Changing Demography and Your Future

Forty Years after Woodstock, a Gentler Generation Gap 

It had to be one of the most divisive times in American history. Family was divided against family. No, this is not a reference to the Civil War, but rather it is a description of the turbulent 1960’s and early 1970’s in the United States. 

It was the Baby Boomers against the Silent Generation and the G.I. Generation, Hippies fighting the establishment, the young versus the old, the people under thirty against the people over thirty, war against peace, long hair versus short hair, parents against kids, kids against parents, authority opposed to chaos, protestors clashing with police, tolerance versus intolerance, the right against the left and above all: rock and roll against everything else music. It was a clash of cultures on a grand scale. No one really understood what caused the divide but it was certain that the Vietnam War played an important part. It was an unstable time that divided families and broke up homes, a time of elevated crime and drug use. This period was defined by its music and the exclamation point was a rock concert attended by over 500,000 people, Woodstock.   

The Pew Research Center released a very interesting and revealing Social and Demographic Trends Report in August 2009. It apparently was timed to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the famous outdoor rock concert and music festival, Woodstock. 

Pew polled a nationally representative sample of 1,815 people age 16 and over from July 20 to August 2, 2009.  The results of the poll were surprising and counter intuitive. Apparently serious fractures still exist between young and old adults in their work ethic, respect/tolerance of others, acceptance of technology, religion, moral values and political views. But according to Pew “...this modern generation gap is a much more subdued affair than the one that raged in the 1960s, for relatively few Americans of any age sees it as a source of conflict- either in society at large or in their own families.” 

So if the fractures still exist, where is the conflict? Where are the protestors, the sit-ins, the mass marches? According to the Pew research there is one major aspect of the culture that enjoys a marked difference when compared to the clash of the 60s. We all like the same music; rock and roll. Two-thirds of the people polled by Pew stated that they favored rock and roll over country, rhythm and blues, hip-hop, classical, jazz and salsa. Back in 1966 a Harris poll showed that only 4% of people twenty-one and older stated that rock and roll was their favorite kind of music making rock and roll the most unpopular music of the day. Like Dylan sang “The times, they are a changing...” 

So does the common music sooth the savage in the different generations? Perhaps, Pew states it in a borrowed phrase: “… the generations appear to have found a way to disagree without being disagreeable.” Are we really a kinder gentler nation? It would appear so. According to a 1969 Gallup poll 74% of the public thought there were major conflicts between generations compared to Pew’s 2009 findings that show that 79% of Americans felt that there were major divides today between the perspective of younger and older adults.  Clearly we have more conflict today with surprisingly less acrimony. 

Could it be that the answer lies in the within the American family? Do Boomer parents get along better with their kids than their parents got along with them? The evidence would support a resounding yes. When asked, the Pew respondents supported this position. Only 10% of parents of older children reported that they often have major disagreements with their teenage or young adult kids. This is compared and contrasted to 19% that stated that they themselves routinely had major disagreements with their parents. Maybe Boomers are just cooler parents and maybe today’s issues just aren’t the stuff worth fighting for. 

A closer look at the American home could reveal some answers and give us an insight into what is perceived as differences between generations. The biggest differences according to the Pew poll fell predictably into two areas: technology and music. Eighty-seven percent of the respondents said that there was significant difference in the way young and old used new technology, the internet and computers. No surprise there. It would be hard to imagine a heated generational exchange erupting over a conflict between using email over texting or even Facebook versus LinkedIn. What about the music differences? Nine out of ten of the people polled cited huge differences between young and old preferences. But remember, its all rock and roll. So where is the divide? Is it worth hunkering down for a battle between oldies and pop? 

Who has better values?  The respondents to the Pew poll were very clear in their answer. With respect to three of the four values tested the public, regardless of age, voted two to one in favor of older Americans indicating that they are superior in terms of their moral values, respect for others and work ethic. The younger generation got the nod for being more socially tolerant, though the results were not lop-sided. 

The fact that the public perceives older Americans as having a better moral compass than their younger counterparts is no surprise. What is interesting is the one category of ethics where the younger generation shines, social tolerance. It is important because it represents a big change. Generation Y was taught not to see color and as a result they don’t. As our Nation becomes more and more ethnically diverse this quality of Generation Y will pay dividends. 

The work ethic of Generation Y is bound to improve as well as this cohort floods the workplace and faces twenty percent unemployment at entry level. Nothing improves your attitude faster about work than the need to eat. The lop-sided work ethic issue with young adults could easily have been a product of the tiny Generation X because this cohort enjoyed an employees market and full employment at entry level. In fact when Generation X entered the workforce there were ten jobs and eight workers. Nothing breeds a bad work ethic faster than being in demand. That’s all changing in today’s economic and demographic climate.  

It has been forty years since Woodstock and though the perception is that generations in the United States are still divided it is apparent that we have learned how to disagree, to get along. Boomers are not the same parents as their parents no more than Mick Jagger is the same as Benny Goodman. The Boomer’s kids, Generation Y, appear to prefer to make their mark and changes through harmony than through protest or discord. All this bodes well for The United States because we can ostensibly work out our internal differences and concentrate on making the world a better place.