Baby Boomers Thesis

The Greatest Generation was the generation during World War II and the Great Depression. What made them great were their perseverance, patriotism, and sacrifice throughout the WWII era. The citizens that make up the Greatest Generation served their country in any way possible until they could no longer serve. Tom Brokaw describes the backgrounds of theses patriotic Americans, as well as their experiences during and after the war.

In the article “The Greatest Generation: The Great Depression and the American South,” Jeffrey DeRoven analyzes the economic struggles of the American South during the Great Depression in order to figure out why some people refer to people from that time period as the “greatest generation.” Below, this paper overviews DeRoven’s thesis, purpose, stance, audience, usage of literary techniques as well as logos, pathos and ethos, logical fallacies, and ultimately concludes with an opinion suggesting that DeRoven’s analysis is mostly sound and useful, but limited in proving his thesis.

During the “Baby Boomer” era, following WWII, America underwent one of the largest demographic shifts and population growths in history. Huge amounts of home construction on the outskirts of America’s largest cities, known as “levittowns” became the new staple of the American dream, with the houses sporting two car garages, and white picket fences. These low density, predominantly middle class residential districts, were America’s first true suburbs. These suburbs were constructed mainly in response to the new postwar consumerism that enveloped the parents of the baby boomers. With the new economy, affordable housing, and most families becoming single income dependent, families grew bigger and bigger. The 1947 passing of the bill that lead to the interstate highway system, only added fuel to the fire of suburbanization. With the new interstate highway system, more affordable and fuel efficient automobiles, and the government aiding in the financing of new suburban homes, the choice seemed elementary. All of these factors pushing to the suburban movement, only spurred the baby boomers on, and between 1940-50, there was an 835% percent increase in living births with nearly 4 million children being born every year. In 1940, 19.5% of the United States population lived in what would be considered to be suburban areas outside of large metropolitan areas, however, by 1960; the number was pushing nearly 40%. The postwar suburbanization of America during the baby boomer

This generational gap was what altered the development of real learning, for it allowed Generation Me children to assume that hard work was not needed to succeed and to learn. Due to the different mindset that was developed through the gap, self-esteem was not lacking in GenMe. So, it is understandable why Boomers felt that an individual should be more important than society. They had to go through life fighting for what they believed in, causing what Tannen calls the “human spirit” to take the blow (Tannen, 419). She states, “contentious public discourse becomes a model for behavior and sets the tone for how individuals experience their relationship to others and the society we live in” (Tannen, 419). Baby Boomers did not have self-esteem so they enforced it on their children, keeping them from ever feeling that way. The cause of them feeling this way is that “the human brain is almost infinitely malleable” (Carr, 70). That malleability was used by Baby Boomer parents in order for them to set a sense of self-esteem and individualism in their children. This alteration of their children’s minds was Boomer parents’ first mistake, for it did not allow children to discover their own worth. Rather, it supplied them with false encouragement, and prevented the possibility of engaging themselves in a society where everyone works together and is confident, but not individualistic.

Baby Boomers are the most powerful demographic group in history. Businesses thrives or fails based on their ability to keep pace with the likes and dislikes of this economic powerhouse known as the baby boomers. At 76 million strong, boomers have the influence to rule the marketplace and make sure they keep a place set just for them as the

Since we know what baby boomers are, they are a very huge impact on todays society. To give example, they make impacts economically, Socially, and also Psychologically. There are many different reasons for this, and they are easy to understand exactly the impact they make on our daily lives.

The baby boomer generations started in 1943-1960 after world war two and the traditionalist felt safe they were able to have more babies than any other generation yet. They had so many newborn babies that a baby was born every nineteen seconds. This was the first time that mothers where able to enjoy their children and not have to worry about whether or not they could support them or that war would get in the way of a good living. There is also the idea that the baby boom was the result of the economy wanting to build up the number of its people so that they would be prepared for any war to come (Zemke, 2000).

Shopping: Shopping for the Baby Boomers would have been somewhat limited. The traditional Macy's experience would be about as dynamic as a Baby Boomer could get in terms of choices. If the local Sears didn't have what they needed, they'd have to go to a specialty store and take the number from the catalog, and if they were lucky, get the correct item ordered in about 4 - 6 weeks!

The Greatest Generation was the generation during World War II and the Great Depression. What made them great was their perseverance, patriotism, and sacrifice throughout the WWII era. The citizens that make up the Greatest Generation served their country in any way possible until they could no longer serve. Tom Brokaw describes the backgrounds of theses patriotic Americans, as well as their experiences during and after the war.

Baby-boomers have dominated American culture for nearly five decades. Likened by demographers to a pig moving through a python, boomers account for one

During the Great Depression and World War II many Americans delayed marrying and having children because of the poor economy. The number of marriages and births soared after the war. Many older couples who had delayed having children began having them when the war ended. This increase in births among both younger and older American couples created the Baby Boom Generation. This large group of people born in the U.S. from 1946 to 1964 amounted to 76 million children. Those born during this time make up approximately 36% of today’s population (Deutsch). What impact has this had on the economy? Read on to see how the baby boom generation has affected the economy and what will happen as they retire.

John Lennon of the famous rock band, The Beatles, once said, “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace”. This quote essentially defines the 1960s and the counterculture movement in America. After WWII people had much more free time than they did during the war, and many people decided that they wanted to settle down and start a family. This caused a large boom in child birth. The children born during this boom are known as “baby-boomers”. “Due to the baby boom between 1945 and 1955, over half the population was under 30 years old” (The American Experience 1). During this time in American history, the children of the “baby boomer” generation started rebelling against the war in Vietnam and the

Baby Boomers have been one of the most powerful forces in shaping the economic environment and are the wealthiest generation in the United States (Kotler and Armstrong, 2015). “In their early years, “Leading Edge” Boomers enjoyed economic prosperity, and their resulting financial power in their prime years drove rising trends in everything. However, the recessionary years of the early 1970’s also added cautionary realities to their youthful consumption and employment dreams” (“America’s Oldest Boomers”, n.d.). Baby boomers control approximately 70% of the disposable income in the United States, therefore, they are known as being one of the most influential financial forces in the marketplace (“Baby Boomers Report”, 2015). As they reach their

I believe that all four of the generations in the work place can work together without having any conflicts. Many professional facilities and companies have people of different age groups working together in the same field. There are many articles written by different people who say that studies show that there are many conflicts between the generations, while working together. The four different types of generations are the veterans, the baby boomers, the generation X, and the generation Y. I will talk of all their important characteristics and compare and contrast their qualities based on work ethics, education, and multi-tasking.

The American hippie movement of the 1960s was strengthened by the increase of youth population. Many believe the official beginning of this cultural event started with the youth of the 1960's but it really started with their parents. In the late 1930s and early 1940s America was just coming out of a disheartening depression.(About the Great Depression.) America's unfortunate fate led them into another unlucky situation, World War II. Many youthful men and women joined the service, in fact over an estimated sixteen million total were sent into the war.( GI Bill History - U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs. ) In the late 1940s soldiers coming back at the end of the war were now onto the next stage of their lives and made families. This is what started the baby boomers. After so many hardships and losses the last thing anyone expected was an approximately seventy-six million babies born between baby boomer era of about ten to fifteen years. (BBHQ: Boomer Statistics. ) Many of these children had strict parents who had become disheartened from losing childhood