15 Sep Elderly Problems: Baby Boomers and the Loss of Traditional Values (pt. 1)
Elderly Problems of Baby Boomers: Loss of Generational Values
Psychological Articles on Elderly Problems
Baby boomers, as a generation, are heralded as a force of change. As a result of their efforts, a society confronted and to significant degrees, overcame racial and gender injustices. In the process, however, baby boomers found themselves at odds with not just the biasness of previous generations, but an entire cultural mindset. For baby boomers, the traditional values of their parents were a constraining ideological force that was to be resisted on every front. The struggle was ultimately successful against the injustices that shamed a nation, but boomers also rejected needed cultural elements that facilitated social progress of a nation as well.
Traditional values are a term that is bandied about by politicians and religious figures quite frequently. The general argument is that American society has suffered a loss of these values as time (and baby boomers) has progressed. As a result, society is trapped in a downward spiral of violence and immorality. Those who hold to the premise of the loss traditional values point to the prevalence of pornography, pre-marital sexual relations and the break down of the traditional family structure as evidence of its demise.
Young Baby Boomers
From a morality stand point, there is definitive evidence that American society has adopted wide spread acceptance of social norms (i.e. homosexuality, pre marital relations, etc.) that were previously unacceptable. One can certainly, however, argue the rightness or wrongness of these concepts and the degree that they have had an effect on American society. What is not debatable is the literal disintegration of the traditional family structure and the social crisis that is manifesting as a result.
Baby boomers, for their part, are known for their overall rejection of traditional values. This was, as noted, a reaction to their efforts against the social injustices that were apart of the culture of their parents over which they were rebelling. Additionally, this was an Anglo-Saxon, male dominated, religiously influenced culture. For baby boomers, their resistance was complete. The problem that manifested is that boomers rejected the good and the bad in equal proportions.
Baby boomers have a mindset of acceptance that allows for lifestyles of preference. What this means is that as long as a preferred way of living doesn’t necessarily have a direct or obvious detrimental effect on anyone else, then it’s acceptable. There is an underlying connotation that the purpose of life is to enjoy oneself and therefore do whatever is most enjoyable or pleasing to self; contributing to a rise narcissism, nihilism, and wanton sexuality. Certainly, these issues have always been in existence, but contemporary times have seen their acceptance as a social norm, therefore allowing increased participation by the masses.
However, the more significant result in this self-gratification ideology that baby boomers espouse is a minimization of social obligation and responsibility. One aspect of previous generations is the idea that every individual has an obligation to both self and community. There was a social standard that stood as a point of reference for direction. For America, this was the family. The family structure stood as the point of reference, the focal point from which the fundamental ideas that America was founded on originates, is taught, internalized and manifests into action that allows for progressive momentum on a national scale. The loss of family is not just an elderly problem and blow to baby boomers, but to the continuation of the traditional American society.
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