01-02-2019, 07:21 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-02-2019, 07:27 PM by Eric the Green.)
(01-02-2019, 06:07 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote:(01-01-2019, 03:03 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: I would say so, although to be fair, to call them "Boomerish ideas" is only valid from our latter-time point of view. It was Silents (especially Boomer cuspers, but not limited to them) who created a lot of the ideas, movements and arts that the Boomers latched on to, were inspired by, and further developed.
I have also the impression that the stage for Counterculture was already prepared in the late 1940s.
One distinct characteristic of Counterculture is its distrust for science and technology. I've seen a late 40s poem that said something like "reason lead to Auschwitz". Sexual revolution? bikini was invented in 1946. Hindu-influenced mysticism? Zen started to be popular in California directly after WW2.
Going by this pattern, can we expect the iGen to prepare ground for the next Awakening in late 2020s?
These trends were very much underground and not available to pop culture before the sixties, but preparing the ground fits I guess, if you mean among a small group of people. From the mid-50s on especially, with the beatniks and rock'n'roll. But can that small minority trend be considered a generational trait?
The difference between before 1964 and after 1966 was quite stark, however. The styles of life and dress, the ideals and goals, the culture very much changed quickly. But in Europe, counter-cultural influences were more prominent even somewhat continuously since the previous Awakening, although the wars and oppression put a damper on it. Existentialism, depth psychology and the new science, for example, manifested "the revolt against reason" with its distrust of science that Henri Bergson started in about 1907. And in any case, the sixties/seventies Awakening also looked back to previous ones. Awakenings in the USA jump from Awakening to Awakening, almost as if there was no break, even though there is a 50-60 year break.
By iGen, iirc, you mean Gen Z. I think the Millennials are already iGen enough, even though they weren't born into the world of iphones and social media. Artist Generations when they come of age are not tech oriented, but people oriented, so the name iGen will not fit them later on. Civics are tech oriented. Of course, you could say the name "Silent" didn't fit them in mid-life, at least. But it did in youth.
If you say the groundwork was prepared for the Awakening in the late 1940s, then that would indicate that this will happen again when the next first turning starts, but I don't think will be until at least 2028. Since some younger GI/Greatest Generation members helped launch the counter-culture (Timothy Leary born 1920), we can expect that some (or maybe just a relative few) of the millennials born after 2000 could do something similar, as well as the new artist generation.