of this period, people started to question the role of a strong central government, and push back against it. In the late part of this period, central government had been weakened during the Reagan years, and Corporations, including Multinational Corporations became dominant through IPOs, corporate mergers, the dominance of the stock market, the view that the customer was the stockholder, not the purchaser; and then that the primary beneficiaries were the CEO, CFO and Board of Directors, not the stockholders, the employees nor the customers. This was the FALL Phase. (Rising adulthood 1964-84) Howe deems this the “Boom” generation. The fallout of this generation is extreme economic financial polarization, with personal wealth being skewed to a few thousand billionaires and hundreds of thousands of homeless persons trying to survive in towns and cities across the nation. Howe dubs the leaders of this period the Prophet archetype, indulged by parents.
The next generation is the Gen X generation (Rising adulthood 1984-2008) This is the WINTER phase. This generation is studying about the middle class and saying “Where is it? It has disappeared. It is gone. We need to build it.” The author Howe says WINTER started with the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11 2001. Since that time we have been engaged in multiple military conflicts that have not advanced the mission of ending the WINTER of Global Economic, Religious, Ethnic, Political, Environmental, Diplomatic and Military conflicts. This is a global challenge, and also a local one in our own United States. The most recent Biden administration has taken steps to move toward rebuilding the middle class and correcting the injustices made to minority groups in past decisions. There is much to be done.
How will WINTER end? In the United States, the author Neil Howe says we are now faced with a choice. We can either choose to fight at the ballot box for values we can verify as true, or the alternative is a war in a form we have not yet seen on this planet.
That’s my interpretation of what I have been reading. Feedback welcome.
--Elder Grateful Seeker
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