2: Snapshot of Baby Boomers
The Baby Boomers are the wealthiest generation in American history. (EN: The author uses the notion of "wealth" too ambiguously - he'd previously asserted that they do not amass wealth because they spend freely, and are often deeply in debt. While they do have the highest income in the present market, economists have found that the generation born after the Civil War and who lived through industrialization had the highest income in American history, when per-capita income is adjusted for purchasing power.)
In the present day, the Boomers are "in control." They are of an age group, 45 to 65, where the vast majority of individuals who hold political office or executive positions are members of the Boomer demographic. However, they are also on their way "out" of power, and within the next ten years will cede the positions of control to the next generation.
Boomers were the original "me" generation, who rebelled against the notion that a person must conform to their society and play a positive and contributing role. They grew from children who were to be "seen but not heard," to young adults who sought to "do their own thing," to people in positions of power who sought to serve their own ambitions and ignore the consequences to others.
As children, they grew up during a period of unprecedented prosperity, when the world was largely at peace and the country was enjoying a post-War economic boom. They grew up in well-appointed homes, raised by parents who saw material wealth as a sign of success (as they had lived through the Great Depression) and believed that anything was possible - and they taught these values to their Boomer children.
Moreover, they wised to change the world around them, to reject the culture of their parents and revel in doing "Their own thing." Media executives were able to capitalize on this, selling "pop" culture in the form of music, fashion, and hairstyles that we3re dramatically different than what had come before. And for the first time in American history, the emphasis turned from marketing to older generations and expecting the youth to grow up and into their parents' fashions, and toward a more youth-driven marketplace, which persists to the present day.
While there was a popular notion of "counter-culture" being run from the individual youths, it was largely supplied by the marketing departments of major corporations, who manufactured and sold the trappings of "the movement" - clothing, music, television, literature. All the elements of the "revolution" were made and sold to them by the industrial machine against which they were claiming to rebel.
They were also the first generation to delay the milestones of adulthood, putting off marriage, family, and career until their mid-twenties. But when they finally "sold out" and joined the corporate culture, they did so in a bog way: becoming ambitious and entrepreneurial, dedicated to gaining to themselves as much money an power as they could obtain. This, too, was seen as a method of distinguishing oneself: to be better than others by making more money, having more things. Conspicuous consumption is the legacy of the Boomer generation.
As they grow older, they remain youth-obsessed: as they enter maturity, they invest billions in pharmaceuticals and plastic surgery to maintain the youthful appearance and vigor they once had, and seek to remain fit and able to enjoy a retirement that is more active than convalescent.
Who Are the Baby Boomers?
The increase in births after soldiers returned from the second world war was noticed by the press almost immediately - newspapers struck upon the term "Baby Boom" and it became increasingly common.
There is some conjecture around when the boom "officially" started and ended, but the US Census Bureau uses the dates 1946-1964 to define the generation, and most demographers have adopted this range.
Until the Millennials outnumbered them, the Boomers were the largest segment of the US population. The disparity had been greater in the past: in 1965. they made up 40% of the population, whereas today it is just over a quarter.
They are often divided into two groups, the "early boomers" who are now entering retirement, and the "late boomers: who are still a decade or so away, and whose own children have only recently left the nest. It's often claimed that the "early" boomers were the leading edge, who drove the cultural revolution of the sixties. The "late" boomers weren't even old enough to drive when Woodstock took place.
Most of the people who are currently in positions of power, such as celebrities, politicians, and senior business executives, are Boomers.
Boomers are nearing retirement, but many are planning to continue to work past the normal retirement age. This is in part because their spending habits were above their means and they did not manage to accumulate wealth, and in another part because the recent financial crisis has devastated the amount they were able to save. Also, Boomers are keen to put off old age, and want to continue to work as proof they are still mentally and physically capable of being productive.
Also in terms of aging, Boomers are keen to avoid it as long as possible. Many consider themselves to be ten to twenty years younger than they actually are. They are unlikely to accept convalescence until they are physically incapable of remaining active.
Formative Experiences
Some of the watershed events of the Boomer generation are given as the Soviet Threat (Red Scare and the Cold War); the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement; the Vietnam War and antiwar protests; the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy; Woodstock; the sexual revolution (and the Pill); and the Watergate scandal.
It a broader sense, the Boomers were influenced by the economic prosperity that followed the second world war and the desire to keep up with or surpass the wealth of their parents' generation as they grew to adulthood.
There was at the same time in American society a struggle for control of the culture, with the older generation feeling that the Boomers were weak and that their disobedience was a sign of the rejection of American ways that would pave the way for communism in the United States.
The "hippies" of the sixties grew into the "yuppies" of the 1980's, whose interest turned from peace and love to making as much money as possible. They struggled to maintain the idealism of their youth even as they compromised and abandoned its core principles.
Especially for the older Boomers, who were young adults in the 1960's, their participation in cultural events and political protest forms a weak bond, similar but weaker than the effect of the depression and the second world war had for the Matures. They maintain an idealized reminiscence of their youth and feel that, even though they have wholeheartedly adopted the values of a commercial and corporate culture, some trace of the "Age of Aquarius" remains alive within them.
Why Are the Baby Boomers Important?
The main interest in the Boomers has always been the size of the demographic: they represent a large share of the market, and have done so throughout their lives. Many companies have sought to cater to their specific needs as a result, and will continue to do so for the next few decades.
They also represent significant spending power, as a result of both their size and their propensity for spending freely, even going into debt to purchase the things they want to own. They have no qualms about conspicuous consumption, and admire people who have the trappings of wealth - that is, expensive possessions - and seek to impress others with their own possessions.
During the recent recession, they have lost some of their spending power and have become a bit more guarded about their money, but they still remain an attractive market, and it is expected they will spend just as lavishly on their retirement needs. Fifty-one percent have stated an intention to move and buy or build a retirement home once they have left the workplace.
Finally, Boomers are important because they presently hold leadership positions: they are managers and executives of the corporate world, the elder statesmen of the political arena, and the established members of nonprofit organizations. They have considerable power and influence in business-to-business sales.
Characteristics of Boomers
The author briefly describes some of the shared characteristics that are common, though not necessarily universal, among the Boomers.
They are highly competitive: "doing well" is not valued unless they are "doing better" than someone else, and they have a sense of resentment and inferiority to anyone who is doing better than themselves. Money, or at least the kinds of expensive possessions that people with money have, are highly appealing as it is an outward sign of their superiority to others.
In spite of their competitiveness, they are not very independent. They look to their company to tell them what to do, and to their government to fix problems for them. Boomers think of themselves as part of a team, and like the sense of working together to accomplish things. In spite of considering themselves to be a counter-culture, they are very loyal to their country and their employers.
Boomers also see the world in terms of "us" and "them" - the dichotomy between we who have and they who have not. Their notion of being "at peace" with others does not stem from a desire to be equal to them, or acknowledging that they are equal to us. "They" are always inferior.
Boomers are generally optimistic: they have a sense that things can and will keep getting better. Their optimism also is expressed in their narcissism: if they have an idea, they believe it is right, if for no other reason that it's theirs; if they have a plan, they believe it will work, for the exact same reason.
They are also youth-oriented. They dislike the notion of getting old and resist becoming sedentary, hence their proclivity for fitness and exercise, cosmetic surgery, and the multitude of drugs and treatments for things such as hair loss and impotence. They imagine themselves doing, in their old age, the same things they did as a youth.
They also show a strong sense of nostalgia. It is an offshoot of their youth-orientation to sample things from their past. They are fond of anniversaries and re-enactments, and hold a special fondness for the music of their youth. Advertisements that use sixties' music as background music generate more sales for this demographic.
They are also workaholics, who see their dedication to work as the means to earn the money they need to buy the trappings of success. In the workplace, they value time spent more than productivity: if you are arrive early, leave late, and spend weekends at work, then you're a good worker, even if your work doesn't accomplish very much.
Likewise, Boomers tend to be defined by their jobs: their job title and the industry they work in are a major component of their identity, and it is often the second thing a Boomer will tell you about himself, right after his name.
Boomers want to be visibly successful - the reward for their success should be tangible and seen by other people. This goes hand-in-hand with their desire for material possessions: an upscale car, a second home, fine clothing, jewelry, and other such things are visible cues to their success, and it's important that other people see and recognize it.
They are likewise enthusiastic consumers. Along with the desire for the things they own to be "trophies" that indicate success, they enjoy spoiling themselves. They grew up in families that had more material wealth than the predecessors and who, after suffering the wars and depression of the earlier part of the century, used their newfound wealth to celebrate the end of a dark era. But to the boomers, having money and spending it liberally is simply the norm.
They are drawn to customized or exclusive products. To have something expensive gives a person status over another who cannot afford it, but to have something unique gives them status over people who have more money than themselves, as they cannot obtain it. However, the customization can be relatively minor - something as trivial as a monogram makes "their" item better than the exact same item owned by someone else, and it is like engraving their name on a trophy..
Boomers also like face-time. They have reluctantly adopted e-mail and conference calls for the sake of efficiency, but their preference is to sit down with others, face-to-face, and talk. Other channels of communication are simply supporting channels to organize and facilitate meeting in person and working together.
Boomers also spend heavily on their own children (the Millennials), as a child is a sort of fashion accessory to the adult who "owns" one, hence the extravagance of a child is a reflection of the extravagance of their family. While their children are now leaving the home, many Boomer parents still subsidize them, as a matter of keeping up with the way their peers keep their own children.
On the other hand, Boomers are neglectful parents. While they are generous with material things, they are often devoted to doing "their own thing" and as a result feel pangs of guilt at how little time they have spent with their children. As such, there arose the notion of "quality time" to be spent with children, because they were unwilling to invest much quantity of time. Their objection to authority in their own youth makes them reluctant to be authoritarian with their own children, and being "friends" with the younger generation feeds their desire to remain young, themselves.
Because much of what Boomers do is intended to make an impression on other people, it is generally quite easy to identify a person as being a member of this generation.