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The world runs in cycles. You start to see various shifts when you zoom out historically. Conservative / liberal oscillations for instance: The Age of Enlighte
by curo 8y ago
The world runs in cycles. You start to see various shifts when you zoom out historically. Conservative / liberal oscillations for instance:
The Age of Enlightenment prized composure and disparaged human emotion. The Romantics countered, to hell with composure! As William Blake wrote, "those who restrain desire do so because there's is weak enough to restrain." A life of love needed no guiding hand. Lord Byron wrote, "love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey."
Three generations later the pendulum swung back. The Dark Romantics underscored human fallibility. The Realists derided Romantic values and urged a return to everyday concerns and simplicity. Victorian culture prized moral strictness and Charles Darwin wrote, “the highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.”
Then the pendulum swung again, culminating with the Roaring 20s, the rise of Flappers, drinking, spending, and (relative to the time prior) lots of sex. Americans valued optimism and prosperity.
That was until the Depression hit and war pulled us back to stricter social norms. Those too were repealed and replaced by 1970s "counter-culture," "if it feels good do it." That lasted till now, and many are suspecting that Gen Z is a reaction to Millenials. They've accepted the progress we've made but also reject the mistakes we've made. I won't mention surveys right now else this will become political, but basically every generation is a reaction to the one prior. And sometimes reactions take 2-3 generations, but it's always a cycle.
- rainonmoon 8y agoI'm curious about those surveys, if you feel you could present them in a way that won't upset people with you. As a Millennial who teaches Gen Zers, observing the micro-generational differences and comparing them to reported trends (and trying to figure out what is simply a difference of age) is always interesting to me.
- curo 8y agoThe Wikipedia article on Gen Z has some interesting info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z#Characteristics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z#Characteristics One big trend is a massive shift towards saving and financial responsibility, more risk-averse, less willing to take on debt. Far less substance abuse (2013, 66% of teenagers (older members of Generation Z) had tried alcohol, down from 82% in 1991). 40% drop in teen pregnancy, a 38% drop in drug and alcohol abuse, and a 28% drop in dropout rates. Re: church attendance, 41% among Generation Z, compared to 18 percent for Millennials at the same ages, 21 percent of Generation X, and 26 percent of Baby Boomers Whereas Millennials were largely just magnifications of earlier trends in Gen X and Baby Boomers, Gen Z seems to be a rebuttal. It's too complex to make bets, but if I had to make a bet, I imagine 2-3 generations of risk aversion / conservative values before those become overbearing and we have another counter-conservative shift.
- claudiawerner 8y agoAlthough I don't quite agree with the content of your analysis, the fact of this kind of analysis itself is wonderfully Hegelian.
- curo 8y agoI wish I knew more Hegel, but I feel like the synthesis model feels more calculated, whereas cycles seem reactionary (like economic cycles), albeit maybe with a positive trend. Also feel free to share your disagreements. I love history but I'm certainly not an expert in cultural movements.