GETTING ALONG WITH THE GENERATIONS Dr. Randy Lumpp Regis University Adapted especially from the work of Neil Howe and William Strauss

What’s a “generation”? A social cohort shaped by common experience and common persona Born over a period roughly the same as the passage from youth to adulthood (c. 20 years) Shares perceived membership, common beliefs and behaviors, common location in history Getting Along 2

What a Generation is NOT! NOT a recipe for individual behavior NOT a predictor of individual values NOT the only factor in what people do or don’t do NOT a list of virtues and vices NOT a stereo-type Getting Along 3

THINK OF GENERATION AS….. AN ATMOSPHERE AN ENVIRONMENT AN ORIENTATION A MOOD A GESCHTALT, A SENSIBILITY A CONTEXT FOR WHAT IS CREDIBLE, PLAUSIBLE, TO BE EXPECTED Getting Along 4

Each generation views events and the other generations from its own point of view--- Like boats floating down a river in sequence Getting Along 5

EXPERIENCING FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES, CONTEXTS GIs: BUILD INSTITUTIONS SILENT: RUN INSTITUTIONS BOOMERS: REFORM OR ABANDON INSTITUTIONS GEN-X: GET WHAT THEY NEED FROM INSTITUTIONS MILLENNIALS: PARTICIPATE IN INSTITUTIONS iGEN: ?? Getting Along 6

GENERATIONS ARE IN MOTION Childhood (pueritia, age 0–20). Social role: growth (receiving nurture, acquiring values). Young Adulthood (iuventus, age 21–41). Social role: vitality (serving institutions, testing values). Midlife (virilitas, age 42–62). Social role: power (managing institutions, applying values). Elderhood (senectus, age 63–83). Social role: leadership (leading institutions, transferring values). Late Elderhood (age 84+). Social role: dependence (receiving comfort from institutions, remembering values). Getting Along7

WHAT ARE RECENT GENERATIONS? NICKNAMEBORNNUMBER LOST M G.I M SILENT M BOOMER M XER M MILLENNIAL M Getting Along 8

GENERATION AGES 2010 GI SILENT BOOMER GEN X MILLENNIAL Getting Along 9

CYCLE OF GENERATIONS IDEALIST-PROPHET [NF] REACTIVE-NOMAD [NT] CIVIC-HERO [SJ] ADAPTIVE-ARTIST [SP] Getting Along 10

CYCLE OF ERAS Young adults coming of age AWAKENING ERA Idealists INNER-DRIVEN ERA Reactives CRISIS ERA Civics OUTER-DRIVEN ERAAdaptives Getting Along 11

GENERATIONAL LIFE CYCLE YOUTH 0-21 RISING ADULT22-43 MIDLIFE ELDER Getting Along 12

IDEALIST: BOOMER Dominant inner-fixated Grows up post-crisis, indulged Comes of age w/ spiritual awakening Matures into risk taking Fragments into narcissistic adults Moralistic Mid-lifers Visionary Elders Getting Along 13

REACTIVE: GEN-X Grows up under-protected, criticized Matures into risk taking, alienated adults Mellows into pragmatic mid-lifers Respected but reclusive elders Getting Along 14

CIVIC: MILLENNIALS Dominant, outer-fixated builders Grows up over-protected Comes of age in secular crisis Heroic and achieving adults Building Institutions as mid-lifers Busy Elders attacked by new Idealists Getting Along 15

ADAPTIVE: SILENT Recessive Grows up overprotective, suffocated Matures risk-adverse, conformist Indecisive Mid-lifers (no agenda) Respected as sensitive elders Getting Along 16

WHAT DEFINES A NEW GENERATION? Solves a problem facing the prior youth generation Corrects for behavioral excesses it perceives in the current midlife generation Fills the social role being vacated by the departing elder generation Getting Along 17

WHAT’S THE “LIFE-CYCLE” OF A GENERATION? Public discovers the new youth (15-20 years after first birth year) Full possession of youth culture (20-25 years) Gets maximum public attention (25-30 years) Ebbing of public interest (30-35 years) Getting Along 18

What is GENERATION –X? 13th Generation: Reactive, Nomad, born 1961–1981 Survived a “hurried” childhood of divorce, latchkeys, open classrooms Images: devil-child movies (Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist), Kevin in Home Alone, Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Ferris Buehler.., Dumb & Dumber, Adam Sandler First generation legally aborted by its parents Getting Along 19

What is GENERATION –X? Shift from G to R ratings (Sex in the City, South Park, Beavis and Butthead) Came of age curtailing the earlier rise in youth crime and fall in test scores Heard themselves denounced as so wild and stupid as to put The Nation At Risk. Getting Along 20

What is GENERATION –X? As young adults, maneuvering through a sexual battlescape of AIDS and blighted courtship rituals They date and marry cautiously. In jobs, they embrace risk and prefer free agency over loyal corporatism Getting Along 21

What is GENERATION –X? From grunge to hip-hop, their splintery culture reveals a hardened edge Politically, they lean toward pragmatism and non-affiliation, and would rather volunteer than vote Getting Along 22

What is GENERATION –X? Lowest Test Scores High rates of crime, suicide, drugs “…an army of aging Bart Simpsons, possibly armed and dangerous.” NYT Realized adults were not in control of themselves or the country Many Parallels with Lost of the 1920s Getting Along 23

GEN-X IMAGES/PERCEPTIONS Tom Cruise in Top Gun The Breakfast Club In-your-face slam dunks & end zone spikes “lost” “wasted” “ruined” “soulless” Sell themselves to the highest bidder Getting Along 24

GEN-X IMAGES/PERCEPTIONS Gen X Steroids vs. Boomer psychedelics Jay Leno: “We’re not talking brain cells here. We’re talking taste buds.” Computer hackers War Games, Red Dawn, Lone Eagle (NB: “Lone Eagle” was Lost-Gen hero Charles Lindberg’s nickname) Getting Along 25

X-er SELF-PERCEPTIONS Pragmatic, quick, sharp-eyed Quick to catch on to the game of life (especially when they’re out to get you) -rising costs, no economic welcome mat -declining benefits -money is survival “If we don’t take care of ourselves, no one will.” Getting Along 26

VIEW OF SCHOOL AND SOCIETY Grew up with – the critique of Dead White Males – That there was no indispensable knowledge (so schools didn’t teach it) – Urging to be self-reliant, independent, self-actualizing – Surviving in the aftermath of Woodstock and being ticketed for littering Getting Along 27

“All you need is love” replaced with Gangsta’ Rap Nightmare of self-absorbed parents, disintegrating homes, latch-key life, Institutions with conflicting missions, confused adults Aids and other public health crises Alex Keaton: the “proto-adult” Getting Along 28

“stupid” “bad” “random” are words of praise David Elkind: “the patch-work self” “So many things have already happened in the world that we can’t possibly come up with anything else. So why even live?” “Teenage Mutant Turtles: “Flushed down the toilet as children, deformed by radiation, nurtured on junk food” Getting Along 29

THE X-ER X-PERIENCE “Born on Friday the 13 th” —13 th American Generation--- Fear it or face it “Baby Busters”—Even though more of them than Boomers 20 Million Aborted- last wave 1 in 3 Adult women : 50% stay married for the kids -1980: 80% say no Getting Along 30

THE X-ER X-PERIENCE 4/5 of today’s divorced adults say they’re happier. The majority of their kids say not. 1980: – 56% had both once-married parents – 11 w/ a stepparent – 19 w/ one parent The risk of parental divorce for Gen-X kids: – 2 times that of 60s Boomers – 3 times that of 50s Silents Getting Along 31

THE X-ER X-PERIENCE : Mother of preschoolers in the workplace went from 20% to 47% “Latch-key” kids doubled Lack of parental authority Boomer grade inflation dropped School funding dropped Poverty benefits & wages dropped Getting Along 32

THE X-ER X-PERIENCE Most Republican generation on record Lower risk from disease but – Higher risk of dying from murder, suicide, accident – 135,000 guns went to school each day – Fear of physical harm in school College completion: – Boomer Class of % – Xer Class of % Getting Along 33

THE X-ER X-PERIENCE Most heavily incarcerate generation on record (number and length) 1 in 5 lived in poverty Believe if unemployed its their own fault As adults, median income fell 17% Elders deferred debt to young Rise of the “cynical American” Getting Along 34

THE X-ER X-PERIENCE The experience of childhood became “scattered” as Boomers pursued self- realization (emulated by aging Silents) Experienced the opposite of sacrificed- for Boomers. “My Three Sons” to “My Two Dads” Adults were the children: children got to deal with the garbage. Getting Along 35

THE X-ER X-PERIENCE RISING ADULTHOOD Increased poverty especially in inner- cities Family subsidized suburbanites McJobs Less promising promotion paths “No Problem” see as the best to be hoped for Getting Along 36

What is GENERATION –X? Widely criticized as “X-ers” or “slackers,” they inhabit a Reality Bites economy of declining young-adult living standards Tom Cruise, Jodie Foster, Michael J. Fox, Michael Dell, Deion Sanders, Winona Ryder, Quentin Tarantino; Mike Tyson; Eddie Murphy; Princess Di Getting Along 37

TIPS FOR WORKING WITH GEN-X REMEMBER: “We have to take care of ourselves, because no one else will!” Don’t expect concern (or even awareness) of organization’s well-being Want to work-to-live versus Boomer live-to- work-aholism Pay attention to cost-benefit ratio “Community Service” is a punishment Getting Along 38

WHO ARE THE MILLENNIALS? High school grads of 2000 Older parents Smaller families 40% firstborns More educated parents Slowly stabilizing family patterns More diverse culturally/immigrant parents Getting Along 39

WHO ARE THE MILLENNIALS? SEVEN CORE TRAITS SPECIAL SHELTERED CONFIDENT TEAM-ORIENTED CONVENTIONAL PRESSURED ACHIEVING Getting Along 40

Getting Along 41

Millennials’ Experience: Greater Numbers Getting Along 42

More Money Getting Along 43

Greater Diversity Getting Along 44

Greater Safety Which Security Measures Do You Favor? Metal detectors in schools: 86% Regulating violent video games & TV shows: 69% Restricting violence in movies & on CDs: 59% --survey of adults and teens, in USA Weekend (July 4, 1999) Getting Along 45

Changing families Getting Along 46

Health expectations Death Rate per 10,000 U.S. Births: For Mothers: 16 1 For infants: U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (1999) Getting Along 47

No place to hide Getting Along 48

Stress on health/well-being Getting Along 49

Attention to health issues Child Immunization Rate (full series) 1992: 55% 1996: 75% -- Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services (April 10, 1999) Getting Along 50

More educated parents Percent of College Freshman Having… Mother with college Degree or higher 20% 41% Father with college Degree or higher 32% 44% --The American Freshman, UCLA ( ) Getting Along 51

Not like the Boomers Getting Along 52

PERCEIVED AS CONFORMIST Getting Along 53

Managing the Bills Which “Bill” might you pick as godfather for your child? Bill Cosby76% Bill Murray11% Bill Gates10% Bill Clinton 1% --”Mom and Pop Culture Survey,” Child (April 1999) Getting Along 54

Generations compared Getting Along 55

Generational Events Getting Along 56

Tracking the Boomers: Perspective Getting Along 57

Famous Generational Figures GenerationBirth YearsFamous ManFamous Woman Lost Harry Truman Mae West G.I Ronald Reagan Ann Landers Silent M.L. King S. Day O’Connor Boom George Bush Hillary Clinton X Michael Jordan Courtney Love Millennial Zac Hanson Tara Lipinski Getting Along 58

Different Environments Getting Along 59

Different approaches Getting Along 60

Who’s in charge here? Getting Along 61

The changing youth agenda Getting Along 62

TIPS FOR ENGAGING MILLENNIALS: (from TREAT THEM LIKE VIPs CO-RECRUIT THE PARENTS FIND THEM EARLY LOOK AFTER THEM OFFER STRUCTURE/TEACH BASICS Getting Along 63

TIPS FOR ENGAGING MILLENNIALS: (from PROVIDE TIMELY FEEDBACK DON’T OFFER THENM McJOBS MAKE THEM PART OF THE GROUP BE ACTIVE IN THE COMMUNITY TAKE AN INTEREST IN THEIR SUCCESS Getting Along 64

Find out more: academic.regis.edu/rlumpp millennialsrising.com lifecourseblog.com lifecourseassociates.com Other Getting Along 65