117-522: The Strauss–Howe generational theory , devised by William Strauss and Neil Howe , describes a theorized recurring generation cycle in American history and Western history . According to the theory, historical events are associated with recurring generational personas (archetypes). Each generational persona unleashes a new era (called a turning) lasting around 21 years, in which a new social, political, and economic climate (mood) exists. They are part of
234-475: A Citizens United Productions film on the book's theory, prior to his becoming White House Chief Strategist . Howe and Strauss also co-authored 13th Gen (1993) about Generation X , and Millennials Rising (2000) about the Millennial Generation . Eric Hoover has called the authors pioneers in a burgeoning industry of consultants, speakers and researchers focused on generations. He wrote
351-460: A "topless bikini " or "unikini", was designed by Rudi Gernreich in 1964, consisting of only a brief, close-fitting bottom and two thin straps; it was the first women's topless swimsuit . Gernreich's revolutionary and controversial design included a bottom that "extended from the midriff to the upper thigh" and was "held up by shoestring laces that make a halter around the neck." Some credit Gernreich's design with initiating, or describe it as
468-594: A Crisis , a time when great dangers cut down social and political complexity in favor of public consensus, aggressive institutions, and an ethic of personal sacrifice. Artists grow up overprotected by adults preoccupied with the Crisis, come of age as the socialized and conformist young adults of a post-Crisis world, break out as process-oriented midlife leaders during an Awakening, and age into thoughtful post-Awakening elders. Examples: Progressive Generation , Silent Generation , Homeland Generation . The arthurian generation
585-528: A broader topic emerged after they met in Washington, D.C., and began discussing the connections between each of their previous works. They wondered why Boomers and G.I.s had developed such different ways of looking at the world, and what it was about these generations' experiences growing up that prompted their different outlooks. They also wondered whether any previous generations had acted along similar lines, and their research discussed historical analogs to
702-604: A corresponding archetype. The authors describe the archetypes as follows: Prophet (Idealist) generations enter childhood during a High , a time of rejuvenated community life and consensus around a new societal order. Prophets grow up as the increasingly indulged children of this post-Crisis era, come of age as self-absorbed young crusaders of an Awakening, focus on morals and principles in midlife, and emerge as elders guiding another Crisis. Examples: Transcendental Generation , Missionary Generation , Baby Boomers . Nomad (Reactive) generations enter childhood during an Awakening ,
819-535: A critical piece about the concept of "generations" and the "Millennials" (a term coined by Strauss and Howe) for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Michael Lind offered his critique of Howe's book Generations for The New York Times . Strauss also wrote a number of application books with Howe about the Millennials’ impact on various sectors, including Millennials Go to College (2003, 2007), Millennials in
936-704: A distinct mood that recurs every saeculum. Strauss and Howe describe these turnings as the "seasons of history". At one extreme is the Awakening, which is analogous to summer, and at the other extreme is the Crisis, which is analogous to winter. The turnings in between are transitional seasons, the High and the Unraveling are similar to spring and autumn, respectively. Strauss and Howe have discussed 26 theorized turnings over 7 saecula in Anglo-American history, from
1053-426: A distinct set of beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors because they all grow up and come of age during a particular period in history. Strauss and Howe followed in 1993 with their second book 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? , which was published while Gen Xers were teenagers and young adults. The book examines the generation born between 1961 and 1981, "Gen-Xers" (which they called "13ers", describing them as
1170-425: A form of "cultural critique" insofar as it transgresses societal conventions. Manuel Castells claims that the online communities, which emerged (from the 1980s) around early bulletin-board systems, originated from the ranks of those who had been part of the counterculture movements and alternative way of life emerging out of the sexual revolution. Lynn Hunt points out that early modern "pornography" (18th century)
1287-522: A growing field and started speaking frequently about their work at events and conferences. In 1999, they founded LifeCourse Associates, a publishing, speaking, and consulting company built on their generational theory. They have also written six books in which they assert that the Millennial Generation is transforming various sectors, including schools, colleges, entertainment, and the workplace. On December 18, 2007, William Strauss died at
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#17327880963331404-525: A lake. This film, as well as Bergman's Sommaren med Monika ( The Summer with Monika , 1951) and Tystnaden (The Silence , 1963), caused an international uproar, not least in the United States, where the films were charged with violating standards of decency. Vilgot Sjöman's film I Am Curious (Yellow) , also was very popular in the United States. Another of his films, 491 , highlighted homosexuality. Kärlekens språk ( The Language of Love )
1521-485: A large migration to the Americas. The generation was very religious. The cavalier generation was born from 1618 to 1647 and was of the nomad archetype. Members of this generation grew up in an era of religious upheaval and family collapse. Their generation was notoriously violent and uneducated, causing men to take great risks, and resulting in many young deaths. The glorious generation was born from 1648 to 1673 and
1638-466: A larger cyclical " saeculum " (a long human life, which usually spans around 85 years, although some saecula have lasted longer). The theory states that a crisis recurs in American history after every saeculum, which is followed by a recovery (high). During this recovery, institutions and communitarian values are strong. Ultimately, succeeding generational archetypes attack and weaken institutions in
1755-507: A number of plays and musicals. In 1978, he and Lawrence Baskir co-authored Chance and Circumstance , a book about the Vietnam-era draft. Their second book, Reconciliation After Vietnam (1978) "was said to have influenced" President Jimmy Carter 's blanket pardon of Vietnam draft resisters . Strauss's books with Neil Howe include Generations (1991) and The Fourth Turning (1997), which examine historical generations and describe
1872-434: A pattern of four repeating phases, generational types, and a recurring cycle of spiritual awakenings and secular crises, from the founding colonials of America through the present day. Strauss and Howe define a social generation as the aggregate of all people born over a span of roughly 21 years or about the length of one phase of life: childhood , young adulthood , midlife , and old age . Generations are identified (from
1989-626: A policy aid to the Presidential Clemency Board, directing a research team writing a report on the impact of the Vietnam War on the generation that was drafted . In 1978, Strauss and Lawrence Baskir co-authored two books on the Vietnam War , Chance and Circumstance , and Reconciliation after Vietnam . Strauss later worked at the U.S. Department of Energy and as a committee staffer for U.S. Senator Charles Percy , and in 1980 he became chief counsel and staff director of
2106-491: A popular movie for heterosexual couples. The movie played all over America and was the first porn movie to earn a gross of a million dollars. Pornography was less stigmatized by the end of the 1980s, and more mainstream movies depicted sexual intercourse as entertainment. Magazines depicting nudity, such as the popular Playboy and Penthouse magazines, won some acceptance as mainstream journals, in which public figures felt safe expressing their fantasies. Some figures in
2223-688: A publishing, speaking, and consulting company built on their generational theory . As a partner at LifeCourse, Strauss worked as a corporate, nonprofit, education, and government affairs consultant. In 1999, Strauss received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer , which led him to found the Cappies , a program to inspire the next generation of theater performers and writers. Now an international program including hundreds of high schools, Cappies allows students to attend and review each other's plays and musicals, publish reviews in major newspapers, and hold Tonys-style Cappies award Galas, in which Strauss acted as MC for
2340-584: A sheltered childhood during a bloody civil war and were educated abroad, becoming Greek language tutors, international scholars, poets, prelates, and literate merchants and yeomen . The education produced by the humanist generation has been described as focused on the qualitative and the subjective, rather than the quantitative and the objective. Some of the notable persons who influenced this generation include Thomas More , Erasmus , Thomas Linacre , John Colet , Cardinal Wolsey , Michelangelo , Copernicus , Francisco Pizarro and Cesare Borgia . King Edward V
2457-602: A symbol of, the 1960s sexual revolution. The court decisions that legalized the publication of Fanny Hill had an even more important effect: freed from fears of legal action, nonfiction works about sex and sexuality started to appear more often. These books were factual and in fact, educational, made available in mainstream bookstores and mail-order book clubs to a mainstream readership, and their authors were guests on late-night talk shows. Earlier books such as What Every Girl Should Know ( Margaret Sanger , 1920) and A Marriage Manual (Hannah and Abraham Stone, 1939) had broken
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#17327880963332574-489: A theorized cycle of recurring mood eras in American history, now described as the Strauss–Howe generational theory . Generations made a deep impression on former U.S. vice president Al Gore , who called it the most stimulating book on American history he'd ever read. He even sent a copy to each member of Congress. The Fourth Turning made a deep impression on Steve Bannon , who wrote and directed Generation Zero (2010),
2691-478: A theorized pattern in the historical generations they examined, which they say revolved around generational events which they call turnings. In Generations , and in greater detail in The Fourth Turning , they describe a four-stage cycle of social or mood eras which they call "turnings". The turnings include: "the high", "the awakening", "the unraveling", and "the crisis". According to Strauss and Howe,
2808-443: A time of individual pragmatism, self-reliance, and laissez-faire. Heroes grow up as increasingly protected post-Awakening children, come of age as team-oriented young optimists during a Crisis, emerge as energetic, overly confident mid-lifers, and age into politically powerful elders attacked by another Awakening. Examples: Republican Generation , G.I. Generation , Millennials . Artist (Adaptive) generations enter childhood during
2925-478: A time of social ideals and spiritual agendas when young adults are passionately attacking the established institutional order. Nomads grow up as under-protected children during this Awakening, come of age as alienated , post-Awakening young adults, become pragmatic midlife leaders during a Crisis, and age into resilient post-Crisis elders. Examples: Gilded Generation , Lost Generation , Generation X . Hero (Civic) generations enter childhood during an Unraveling ,
3042-442: A while." A February 2017 article from Business Insider titled: "Steve Bannon's obsession with a dark theory of history should be worrisome", commented: "Bannon seems to be trying to bring about the 'Fourth Turning'." Strauss and Howe describe the history of the U.S. as a succession of Anglo-American generational biographies from 1433 to the present, and theorized a recurring generational cycle in American history. The authors posit
3159-566: A year later as Our Bodies, Ourselves ). Though not an erotic treatise or sex manual, the book included frank descriptions of sexuality, and contained illustrations that could have caused legal problems just a few years earlier. Alex Comfort 's The Joy of Sex : A Gourmet Guide to Love Making appeared in 1972. In later editions, Comfort's exuberance was tamed in response to AIDS. In 1975 Will McBride's Zeig Mal! ( Show Me! ), written with psychologist Helga Fleichhauer-Hardt for children and their parents, appeared in bookstores on both sides of
3276-409: Is a crisis . This is an era of destruction, often involving war or revolution, in which institutional life is destroyed and rebuilt in response to a perceived threat to the nation's survival. After the crisis, civic authority revives, cultural expression redirects toward community purpose, and people begin to locate themselves as members of a larger group. The authors say the previous fourth turning in
3393-523: Is a 1934 book by English social anthropologist J. D. Unwin concerning the correlation between a society's level of "cultural achievement" and its level of sexual restraint. The book concluded with the theory that as societies develop, they become more sexually liberal, accelerating the social entropy of the society, thereby diminishing its "creative" and "expansive" energy. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Alfred C. Kinsey published two surveys of modern sexual behavior. In 1948 Kinsey published
3510-445: Is marked by a "preponderance of female narrators", that the women were portrayed as independent, determined, financially successful (though not always socially successful and recognized) and scornful of the new ideals of female virtue and domesticity, and not objectification of women's bodies as many view pornography today. The sexual revolution was not unprecedented in identifying sex as a site of political potential and social culture. It
3627-450: Is strong and flourishing. The authors say highs come after crises when society wants to coalesce and build and avoid the death and destruction of the previous crisis. Unravelings come after awakenings when society wants to atomize and enjoy. They say the most recent unraveling in the US began in the 1980s and includes the long boom and culture war . According to the authors, the fourth turning
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3744-431: Is the source of the widely quoted statistic that 4% of the male population is primarily homosexual. He advocated using this information to reform sex-related laws, which at the time were often draconian (for example two men having consensual sex in private was considered a crime ). Kinsey's books became bestsellers when published, and laid the groundwork for researchers William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson to study
3861-591: The Age of Enlightenment —approximately the 18th century—as a major period of transition in the United Kingdom. During this time, the philosophy of liberalism developed and was popularized, and migration to cities increased opportunities for sex and made enforcement of rules more difficult than in small villages. Sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church undermined the credibility of religious authorities, and
3978-733: The Capitol Steps , and as the co-founder of the Cappies , a critics and awards program for high school theater students. Strauss was born in Chicago and grew up in Burlingame, California . He graduated from Harvard University in 1969. In 1973, he received a JD from Harvard Law School and a master's in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School , where he was a member of the program's first graduating class. After receiving his degrees, Strauss worked in Washington, D.C. , as
4095-546: The Center for Strategic and International Studies . In July 2023 Howe released a new book, titled The Fourth Turning Is Here . Steve Bannon , former Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to former president Donald Trump is a prominent proponent of the theory. As a documentary filmmaker, Bannon discussed the details of Strauss–Howe generational theory in Generation Zero . According to historian David Kaiser , who
4212-504: The Fairfax County, Virginia program. Strauss also founded Cappies International Theater , a summer program in which top Cappies winners perform plays and musicals written by teenagers. In 2006 and 2007, Strauss advised creative teams of students who wrote two new musicals, Edit:Undo and Senioritis . Senioritis was made into a movie that was released in 2007. Strauss authored multiple books on social generations, as well as
4329-520: The Millennial generation, a cohort consisting at the time of young children, and therefore these predictions lacked significant historical data. In Generations (1991) and The Fourth Turning (1997), the two authors discussed the generation gap between Baby Boomers and their parents and predicted there would be no such gap between Millennials and their elders. In 2000, they published Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation . This work discussed
4446-632: The New World overseas. The Elizabethan generation was born between 1541 and 1565 and is of the hero archetype. They benefited as children from explosive growth in academies intended to transform them into perfect people of civic achievement and teamwork. They came to age during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). They regulated commerce, explored overseas empires, built English country houses , pursued science, and wrote poetry that celebrated an orderly universe. The parliamentary generation
4563-605: The Obelisk Press in Paris and copies were smuggled into the United States. In 1961 Grove Press issued a copy of the work, and dozens of booksellers were sued for selling it. The issue was ultimately settled by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1964 decision in Grove Press, Inc. v. Gerstein . In 1963 Putnam published John Cleland 's 1750 novel Fanny Hill . Charles Rembar appealed a restraining order against it all
4680-474: The Surrealist movement . The counterculture wanted to explore the body and mind, and free the personal self from the moral and legal sexual confines of modern America, as well as from the 1940s–50s morals in general. The sexual revolution of the 1960s grew from a conviction that the erotic should be celebrated as a normal part of life and not repressed by family, industrialized sexual morality, religion and
4797-449: The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. According to the theory, the second turning is an awakening . This is an era when institutions are attacked in the name of personal and spiritual autonomy. Just when society is reaching its high tide of public progress, people suddenly tire of social discipline and want to recapture a sense of "self-awareness", "spirituality" and "personal authenticity". Young activists look back at
Strauss–Howe generational theory - Misplaced Pages Continue
4914-416: The counterculture , the women's movement, and the gay rights movement. The counterculture contributed to the awareness of radical cultural change that was the social matrix of the sexual revolution. The sexual revolution was initiated by those who shared a belief in the detrimental impact of sexual repression, a view that had previously been argued by Wilhelm Reich , D. H. Lawrence , Sigmund Freud , and
5031-506: The feminist movement, such as Andrea Dworkin , challenged the depiction of women as objects in these pornographic or "urban men's" magazines. Other feminists such as Betty Dodson went on to found the pro-sex feminist movement in response to anti-pornography campaigns. In India, an organization named Indians For Sexual Liberties is advocating the legalization of the porn business in India. The organization's founder, Laxman Singh, questioned
5148-465: The 1920s in the United States. His conception of a primary sexual drive that would not be ultimately curbed by law, education or standards of decorum spelled a serious challenge to Victorian prudishness , and his theory of psychosexual development proposed a model for the development of sexual orientations and desires; children emerged from the Oedipus complex , a sexual desire towards their parent of
5265-541: The 1928 novel Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence . The U.S. Post Office confiscated copies sent through the mail. Lawyer Charles Rembar sued the New York City Postmaster, and won in New York and then on federal appeal. Henry Miller 's 1934 novel, Tropic of Cancer , had explicit sexual passages and could not be published in the United States; an edition was printed by
5382-725: The 1966 decision "the end of obscenity". Only books primarily appealing to "prurient interest" could be banned. In a famous phrase, the court said that obscenity is "utterly without redeeming social importance"—meaning that a work with any redeeming social importance or literary merit was arguably not obscene, even if it contained isolated passages that could "deprave and corrupt" some readers. Swedish filmmakers like Ingmar Bergman and Vilgot Sjöman contributed to sexual liberation with sexually themed films that challenged conservative international standards. The 1951 film Hon dansade en sommar ( She Danced One Summer AKA One Summer of Happiness ) displayed explicit nudity, including bathing in
5499-510: The 56 signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence . William Strauss William Strauss (December 5, 1947 – December 18, 2007) was an American author, playwright, theater director, and lecturer. As an author, he is known for his work with Neil Howe on social generations and for Strauss–Howe generational theory . He is also known as the co-founder and director of the satirical musical theater group
5616-456: The Atlantic. Appreciated by many parents for its frank depiction of pre-adolescent sexual discovery and exploration, it scandalized others and was pulled from circulation in the United States and some other countries. The book was followed in 1989 by Zeig Mal Mehr! ("Show Me More!"). The somewhat more open and commercial circulation of pornography was a new phenomenon. Pornography operated as
5733-748: The Baby Boomers: Chance and Circumstance: The Draft, the War, and the Vietnam Generation (1978) and Reconciliation after Vietnam (1977). Neil Howe studied what he believed to be the U.S.'s entitlement attitude of the 1980s and co-authored On Borrowed Time: How the Growth in Entitlement Spending Threatens America's Future in 1988 with Peter George Peterson . The authors' interest in generations as
5850-609: The Freudian interpretation. Hence, the liberation of sexual behavior was considered by them to be a means to social revolution. The 1928 publication of anthropologist Margaret Mead 's Coming of Age in Samoa brought the sexual revolution to the public scene, as her thoughts concerning sexual freedom pervaded academia. Mead's ethnography focused on the psychosexual development of adolescents in Samoa . She recorded that their adolescence
5967-521: The G.I. youth, which they describe as including rising civic engagement, improving behavior, and collective confidence. The authors describe each turning as lasting circa 21 years. Four turnings make up a full cycle of circa 85 years, which the authors term a saeculum , after the Latin word meaning both "a long human life" and "a natural century". Generational change drives the cycle of turnings and determines its periodicity . As each generation ages into
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#17327880963336084-832: The Pop Culture (2005), and Millennials in K-12 Schools (2008). Strauss wrote three musicals, MaKiddo , Free-the-Music.com , and Anasazi , and two plays, Gray Champions and The Big Bump , about various themes in the books he has co-authored with Howe. He also co-wrote two books of political satire with Elaina Newport, Fools on the Hill (1992) and Sixteen Scandals (2002). On December 18, 2007; Strauss died of pancreatic cancer in his home in McLean, Virginia , at age 60. His wife of 34 years, Janie Strauss, lives in McLean and
6201-564: The Sensuous Woman , with information on exercises to improve the dexterity of one's tongue and how to have anal sex. The same year saw the appearance of David Reuben's book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) . Despite the dignity of Reuben's medical credentials, this book was light-hearted in tone. In 1970 the Boston Women's Health Collective published Women and Their Bodies , reissued
6318-533: The Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Government Processes. In 1981, Strauss organized a group of senate staffers to perform satirical songs at the annual office Christmas party of his employer, Senator Percy. The group was so successful that Strauss went on to co-found a professional satirical troupe, the Capitol Steps , with Elaina Newport. The Capitol Steps was a $ 3 million company with more than 40 employees who performed at venues across
6435-508: The US began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and climaxed with the end of World War II . The G.I. generation (which they call a hero archetype, born 1901 to 1924) came of age during this era. They say their confidence, optimism, and collective outlook epitomized the mood of that era. The authors assert the millennial generation (which they also describe as a hero archetype, born 1982 to 2005) shows many similar traits to those of
6552-562: The United Kingdom starting with the 1959 Obscene Publications Act and reaching a peak with the Lady Chatterley's Lover court case. Prior to this time, a patchwork of regulations (as well as local customs and vigilante actions) governed what could and could not be published. For example, the United States Customs Service banned James Joyce 's Ulysses by refusing to allow it to be imported into
6669-452: The United States. The Roman Catholic Church 's Index Librorum Prohibitorum carried great weight among Catholics and amounted to an effective and instant boycott of any book appearing on it. Boston's Watch and Ward Society , a largely Protestant creation inspired by Anthony Comstock , made " banned in Boston " a national by-word. In 1959 Grove Press published an unexpurgated version of
6786-555: The age of 60 from pancreatic cancer . Neil Howe continues to expand LifeCourse Associates and to write books and articles on a variety of generational topics. Each year Howe gives about 60 speeches, often followed by customized workshops, at colleges, elementary schools, and corporations. Neil Howe is a public policy adviser to the Blackstone Group , senior adviser to the Concord Coalition , and senior associate to
6903-586: The authors expanded the theory to focus on a fourfold cycle of generational types and recurring mood eras to describe the history of the United States, including the Thirteen Colonies and their British antecedents. However, the authors have also examined generational trends elsewhere in the world and described similar cycles in several developed countries. Academic response to the theory has been mixed, with some applauding Strauss and Howe for their "bold and imaginative thesis", while others have criticized
7020-666: The book Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do by James Thurber and E. B. White , has a chapter titled "The Sexual Revolution: Being a Rather Complete Survey of the Entire Sexual Scene". According to Konstantin Dushenko , the term was in use in Soviet Russia in 1925. When speaking of the sexual revolution, historians make a distinction between the first and the second sexual revolution. In
7137-635: The book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male . He followed this five years later with Sexual Behavior in the Human Female . These books began a revolution in social awareness of, and public attention given to, human sexuality. Kinsey based his findings in both these books on interviews that he and his team of researchers conducted with thousands of Americans, beginning in the 1930s. The interviews were extensive and could last for several hours; they were supplemented by diaries and other documents that
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#17327880963337254-587: The book complimented the Baby Boomer cohort by way of their parenting skills. In 1997, the authors published The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy , which expanded on the ideas presented in Generations and extended their cycles back into the early 15th century. The authors also updated their terminology for generational archetypes (e.g. "Civics" became "Heroes", which they applied to the Millennial Generation, "Adaptives" became "Artists"), and introduced
7371-495: The country until shutting down in 2021. As director, Strauss wrote many of the songs, performed regularly off Broadway , and recorded 27 albums . During the 1990s, Strauss developed another career as an historian and pop sociologist, examining how generational differences shape attitudes, behaviors, and the course of history. He wrote seven books on social generations with Neil Howe , beginning with Generations in 1991. In 1997, Strauss and Howe founded LifeCourse Associates,
7488-417: The current generations. They ultimately described a recurring pattern in the Anglo-American history of four generational types, each with a distinct collective persona, and a corresponding cycle of four different types of era, each with a distinct mood. The groundwork for this theory was laid out in Generations in 1991. Generations helped popularize the idea that people in a particular age group tend to share
7605-565: The economy ( Nikolai Kondratieff ) as well as with long-term oscillations in crime and substance abuse. The authors say two different types of eras and two formative age locations associated with them (childhood and young adulthood) produce four generational archetypes that repeat sequentially, in rhythm with the cycle of Crises and Awakenings. In Generations , they refer to these four archetypes as Idealist, Reactive, Civic, and Adaptive . In The Fourth Turning (1997) they change this terminology to Prophet, Nomad, Hero, and Artist . They say
7722-606: The educated classes life was fairly static, with Renaissance Humanist teaching and a clear career path through the church or State bureaucracy becoming increasingly available for the educated middle classes. Humanist influences took hold across Europe, and in many ways prepared the intellectual landscape for the coming reformation . Their youth coincided with the development of the European Printing press allowing greater dissemination of knowledge. According to Strauss and Howe, those who constituted this generation had
7839-526: The experiences and traits that they share with their peers, members of a generation would also share a sense of common perceived membership in that generation. They based their definition of a generation on the work of various writers and social thinkers, from ancient writers such as Polybius and Ibn Khaldun to modern social theorists such as José Ortega y Gasset , Karl Mannheim , John Stuart Mill , Émile Littré , Auguste Comte , and François Mentré. While writing Generations , Strauss and Howe described
7956-426: The field, though it has spurred critical developments in the humanities. Two anarchist and Marxist proponents of Freud, Otto Gross and Wilhelm Reich (who famously coined the phrase "Sexual Revolution"), developed a sociology of sex in the 1910s through the 1930s in which the animal-like competitive reproductive behavior was seen as a legacy of ancestral human evolution reflecting in every social relation, as per
8073-470: The first birthyear to last) by looking for cohort groups of this length that share three criteria. First, members of a generation share what the authors call an age location in history : they encounter key historical events and social trends while occupying the same phase of life. In this view, members of a generation are shaped in lasting ways by the eras they encounter as children and young adults and they share certain common beliefs and behaviors . Aware of
8190-519: The first colleges in the 1520s. The reprisal generation was born between 1512 and 1540 and is of the nomad/reactive archetype. They spent their childhood amid religious frenzy and widespread erosion of social authority—and came of age in a cynical, post-Awakening era of cut-throat politics and roller-coaster markets. They crewed the ships during the wars of the Spanish Armada and saw the expansion of British territories and colonization in
8307-484: The first sexual revolution (1870–1910), Victorian morality lost its universal appeal. However, it did not lead to the rise of a "permissive society". Exemplary for this period is the rise and differentiation in forms of regulating sexuality. Classics professor Kyle Harper uses the phrase "first sexual revolution" to refer to the displacement of the norms of sexuality in Ancient Rome with those of Christianity as it
8424-421: The first turning is a high , which occurs after a crisis. During the high, institutions are strong and individualism is weak. Society is confident about where it wants to go collectively, though those outside the majoritarian center often feel stifled by conformity . According to the authors, the most recent first turning in the US was the post–World War II American high, beginning in 1946 and ending with
8541-420: The generations in each archetype not only share a similar age-location in history, but they also share some basic attitudes towards family, risk, culture and values, and civic engagement. In essence, generations shaped by similar early-life experiences develop similar collective personas and follow similar life trajectories. To date, Strauss and Howe have described 25 generations in Anglo-American history, each with
8658-401: The institutional order is attacked by new social ideals and spiritual agendas. According to the authors, about every 85 years—the length of a long human life—a national Crisis occurs in American society. Roughly halfway to the next Crisis, a cultural Awakening occurs (historically, these have often been called Great Awakenings ). In describing this cycle of Crises and Awakenings, they draw from
8775-418: The interviewees were willing to have copied, and sometimes film of them masturbation or having sex with others, if they volunteered and it was practical. Kinsey found in the course of these interviews that many sexual behaviors which had previously been seen as marginal or "abnormal" were in fact more common than previously recognized and were part of the normal spectrum of human sexual behavior; for instance, he
8892-574: The last American Crisis was the period spanning the Great Depression and World War II ). Awakenings are periods marked by cultural or religious renewal when society focuses on changing the inner world of values and private behavior (the last American Awakening was the "Consciousness Revolution" of the 1960s and 1970s ). During Crises, great peril provokes a societal consensus, an ethic of personal sacrifice, and strong institutional order. During Awakenings, an ethic of individualism emerges, and
9009-413: The late 1980s when they began writing their first book Generations , which discusses the history of the United States as a succession of generational biographies. Each had written on generational topics: Strauss on Baby Boomers and the Vietnam War draft , and Howe on the G.I. Generation and federal entitlement programs. Strauss co-wrote two books with Lawrence Baskir about how the Vietnam War affected
9126-539: The mid to late 1950s. There was an increase in sexual encounters between unmarried adults. Divorce rates were dramatically increasing and marriage rates were significantly decreasing in this time period. The number of unmarried Americans aged twenty to twenty-four more than doubled from 4.3 million in 1960 to 9.7 million in 1976. Men and women sought to reshape marriage by instilling new institutions of open marriage, mate swapping, swinging , and communal sex. Sigmund Freud of Vienna believed human behavior
9243-414: The mid to late 1950s. It brought about profound shifts in attitudes toward women's sexuality, homosexuality, pre-marital sexuality, and the freedom of sexual expression. Psychologists and scientists such as Wilhelm Reich and Alfred Kinsey influenced the changes. As well, changing mores were both stimulated by and reflected in literature and films, and by the social movements of the period, including
9360-437: The name of autonomy and individualism , which eventually creates a tumultuous political environment that ripens conditions for another crisis. Strauss and Howe laid the groundwork for their theory in their book Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 (1991), which discusses the history of the United States as a series of generational biographies going back to 1584. In their book The Fourth Turning (1997),
9477-405: The nature and scope of sexual practices among young Americans. Their books, Human Sexual Response and Human Sexual Inadequacy , published in 1966 and 1970 respectively, were also best-sellers, and are now considered classic texts in the field. In the United States in the years 1959 through 1966, bans on three books with explicit erotic content were challenged and overturned. This also occurred in
9594-411: The next life phase (and a new social role) society's mood and behavior fundamentally change, giving rise to a new turning. Therefore, a symbiotic relationship exists between historical events and generational personas. Historical events shape generations in childhood and young adulthood; then, as parents and leaders in midlife and old age, generations in turn shape history. Each of the four turnings has
9711-419: The opposite sex. The idea of children having their parents as their early sexual targets was particularly shocking to Victorian and early 20th-century society. According to Freud's theory, in the earliest stage of a child's psychosexual development, the oral stage , the mother's breast became the formative source of all later erotic sensation. Much of his research remains widely contested by professionals in
9828-526: The personality of the Millennial Generation, whose oldest members were described as the high school graduating class of the year 2000. In the 2000 book, Strauss and Howe asserted that Millennial teens and young adults were recasting the image of youth from "downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged", crediting increased parental attention and protection for these positive changes. They asserted Millennials are held to higher standards than adults apply to themselves and that they are much less vulgar and violent than
9945-503: The pill , public nudity , pornography , premarital sex , homosexuality , masturbation , alternative forms of sexuality , and the legalization of abortion all followed. Several other periods in Western culture have been called the "first sexual revolution", to which the 1960s revolution would be the second (or later). The term "sexual revolution" itself has been used since at least the late 1920s. The term appeared as early as 1929;
10062-462: The previous High as an era of cultural and spiritual poverty. Strauss and Howe say the U.S.'s most recent awakening was the "consciousness revolution", which spanned from the campus and inner-city revolts of the mid-1960s to the tax revolts of the early 1980s. According to Strauss and Howe, the third turning is an unraveling . The mood of this era they say is in many ways the opposite of a high: Institutions are weak and distrusted, while individualism
10179-447: The reasoning behind deeming as illegal the depiction of legal acts. In 1953, Chicago resident Hugh Hefner founded Playboy , a magazine which aimed to target males between the ages of 21 and 45. The coverpage and nude centerfold in the first edition featured Marilyn Monroe , then a rising sex symbol . Featuring cartoons, interviews, short fiction, Hefner's "Playboy Philosophy" and unclothed female "Playmates" posing provocatively,
10296-515: The rise of urban police forces helped distinguish crime from sin . Overall, toleration increased for heterosexual sex outside marriage, including prostitution, mistresses, and pre-marital sex. Though these acts were still condemned by many as libertine , infidelity became more often a civil matter than a criminal offense receiving capital punishment. Masturbation , homosexuality , and rape were generally less tolerated. Women went from being considered as lustful as men to passive partners, whose purity
10413-456: The silence and, by the 1950s, in the United States, it had become rare for women to go into their wedding nights not knowing what to expect. The open discussion of sex as pleasure, and descriptions of sexual practices and techniques, was revolutionary. There were practices that some had heard of, but many adults did not know if they were realities or fantasies found only in pornographic books. The Kinsey report revealed that these practices were, at
10530-553: The speed of their development cannot be predicted. The authors also compared the cycles with the seasons, which may come sooner or later, which turned out to be right. The theory of generations is actively studied and modified by the world's leading research centers, for example, such as the international American consulting company McKinsey & Company or the Australian McCrindle Research Center. William Strauss and Neil Howe's partnership began in
10647-417: The state. The development of the birth control pill in 1960 gave women access to easy and more reliable contraception . Another likely cause was a vast improvement in obstetrics , greatly reducing the number of women who died due to childbearing, thus increasing the life expectancy of women. A third, more indirect cause was the large number of children born in the 1940s and throughout the 1950s all over
10764-408: The teen culture older people produce for them. They described them as less sexually charged and as ushering in a new sexual modesty, with an increasing belief that sex should be saved for marriage and a return to conservative family values. The authors predicted that over the following decade, Millennials would transform what it means to be young, and could emerge as the next "Great Generation". The work
10881-401: The terms "Turning" and "Saeculum" to describe the generational cycles. The title is a reference to what their first book called a Crisis period, which they expected to recur soon after the turn of the millennium. In the mid-1990s, Strauss and Howe began receiving inquiries about how their research could be applied to strategic problems in organizations. They established themselves as pioneers in
10998-451: The theory as being overly deterministic , unfalsifiable , and unsupported by rigorous evidence. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore , who graduated from Harvard University with Strauss, called Generations the most stimulating book on American history he had ever read, and even sent a copy to each member of Congress. The theory has been influential in the fields of generational studies, marketing, and business management literature. However,
11115-543: The theory has also been described by some historians and journalists as pseudoscientific , "kooky", and "an elaborate historical horoscope that will never withstand scholarly scrutiny". Academic criticism has focused on the lack of rigorous empirical evidence for their claims, as well as the authors' view that generational groupings are more powerful than other social groupings, such as economic class, race, sex, religion, and political parties. However, Strauss and Howe later suggested that there are no exact generational boundaries –
11232-596: The thirteenth generation since the US became a nation). The book asserts that 13ers' location in history as under-protected children during the Consciousness Revolution explains their pragmatic attitude. They describe Gen Xers as growing up during a time when society was less focused on children and more focused on adults and their self-actualization . Strauss and Howe's theory provided historical information regarding living in past generations and made various predictions. Many of their predictions regarded
11349-505: The time, these films, by virtue of being made by directors who had established themselves as leading names in their generation, helped delegitimize the idea of habitually demanding that films should avoid overtly sexual subject matter. The films eventually progressed the public's attitude toward sex, especially in Sweden and other northern European countries, which today tend to be more sexually liberal than others. The monokini , also known as
11466-529: The very least, surprisingly frequent. These other books asserted, in the words of a 1980 book by Irene Kassorla , that Nice Girls Do – And Now You Can Too . In 1962, Helen Gurley Brown published Sex and the Single Girl : The Unmarried Woman's Guide to Men, Careers, the Apartment, Diet, Fashion, Money and Men. In 1969 Joan Garrity , identifying herself only as "J.", published The Way to Become
11583-467: The way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won. In Memoirs v. Massachusetts , 383 U.S. 413, the court ruled that sex was "a great and mysterious motive force in human life", and that its expression in literature was protected by the First Amendment . By permitting the publication of Fanny Hill , the U.S. Supreme Court set the bar for any ban so high that Rembar himself called
11700-543: The western world—the " Baby Boom Generation "—many of whom would grow up in relatively prosperous and safe conditions, within a middle class on the rise and with better access to education and entertainment than ever before. By their demographic weight and their social and educational background, they came to trigger a shift in society towards more permissive and informalized attitudes. The discovery of penicillin led to significant reductions in syphilis mortality, which, in turn, spurred an increase in non-traditional sex during
11817-762: The work of other historians and social scientists who have also discussed long cycles in American and European history, which have grown to show a trend of economic downturns the more a society has industrialised. The cycle of Crises corresponds with long cycles of war identified by such scholars as Arnold J. Toynbee , Quincy Wright , and L. L. Ferrar Jr., and with geopolitical cycles identified by William R. Thompson and George Modelski . Strauss and Howe say their cycle of Awakenings corresponds with Anthony Wallace 's work on revitalization movements ; they also say recurring Crises and Awakenings correspond with two-stroke cycles in politics ( Walter Dean Burnham , Arthur Schlesinger Sr. and Jr. ), foreign affairs (Frank L. Klingberg), and
11934-432: The year 1433 through today. At the heart of Strauss and Howe's ideas is a basic alternation between two different types of eras, Crises and Awakenings. Both of these are defining eras in which people observe that historic events are radically altering their social environment. Crises are periods marked by major secular upheaval, when society focuses on reorganizing the outer world of institutions and public behavior (they say
12051-648: Was a member of the Fairfax County School Board for 26 years. They have four grown children. Sexual Revolution The sexual revolution , also known as the sexual liberation , was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the developed Western world from the 1960s to the 1970s. Sexual liberation included increased acceptance of sex outside of traditional heterosexual, monogamous relationships (primarily marriage). The normalization of contraception and
12168-621: Was adopted throughout the Roman Empire. Romans accepted and legalized prostitution, bisexuality , and pederasty . Male promiscuity was considered normal and healthy as long as masculinity was maintained, associated with being the penetrating partner. In contrast, female chastity was required for respectable women, to ensure the integrity of family bloodlines. These attitudes were replaced by Christian prohibitions on homosexual acts and any sex outside marriage (including with slaves and prostitutes). History professor Faramerz Dabhoiwala cites
12285-435: Was also born into this generation, but as he died at only 15 years old, it is difficult to properly place him in this archetype. However, according to the historian Dominic Mancini Edward was very fascinated with science and philosophy, and was very well learned beyond his years. The reformation generation generation was born between 1483 and 1511 and is of the prophet archetype. This generation rebelled as youths, prompting
12402-470: Was an informative documentary about sex and sexual techniques that featured the first real act of sex in a mainstream film. From these films, the myth of "Swedish sin" (licentiousness and seductive nudity) arose. The image of "hot love and cold people" emerged, with sexual liberalism seen as part of the modernization process that, by breaking down traditional borders, would lead to the emancipation of natural forces and desires. In Sweden and nearby countries at
12519-654: Was born between 1433 and 1460 and is of the hero archetype. Members of the generation grew up during England's retreat from the Hundred Years' War in France, during an era of rising civil unrest. The humanist generation was born between 1461 and 1482 and is of the artist/adaptive archetype. This generation came of age at the height of the Middle Ages , just prior to the Reformation and Renaissance . For
12636-553: Was born between 1566 and 1587 and is of the artist archetype. Their childhoods took place during an era of foreign threats and war. They built impeccable credentials in law, scholarship, religion, and arts and crafts guilds. The puritan generation was born between 1588 and 1617 and is of the prophet archetype. Members of the generation were led through the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639–1651) by King Charles I and others led
12753-553: Was born between 1674 and 1700 and was of the artist archetype. They grew up as protected children when families were close, youth risk discouraged, and good educations and well-connected marriages highly prized. As adults, they provided America's first large cadre of credentialed professionals, political managers, and plantation administrators. Examples in Europe include George Frederic Handel , Antonio Vivaldi , Domenico Scarlatti , and Johann Sebastian Bach . The awakening generation
12870-591: Was born between 1701 and 1723 and was of the prophet archetype. They were the first colonial generation to consist mostly of the offspring of native-born parents. As adults, they attacked their elders' moral complacency in a spiritual firestorm. Benjamin Franklin was born in this generation. Strauss and Howe define the liberty generation (nomad archetype) as those born between 1724 and 1741. The first two U.S. Presidents, George Washington and John Adams , were born during this period. Also born in this era were 35 out of
12987-399: Was consulted for the film, Generation Zero "focused on the key aspect of their theory, the idea that every 80 years of American history has been marked by a crisis, or 'fourth turning', that destroyed an old order and created a new one". Kaiser said Bannon is "very familiar with Strauss and Howe's theory of crisis, and has been thinking about how to use it to achieve particular goals for quite
13104-549: Was described as an optimistic, feel-good book for the parents of the Millennial Generation, predominantly the Baby Boomers. A 2000 New York Times book review for this book titled: What's the Matter With Kids Today? Not a Thing , described the message of Millennials Rising as "we boomers are raising a cohort of kids who are smarter, more industrious and better behaved than any generation before", saying
13221-665: Was important to reputation. Commentators such as history professor Kevin F. White have used the phrase "first sexual revolution" to refer to the Roaring Twenties . Victorian Era attitudes were somewhat destabilized by World War I and alcohol prohibition in the United States . At the same time the women's suffrage movement obtained voting rights, the subculture of the flapper girl included pre-marital sex and "petting parties". Indicators of non-traditional sexual behavior (e.g., gonorrhea incidence, births out of wedlock, and births to teenagers) began to rise dramatically in
13338-525: Was motivated by unconscious drives , primarily by the libido or "Sexual Energy". Freud proposed to study how these unconscious drives were repressed and found expression through other cultural outlets. He called this therapy " psychoanalysis ". While Freud's ideas were sometimes ignored or provoked resistance within Viennese society, his ideas soon entered the discussions and working methods of anthropologists, artists and writers all over Europe, and from
13455-414: Was not, in fact, a time of "storm and stress" as Erikson's stages of development suggest, but that the sexual freedom experienced by the adolescents actually permitted them an easy transition from childhood to adulthood. Mead's findings were later criticized by anthropologist Derek Freeman , who investigated her claims of promiscuity and conducted his own ethnography of Samoan society. Sex and Culture
13572-627: Was of the hero archetype. They had a protected childhood with tax-supported schools and new laws discouraging the kidnapping of young servants. After proving their worth in the Indian Wars and triumphing in the Glorious Revolution , they were rewarded with an electoral office at a young age. As young adults, they took pride in the growing political, commercial, and scientific achievements of England. They designed insurance, paper money , and public works. The enlightenment generation'
13689-458: Was suggested that the interchangeability of bodies within pornography had radical implications for the meaning of gender differences, roles and norms. In 1971 Playboy stopped airbrushing pubic hair out of its centerfold picture spreads; this new addition caused the magazine to hit its all-time peak circulation of more than seven million copies in 1972 and men started having more choices when it came to magazines. In 1972 Deep Throat became
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