It seems rather counterintuitive to consider today's young people on par with the generation that defeated Nazi Germany--the apparent differences are infinite. But many political scientists and sociologists view this as exactly the case. As it turns out, many crucial similarities exist between the two seemingly polar opposite generations--a sense of civic duty, trust of government, and the confrontation of massive domestic and global challenges. Personally, I am fascinated that we can use historical patterns to predict the future. If the current generation can be evaluated as a political force, the direction of the country and the world can be more fully understood. What will be the political impact of another truly "great" generation? Will the United States lean left, right, or towards the center? Will the future technological advancements of the highly educated Millennials come primarily from the public or private sector? Taking historical context into consideration, will a culturally renewed faith in government lead expansions of federal power mirroring those of the 1930s and 40s? Or will, given the current political structure, this generation manifest its greatness in a different political way? Essentially, if the Millennial Generation is the next "greatest" one, how will the nation reflect this greatness?
Oct 11, 2009
The Next "Greatest" Generation?
As a young adult in 2009, I may naturally relate more easily to ninety-five year-old men at the nursing home I volunteer in than my own parents. This understandably sounds outlandish at best--but it is also true. Over the next several weeks, I am going to explore a common theme in the study of generational politics: how the current "Millennial" generation (born between 1982 and 2003) actually resembles the GI (a.k.a. the "Greatest" or "World War II") generation more so than any other generation of the past eighty years.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I find it fascinating that there is this cyclic generational pattern in terms of our values. Even as a teenager, I can relate to the "sense of civic duty" and the need to combat domestic as well as global issues ASAP. I'm curious about to what extent this is similar to the generation of our grandparents. And why was this absent in the generation of our parents? The generation before us seemed to have more radical views and distinctive values. But is it perhaps the generation before us that created the issues in our world that we are forced to act on? Your incorporation of technology and focus on a single culture makes your research all the more intriguing.
ReplyDeleteYou pose a ton of interesting questions here, and I bet there is an emergent body of research about just this question. This gives you a unique opportunity to join a very contemporary debate, but also to move beyond the chatter to really back up your sense of things with substantial research, and a unique argumentative angle. You pose some excellent questions that will focus your research. Here are some of my questions: will the big government vs. small government be less of a contentious debate in the future? If so, is this a good thing or a bad thing (that is, what are the negative consequences of New Deal governmental economics and politics, and how might we be replicating them?). This topic also joins the debate about cyclical generations in a very interesting way, locating deep (rather than surface) similarities across generational lines. Wow--you have some research to do! Time to whittle!
ReplyDelete