Having problems with message search?
-----Original Message-----
From: scandy@...
To: dator@...
Cc: hrcfs-l@...
Sent: Sun, 4 Mar 2007 7:32 PM
Subject: Re: More on Millennials
From: scandy@...
To: dator@...
Cc: hrcfs-l@...
Sent: Sun, 4 Mar 2007 7:32 PM
Subject: Re: More on Millennials
Jim,
I couldn't find the Star-Bulletin piece online, but did find what
appears to be the original version you were referring to from the
Providence Journal website
(http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/CT_kids23_02-23-07_9C48AQ8.2799657.html,
login courtesy of bugmenot.com). It's copied below this message.
To your comments, I'd add that the New Politics Institute has an
interesting website to check out (http://www.newpolitics.net) using
lots of viral YouTube-style videos to explore its chosen turf. It's
also worth noting that according to his blog at the NPI site
(http://www.newpolitics.net/node/240), Leyden used to work for
scenario consultants Global Business Network. Which makes him sort of
a futurist.
One last thought: the Strauss & Howe-style analysis of generations
which Leyden picks up here seems to me limited in a rather significant
way by its focus on trends within America -- because with
communications and politics trending toward major challenges to the
validity and viability of political community divided definitively at
the nation-state level, global (or if you like, nonspatial) trends in
generational attitudes could give an important insight into the
changing acceptance of national boundaries themselves. In other
words, Strauss, Howe, and now Leyden take the nation-state for
granted, assuming its enduring validity as a politico-sociological
unit of analysis, but a broader lens could illuminate the possible
futures of -- and perhaps fundamentally call into question -- that
assumption.
Stuart
>> The article:
Peter Leyden: 'Millennials' could change politics
07:32 AM EST on Friday, February 23, 2007
By PETER LEYDEN
SAN FRANCISCO -- THE SLEEPER development that was widely overlooked in
the 2006 election was the 22-percentage-point margin of support that
went to Democrats over Republicans in congressional races by the
up-and-coming young millennial generation. The millennial generation
is made up of young people born in the 1980s and 1990s who are pouring
out of college right now. It's an enormous generation, comparable to
the Baby Boomers.
The first wave of "millennials" is now age 26 — at about the same life
stage as the oldest Boomers were in 1970. Similar to the boomers, the
millennials are poised to impact the country at every life stage and
in myriad ways — but particularly in politics. The millennials are an
unusual generation, not like young people we have seen for a long
time. They are not individualistic risk-takers like the Boomers or
cynical and disengaged like Generation Xers. Signs indicate that
millennials are civic-minded, extremely diverse and technologically
savvy. Millennials have consistently shown they hold progressive
values and worldviews — voting more heavily Democratic than other
generations in their first few elections.
Everyone knows the Boomers are a huge generation that's aging and is
about to seriously stress our Social Security system. But few realize
that the millennials are just as huge at 75 million, which is
one-quarter of the current U.S. population of 300 million.
That's the case partly because many are children of the Boomers (the
"echo boom"). The size of the generation is also boosted by the
children of the unprecedented numbers of immigrants in the 1980s and
1990s. The millennials are the most diverse generation by far, with
roughly 40 percent belonging to minority groups, Hispanics in
particular. But generations are more than just numbers; they have
personalities that are shaped by many factors, including what's
happening in the world when they come of age.
The millennial personality comes closest to that of the "GI
generation," the one lauded by some as the "Greatest Generation,"
members of which fought in World War II and built up America and the
world in the postwar boom. Millennials are civic-minded, trust in
leaders and are team-oriented rather than individualistic.
William Strauss — co-author of a series of books on generations,
including Millennials Rising — argues that millennials show deep
concern for today's income inequalities and social stratification, and
that looking out for everyone in society may emerge as their mission
much as it did for the GI generation. Millennials tend toward
progressive positions in other areas, too, as a survey at the New
Politics Institute, among other sources, shows. They take concern for
global warming and the environment as a given, and they don't perceive
differences between genders, races or sexual preferences the way other
generations do. These nascent political beliefs show up in the
elections they have participated in.
For instance, 55 percent of people age 29 and younger voted for
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry in 2004. Moreover,
young people were the only generation to give Kerry a majority besides
those of the GI generation who are still around. And young people do
not always vote more progressive — the young generation X was very
conservative. The results of the 2006 election, though, were even more
striking. A huge majority of people age 29 and younger voted for
Democrats over Republicans in the congressional elections. These
millennials were also actors in this last election cycle. The campaign
was characterized by people-powered politics, using grass-roots media
such as blogs and videos on YouTube. Also, the millennials are the
generation that came of age completely at home with the new
technologies and new media that are reshaping politics. No one gets
these new tools better than they do.
The great explosion of progressive politics under Franklin D.
Roosevelt in the 1930s and 1940s was partly fueled by energized young
people. They voted in higher numbers for FDR than any other generation
and acted as the foot solders of progressive politics at that time.
We're seeing a very similar development today. The huge numbers of
millennials are poised to drive a new progressive era that will
reinvent what it means to be "progressive" and take on the new
challenges of the 21st Century. Hang on for this ride.
Peter Leyden is director of the New Politics Institute, a San
Francisco-based think tank.
On 04/03/07, Jim Dator <dator@...> wrote:
> I hope everyone interested in the age-cohort discussion we had recently
> read (or will read) the piece about the "Millennials" written by Peter
> Leyden of the New Politics Institute. The Institute recently conducted a
> survey that confirmed the point that the Millennials are more like the old
> GIs in work habits and liberal political preferences than they are to the
> Boomers, and are very different from Gen Xers who tend to be extremely
> individualistic and politically conservative.
>
> I read the piece in the Sunday, March 4, 2007 issue of the Honolulu
> Star-Bulletin, p. E1, but the by-line was the Providence (Rhode Island)
> Journal, and the New Politics Institute was identified as a think-tank in
> San Francisco.
>
> Doesn't make it true, of course, but it does accord with my observations
> and comments, so....
>
> Jim Dator
>
-- Stuart Candy
scandy@...
Researcher | Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies | www.futures.hawaii.edu
Long Bets Research Fellow | The Long Now Foundation | www.longnow.org
Blogger | The Sceptical Futuryst | www.futuryst.com
I couldn't find the Star-Bulletin piece online, but did find what
appears to be the original version you were referring to from the
Providence Journal website
(http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/CT_kids23_02-23-07_9C48AQ8.2799657.html,
login courtesy of bugmenot.com). It's copied below this message.
To your comments, I'd add that the New Politics Institute has an
interesting website to check out (http://www.newpolitics.net) using
lots of viral YouTube-style videos to explore its chosen turf. It's
also worth noting that according to his blog at the NPI site
(http://www.newpolitics.net/node/240), Leyden used to work for
scenario consultants Global Business Network. Which makes him sort of
a futurist.
One last thought: the Strauss & Howe-style analysis of generations
which Leyden picks up here seems to me limited in a rather significant
way by its focus on trends within America -- because with
communications and politics trending toward major challenges to the
validity and viability of political community divided definitively at
the nation-state level, global (or if you like, nonspatial) trends in
generational attitudes could give an important insight into the
changing acceptance of national boundaries themselves. In other
words, Strauss, Howe, and now Leyden take the nation-state for
granted, assuming its enduring validity as a politico-sociological
unit of analysis, but a broader lens could illuminate the possible
futures of -- and perhaps fundamentally call into question -- that
assumption.
Stuart
>> The article:
Peter Leyden: 'Millennials' could change politics
07:32 AM EST on Friday, February 23, 2007
By PETER LEYDEN
SAN FRANCISCO -- THE SLEEPER development that was widely overlooked in
the 2006 election was the 22-percentage-point margin of support that
went to Democrats over Republicans in congressional races by the
up-and-coming young millennial generation. The millennial generation
is made up of young people born in the 1980s and 1990s who are pouring
out of college right now. It's an enormous generation, comparable to
the Baby Boomers.
The first wave of "millennials" is now age 26 — at about the same life
stage as the oldest Boomers were in 1970. Similar to the boomers, the
millennials are poised to impact the country at every life stage and
in myriad ways — but particularly in politics. The millennials are an
unusual generation, not like young people we have seen for a long
time. They are not individualistic risk-takers like the Boomers or
cynical and disengaged like Generation Xers. Signs indicate that
millennials are civic-minded, extremely diverse and technologically
savvy. Millennials have consistently shown they hold progressive
values and worldviews — voting more heavily Democratic than other
generations in their first few elections.
Everyone knows the Boomers are a huge generation that's aging and is
about to seriously stress our Social Security system. But few realize
that the millennials are just as huge at 75 million, which is
one-quarter of the current U.S. population of 300 million.
That's the case partly because many are children of the Boomers (the
"echo boom"). The size of the generation is also boosted by the
children of the unprecedented numbers of immigrants in the 1980s and
1990s. The millennials are the most diverse generation by far, with
roughly 40 percent belonging to minority groups, Hispanics in
particular. But generations are more than just numbers; they have
personalities that are shaped by many factors, including what's
happening in the world when they come of age.
The millennial personality comes closest to that of the "GI
generation," the one lauded by some as the "Greatest Generation,"
members of which fought in World War II and built up America and the
world in the postwar boom. Millennials are civic-minded, trust in
leaders and are team-oriented rather than individualistic.
William Strauss — co-author of a series of books on generations,
including Millennials Rising — argues that millennials show deep
concern for today's income inequalities and social stratification, and
that looking out for everyone in society may emerge as their mission
much as it did for the GI generation. Millennials tend toward
progressive positions in other areas, too, as a survey at the New
Politics Institute, among other sources, shows. They take concern for
global warming and the environment as a given, and they don't perceive
differences between genders, races or sexual preferences the way other
generations do. These nascent political beliefs show up in the
elections they have participated in.
For instance, 55 percent of people age 29 and younger voted for
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry in 2004. Moreover,
young people were the only generation to give Kerry a majority besides
those of the GI generation who are still around. And young people do
not always vote more progressive — the young generation X was very
conservative. The results of the 2006 election, though, were even more
striking. A huge majority of people age 29 and younger voted for
Democrats over Republicans in the congressional elections. These
millennials were also actors in this last election cycle. The campaign
was characterized by people-powered politics, using grass-roots media
such as blogs and videos on YouTube. Also, the millennials are the
generation that came of age completely at home with the new
technologies and new media that are reshaping politics. No one gets
these new tools better than they do.
The great explosion of progressive politics under Franklin D.
Roosevelt in the 1930s and 1940s was partly fueled by energized young
people. They voted in higher numbers for FDR than any other generation
and acted as the foot solders of progressive politics at that time.
We're seeing a very similar development today. The huge numbers of
millennials are poised to drive a new progressive era that will
reinvent what it means to be "progressive" and take on the new
challenges of the 21st Century. Hang on for this ride.
Peter Leyden is director of the New Politics Institute, a San
Francisco-based think tank.
On 04/03/07, Jim Dator <dator@...> wrote:
> I hope everyone interested in the age-cohort discussion we had recently
> read (or will read) the piece about the "Millennials" written by Peter
> Leyden of the New Politics Institute. The Institute recently conducted a
> survey that confirmed the point that the Millennials are more like the old
> GIs in work habits and liberal political preferences than they are to the
> Boomers, and are very different from Gen Xers who tend to be extremely
> individualistic and politically conservative.
>
> I read the piece in the Sunday, March 4, 2007 issue of the Honolulu
> Star-Bulletin, p. E1, but the by-line was the Providence (Rhode Island)
> Journal, and the New Politics Institute was identified as a think-tank in
> San Francisco.
>
> Doesn't make it true, of course, but it does accord with my observations
> and comments, so....
>
> Jim Dator
>
-- Stuart Candy
scandy@...
Researcher | Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies | www.futures.hawaii.edu
Long Bets Research Fellow | The Long Now Foundation | www.longnow.org
Blogger | The Sceptical Futuryst | www.futuryst.com
-----Original Message-----
From: tbhawaiiowan@...
To: scandy@...; dator@...
Cc: hrcfs-l@...
Sent: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 12:52 AM
Subject: Millennials: how much wishful thinking?
From: tbhawaiiowan@...
To: scandy@...; dator@...
Cc: hrcfs-l@...
Sent: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 12:52 AM
Subject: Millennials: how much wishful thinking?
Good I think if coming true (even if not as new as Leyden thinks). But puzzled by some factual assertions in the version posted by Stuart below as well as in Star Bull version.
Both versions assert the first wave of Millenials is now 26, and both also asserts that majorities of those 29 and younger voted for Kerry in 04 and even more for Dems in 06. But SB subhead states: "Born in 80s and 90s, these young Americans are civic-minded team players with progressive values."
This is puzzling to me because if first wave now 26--ie born in 1980--only those born between 80 and 88 are now old enough to vote. So in 04 only those born between 80 and 85 old enuf to vote in 04. Both versions also assert millenials number about 75 mill--one fourth of current US pop and same size as baby boom gen. Maybe im splitting hairs, but some under 29 who voted in 04 also technically NOT millenials if born before 80--at least based on assertion above that oldest are only now 26. That would mean maybe only 25% of this "generation" has had chance to vote, and would like to know how many voted--not just how they tended to vote.
Also would like to know how Leyden as well as S and H deduce that those born in 90s--who haven't voted yet--will follow suit? I think I understand S and H basic theory, but wonder--like Stuart--to what extent they factor in the very different? global circumstances this gen may face now and/or in future. As a result, I think assertion that 40% of Millenials are "minorities"--particularly Hispanics, and unlike baby boomers?--may be potentially more relevant to how this ENTIRE generation behaves once all reach current age of majority. Do others agree that Hispanics--IF most remain poor and relatively poorly educated--may remain quite conservative Catholics as adults?
Furthermore, does anyone know how this ethnic mix compares to the "Greatest" Gen? (mostly 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation decendents of primarily European and primarily Protestant immigrants?). And how do rise of global more-"stateless" Islamic fundamentalism and global enviro problems compare to the problems (more national than global?) of late 19th and early 20th C capitalism and global threats of primarily nation-state based fascism and communism?
In any case, the closing statement in the version below is still music to my ears if true: The huge numbers of
millennials are poised to drive a new progressive era that will reinvent what it means to be "progressive" and take on the new challenges of the 21st Century. That's one of many reasons I often feel more like a Millenial than a "middle of the cohort" baby boomer.
millennials are poised to drive a new progressive era that will reinvent what it means to be "progressive" and take on the new challenges of the 21st Century. That's one of many reasons I often feel more like a Millenial than a "middle of the cohort" baby boomer.
Tom Brandt
Offline 
Send Email