05-28-2021, 11:52 PM
The wiki RationalWiki has an article on the S&H theory, which you can read here:
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/William_St..._Neil_Howe
Like a lot of people, it calls the theory pseudoscience. Some of their points sound as if the editors on that wiki don't understand the theory at all. For example, this part:
It's not just how "drastic" it is that makes a turning a turning, it's the national mood! During World War II the mood was patriotic; during the Vietnam War the youth zeitgeist was "let's burn a flag". During World War II the coming-of-age generation was a patriotic, obedient, socially conformist generation of social conservatives that fought for Mom and apple pie and questioned nothing; during the Vietnam War the coming-of-age generation was an unpatriotic, rebellious generation of social liberals that refused to fight Communism and questioned EVERYTHING.
For the same reason, World War I wasn't a Crisis. The mood was one of dreary fatalism. The coming-of-age generation was a bunch of scrappy, raw cads and nihilistic bohemians. Totally different from the Great Depression and World War II!
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/William_St..._Neil_Howe
Like a lot of people, it calls the theory pseudoscience. Some of their points sound as if the editors on that wiki don't understand the theory at all. For example, this part:
Quote:The "crises" chosen also lend themselves to confirmation bias. The Depression and World War II period was a time of drastic societal change, but so was the Vietnam War and 1960s. Why is one a "crisis" and the other an "awakening"?
It's not just how "drastic" it is that makes a turning a turning, it's the national mood! During World War II the mood was patriotic; during the Vietnam War the youth zeitgeist was "let's burn a flag". During World War II the coming-of-age generation was a patriotic, obedient, socially conformist generation of social conservatives that fought for Mom and apple pie and questioned nothing; during the Vietnam War the coming-of-age generation was an unpatriotic, rebellious generation of social liberals that refused to fight Communism and questioned EVERYTHING.
For the same reason, World War I wasn't a Crisis. The mood was one of dreary fatalism. The coming-of-age generation was a bunch of scrappy, raw cads and nihilistic bohemians. Totally different from the Great Depression and World War II!