Consciousness Revolution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| American Generations |
|
|---|---|
| Term | Period |
| Awakening Generation | 1701–1723 |
| First Great Awakening | 1727–1746 |
| Liberty Generation Republican Generation Compromise Generation |
1724–1741 1742–1766 1767–1791 |
| Second Great Awakening | 1790–1844 |
| Transcendentalist Generation Transcendental Generation Abolitionist Generation Gilded Generation Progressive Generation |
1789–1819 1792–1821 1819–1842 1822–1842 1843–1859 |
| Third Great Awakening | 1886–1908 |
| Missionary Generation Lost Generation Interbellum Generation G.I. Generation Greatest Generation |
1860–1882 1883–1900 1900–1910 1900–1924 1911–1924 |
| Jazz Age | 1929–1956 |
| Silent Generation Baby Boomers Beat Generation Generation Jones |
1925–1945 1946–1964 1948–1962 1954–1962 |
| Consciousness Revolution | 1964–1984 |
| Baby Busters Generation X MTV Generation |
1958–1968 1963–1978 1975–1984 |
| Culture Wars | 1980s–present |
| Boomerang Generation Generation Y Internet Generation New Silent Generation |
1977–1986 1979–1999 1988–1999 2000–2020 |
The Consciousness Revolution was a period of spiritual awakening in American history, according to Strauss and Howe in their books Generations and Fourth Turning. They put the years of the Consciousness Revolution as 1964 to 1984. Under Strauss & Howe's system, the era before the Consciousness Revolution was the American High; the era that follows it is the Culture Wars era.
The Consciousness Revolution began with urban riots and campus fury and swelled alongside Vietnam War protests and a rebellious counterculture. It gave rise to feminist, environmental, and black power movements and to a steep rise in violent crime and family breakup. After the fury peaked with Watergate in 1974, passions turned inward toward New Age lifestyles and spiritual rebirth. For many of this generation, the mood expired during Ronald Reagan's Presidential re-election campaign in 1984 as aging hippies reached their yuppie chrysalis.
Age Location in History:
- The G.I. Generation was entering elderhood. As institution-founders and the "status quo", and they found themselves on the defensive side of the generation gap.
- The Silent Generation was entering midlife. They were thirty something when the slogan "Don't trust anyone over thirty" was popular.
- The Baby boomers were entering young adulthood. They were the masses that made Woodstock so idyllic.
- Generation X was being born. Already, they were looking at the adult world as a source of mass confusion and were starting to be criticized as "bad". The criticism has moved up the age ladder with them.
