The Unique Cultural Identity of Baby Boomers

From the start, the Baby Boomer generation born between 1946 and 1964 embraced an anti-establishment attitude. Boomers came of age between two major wars, during a time of unprecedented prosperity as well as dramatic social change. They embraced technology and a new culture, making it their own and sharing it with the rest of the world ever since.

Boomers made their music, rock and roll, a featured expression of their identity as a generation. Access to transistor radios let them listen to a kind of music different than their parents: the Beatles and the Rolling Stones along with the rest of the British invasion; and the Motown Sound out of Detroit.

Baby boomers were the first generation to grow up with television. Popular Boomer-era shows included The Ed Sullivan Show, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, The Twilight Zone, Happy Days, and of course American Bandstand.

In a 1985 sociology study, American adults were asked what world events over the past 50 year were most important to them. The answers varied depending on whether the study participants were in the first half or second half of the Baby Boomer generation.

Baby Boomers born from 1946 to 1955 who came of age mainly in the 1960s said:

• The assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis
• Political and social unrest; riots
• The first man to walk on the moon
• The risk of being drafted into the Vietnam war
• The civil rights moment, the women’s movement, and the environmental movement
• Woodstock

This group exhibits several common key characteristics: they are experimental, individualism, free spirited, and social cause oriented.

Baby Boomers born later, from 1956–1964, had a different set of answers. Their most memorable world events were:

• Watergate and the resignation of President Richard Nixon
• The Cold War
• The oil embargo and gasoline rationing/shortages
• Re-instatement of draft registration by Jimmy Carter
• High Inflation
• The presidency of Ronald Reagan
• Live Aid

The common key characteristics for this group varied from the older Boomers: less optimistic, distrusting of government and generally more cynical.

Commentators often argue that Baby Boomers are in a state of denial regarding their own aging. According to the 2011 Associated Press and LifeGoesStrong.com surveys:

• 42% are delaying retirement
•  25% of those still working now claim they'll never retire

Dialogue is increasing on how to manage aging issues and re-defining what it means to grow older as the generation ages. As 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 each year, we will look forward to seeing how this generation will influence the attitudes toward and culture of aging in today’s society.

InTouch at Home is a Senior Resource Group, LLC (SRG) company. Serving the needs of seniors and their families for more than 20 years, SRG delivers on the promise of exceptional service and quality care each and every day through its 18 communities including La Vida Real (Rancho San Diego) and La Vida Del Mar. Now through InTouch at Home, this same outstanding care and service is available to you in your home, wherever it may be. For more information, call 858-522-9942 or visit www.InTouch-at-Home.com.