Baby Boomers
Baby Boomers Boomed When?
At first glance, many people would think that a baby boomer is just a simple thing played by a baby. However, they have eventually realized that this term refers to a group of people, particularly to a generation.
If we recall the tragic aftermath of the World War II, the basic statistics meet the criteria of having WWII as the greatest war in history when we speak of human and assets expended. During the post-war period, there were 1.7 billion people populating the Earth. After the war, three quarters of the world's population was added. The scientific development and technological advancement have made the war an unparalleled rage. Parts of the fighting fronts were the civilians, who suffered from malnutrition, disease, and often actual starvation, devastation of cities and towns, and awful injuries and death.
Consequent to WWII, economic prosperity emerged. During that time, the birth rates augmented, making the growth of families over a certain interval of time such a significant figure recorded. The Babies born on that period, when birth rates were considerably raised, were termed as the Baby boomers.
After the Second World War, the bombed out cities and broken economies boosted the demands for goods and services in unmatched amounts. As a consequence, the Democracy Arsenal took control and started exporting merchandise and resources. America abounded the "free world" with commodities so that the economies will be reconstructed. This has amazingly led to a vital record of economic growth that continued until 1958. The economic success was associated with the better capability of each family to add more family members. Thus, the baby boomers were born.
The G.I. Bill allowed record persons to attend college and get hold of degrees, which has led to the improvement in education that granted higher family incomes, allowing them to have the assets to support more children.
According to Steve Gillo, Baby Boomers were of two categories in terms of years. The first is from 1945 to 1957 and the second from 1958 to 1963. Neil Howe and William Strauss on the other hand, took account of those conceived by on leave soldiers during the war. They set the generation of baby boomers from 1943 to 1960. They explained that those who were born between 1961 and 1964 had cultural and political patterns that are so different from those born between 1955 and 1960. This fit into what writers termed as the 13th Generation or Generation X.
The 13th Generation was known as the Cold War generation, which was estimated to include 79 million children including those born between 1961 and 1981. Since the authority of Strauss and Howe dominated, several people still believed that the 1961 babies were also Baby Boomers. This is because of many significant Gen-X figures of birth in 1964. However, since the number of births did not turn down in 1965, then 1964 is not the ending year of generation X.
Controversy over dating and naming the boomers will be explained by considering that the 1946-64 boomer years is too long for one cultural generation. It may however mark a period of increased births.
It is in a world quasi-dominated by American Military might where the Baby Boomers grew up. It was where the enemies were referred to as the communists and socialists. This was all the way through the cold war from when researchers are lead to the current computer age. Also, the generation has already matured for the rural and urban crowding.
Would you imagine that famous groups like The Motown Sound, The Beats and Hippies, and The Beatles belong to the generation of the baby boomers? Baby boomers these days make up the lion's share for political, industrial, cultural and academic leadership class in the United States.
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were the first and second Baby Boomer presidents. They were born in 1946 having an age gap of just sixty days. Their professions exemplify the wide range of principles and attitudes advocated by the largest American generational group to date.
Baby boomers or not, people would remain people. Nothing really matters about being included in a certain generation which has made history. Furthermore, there may be just one exciting record which baby boomers may be proud of, which is being in the Guinness book of world records!
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Discerning the Baby Boomers Various Faces
Most often, people view the picture of baby boomers like a monolith-everyone is identical. But the truth is the generation of Baby Boomers are slightly distinct from each other.
The Staff Writer of The Christian Science Monitor, Kim Campbell, featured in her report last January 26, 2005 the baby Boomer in his mid-50s, Jerry Benston, an African-American New Yorker.
According to him, while he was a college student in 1968, the university where he studied proposed to have a more diverse culture.
He recalled that he was one of those who protested. His reason, as a Baby Boomer he wants to help in raising awareness regarding the significant issues in the society nowadays.
One of these significant issues is the Baby Boomers and how people view them in general terms.
Looking at the outer surface, what you will commonly notice with these Baby Boomers are their similarities. For instance, that several of them survived in the Vietnam War, lived during the era of civil rights, and that their generations were the first ones to grow with television.
All of these events which they shared are part of the history, and you can discern it by simply browsing a book in history, or by just surfing through the internet. Unlike distinguishing their difference from each other, this is commonly not evident on their image in public.
According to researchers including the advocates, it is vital to avoid generalizations that mirror the 79 Million groups of retirees. The purpose of this is to understand the diversity of Boomers in economic lines, across age, in ethnic, and so on, thus their actions as well as their needs will be accurately assessed.
Duke University Professor and Author of current Boomer Lives Analysis, Elizabeth Hughes stated that reports reveal the inequality of income or wealth of the Boomers. And this directly suggests that while the other Boomers lived a well off life during their retirement, there are some who live a life packed with struggles.
The media are used in portraying that Boomers are homogenous. Most of their reports suggest that all of them have common upbringings, that all are married and have their children, wealthy, and well-educated.
There is an argument created by Hughes and the others that if people will persist on perceiving the boomers in excessive general terms, the effect will be reflected on their retirement policies, and this is viewed negatively.
In addition, taking the Boomers in over general term hides the truth that concerns the group. According to Hughes, diversity among the group only mirrors the society.
Sarah Zapolsky, a researcher of boomer diversity said that most of these people who perceive boomers in too general terms seem to convey that the 79 Million Boomers will all retire in just one day.
"This example clearly reveals the fallacy of perceiving the boomers as a single unit," Zapolsky added.
The clear example of boomers' diversity is the range of their age. Certain researches show that Boomers does not only cover one generation, they cover even more. For this reason, their spans may possibly range to 19 years; hence, if there are some grandparents' boomers already, some boomer might still have a preschool kid.
Another example of Boomer diversity stated by Zapolsky is shown in their different backgrounds in ethnic and culture. For instance, this can be reflected on the way they take care of their parents who are already aging. Some may choose to have a Medicare rather than taking a nurse to care for their parents, while some may not.
There are researches already that show that the inequality of Baby Boomers persists on their education and riches. According to Hughes, the blacks' incomes now are higher as compared to the earlier generations, and there were some who already shifted to the middle strata.
But she added that if it will be viewed on the utmost perspective, there is really no improvement on these black boomers condition as compared to the whites.
The President of Generational Targeted Marketing, Ann Fishman, explained the reason why the diversity among Boomers is not widely talked about. This is because the characteristics that identify Boomers are not viewed very important.
Probably, the public viewed these Boomers like a monolith, but Baby Boomers will remain diverse as they are popularly recognized.
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