Andrée Seu Peterson on the "Time" cover 
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Study: Generation gap biggest since ’60s
Today Pew Forum published a study finding that 79% say that there is a generation gap between the old and young. In 1969, 74% of Americans saw a generation gap, but that number fell to 60% ten years later in 1979.
Nearly half (47%) said the generation gap had to do with values. In that broad category, 12% said there was a difference in morality, ethics and beliefs, and 12% said the difference was a sense of entitlement. The older population, unsurprisingly, volunteered that last answer more often than the younger. They’re most likely to describe the younger generation as spoiled, materialistic, and focused on instant gratification. Also in the values category, some 9% said that the generations had different work ethics.
Adding more data to our previous discussion of young people’s attitudes towards religion, the Pew survey found that there is a generation gap in religion. Two-thirds of adults aged 65 and older say religion is very important to them, compared with just over half of adults aged 30 to 49 and 44% of adults aged 18 to 29.
Here’s a link to the full report, which also contains 150-pages worth of data on the daily lives of older Americans.
Do WMB readers see this generation gap, and where do you see the biggest differences between the old and young? Any ideas on how to mend it?
back to top15 Comments to “Study: Generation gap biggest since ’60s”
Kids today, boy I tell you what. Back in my day..
Seriously, I think the technology gap is probably fueling a great deal of this talk. I noticed much criticism of the medicare Part D was how complicated it was to apply for etc. But look who drafted the entire program? Did they even bring in a focus group of seniors to test market it?
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The urgency of religion is most evident to those nearing marriage, experiencing parenthood or nearing the end of life. True we have added lifespans but as you get older more and more reunions occur at graveside services.
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Surveys schmurveys. Okay, I’m not claiming this one has no merit, but I do suggest not participating in the gap. At our church, yesterday, we taught on the need for older adults to actively reach out to mentor and love young people. I received excellent feedback and people are hungry for this challenge.
One GREAT way to bridge this gap is for you to volunteer this summer for summer Bible Camp! Teach, work with crafts, direct the sports & games, take hikes, cook, clean, go fishing, be a counselor, give of yourself!!!!!
Or get back into Boy Scouts!!!
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This study may simply signal how wide the swing of the pendulum may be when these kids grow up and face life’s realities (which may take a while for some, I admit).
We are called to love them. And remember Paul’s words: “Love is patient.” (1 Cor. 13:4)
_________
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I’m not sure the age categories are well selected. I’m 58 and generally I feel closer to folks who are 30 or 40, than I do to most who are 65+. I think the culture changed radically in the late 60’s and early 70’s and relatively few who were adolescents before that time understand that change.
I’m sort of out of touch with a lot of under 25’s, though I do live in a home with a 22 y.o. step-grandchild who has a lot of friends. He’s a highly motivated entrepreneur who I think is eventually going to make a ton of money, and he also seems to have absorbed a lot of the more liberal values. A few years of both Catholic and Episcopalian education left no impression on him.
His friends seem to be a mixed bag–I’ve met one who is a really obnoxious libertarian and one of his best friends stunned everybody by enlisting earlier this year; most of the rest would be dismissed by most World readers as screaming liberals bent on destroying the country. But I suspect they are fairly typical of edge-of-the-bible-belt public college students these days.
A lot of ‘em really don’t know what they want to do; that might be troubling, but I think maybe as age expectancy and working life increases, we can afford a bit more prolonged adolescence.
Of my three daughters, ages 26-32, I’ve got one who I think may remain hippie-like forever and two very successful, but liberal, and liberated young women. They all seem to have survived years in parochial schools and a parent who joined, ferociously devoured and rejected three religions, without any abiding faith.
Anyway that’s my report from Lake Wobegone by the Potomac.
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When people get older, they realize they are going to die. Ernst Becker, an anthropologist-existential philosopher, wrote two significant books on this topic:
Denial of Death and Escape from Evil.
A non-fiction movie based on his work is called Flight from Death.
To too briefly summarize his work:
Humans are the only animals that have enough intelligence to realize that we are going to die.
Some of the ways in which we deal with this painful realization are to avoid thinking about death, to imagine that there is an afterlife where something called a “soul” will survive, and/or to engage in what Becker called “immortality projects.”
Iimmortality projects may be creation of religions that promises us eternal life (such as Christianity or Islam), or accomplishing something that will live on after our death, such as creation of a great work of art (Shakespeare’s plays, Mozart’s symphonies, or Rembrandt’s paintings), saving lives through medical research (Pasteur’s germ theory, Salk’s polio vaccine), creating a great nation (George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and the other founders of the United States), building a great company (Edison (General Electric) Watson (IBM), Ford (Ford), founding a great family (Rockefellers) and so on.
Unfortunately, because human anguish and fear of death is so intense, we often turn to dreadful immortality projects such as Nazism and Communism, and when such projects are led by charismatic leaders such as Hitler and Lenin, Stalin, and Mao, millions of other people will sign up and engage in dreadful activities such as conquests, genocides, and wars.
This works best if you get to people while they are young and impressionable.
Or you blame it all on Satan. However, I believe we have met the enemy and he is us.
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RN…Bottom line sir…”WHERE IN THE HECK” do you think we came from? A spark of lightning hitting pond scum and all this intricately woven creation came to be??? Give me a break !!! In order for a species to survive they must reproduce correct? Without getting too graphic… Apparently you believe that one day this “caveman” was formed with all his ual organs intact and fully evolved ready to meet “Cave Eve” It does NO good for a ual organ to be “evolving” it must be FULLY functioning in order to propagate the species. So anyway back to Cave man. So again in order for this to work, Cave Man has to be fully evolved ually. And guess what? Eve had to evolve her organs at the EXACT same TIME and moment. AND she had to have EVOLVED in the same location as he did. No good if she is ready to have babies in 1 million BC and He evolved in 2 million BC AND she evolved in Kenya and He “evolved” in Uganda.Both TIME and PLACE are essential. Now multiply that by the ALL the Birds and Animals. YOU SIR believe this fairy tale if you wish. However to do so you MUST …I repeat you MUST believe millions if not billions of miracles. I, however, believe to choose but ONE miracle.
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They deleted my reference to se*ual organs….
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Also never mind where this Adam and Eve came from BEFORE all the organs were fully functioning. Geez. Even Watson and Crick both atheists who discovered the DNA and its shape saw that it could NOT have come about by chance. But STILL they refused to believe in a Creator and instead said that “aliens” seeded the Earth. How stubborn some people can be.
I have always told my children that there is a difference between Knowledge and Wisdom. Watson and Crick had loads of Knowledge and made one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century. But alas they had no wisdom. The lowly janitor, if he was a God fearing man, had more WISDOM than all of them put together. It is best to have BOTH Wisdom and Knowledge. But if I had to choose only one, I would choose the Wisdom of the lowly Janitor.
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“Adam and Eve” above are referenced as “Cave Man Adam and Eve” I use them to make a point in #9 For the record. I believe that the Lord did inf act create Adam and Eve from whence we all can claim lineage to.
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Somebody didn’t get his/her morning cup of coffee.
Generation gaps are a perceptional idea which in this case may be exaggerated by technology.
A few years back when gay marriage (among other social questions) was debated in Canada, they discovered the dividing line between agree or disagree was the age of 40. In other issues — Iraq war and marijuana — the age of 40 was also the dividing line. For the record I’m just over 40 but agree with my younger friends and colleagues.
As for spoiled, materialistic, self indulged etc; the same was said of my generation. Older people complaining about younger people — we need a study to confirm this????
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Underdogs51 Hello.
Where are dogs #s 1 through 50?
I don’t know where the universe came from. I admit it. I don’t believe in making up stories about things I don’t understand.
Evolution is much harder to grasp intuitively than gravity. If I jump off a cliff (like the former President of South Korea did a few months ago), I will go bang, smash, break. Pretty definite proof, I think.
The evidence for evolution, though much less evident on casual observation is much greater than the evidence for Creationism. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
It’s possible that God the Great Daddy created absolute laws of the universe. I don’t think such exist. There is no real evidence one way or the other.
For the record. I believe that the Lord did inf act create Adam and Eve from whence we all can claim lineage to.
I believe you believe that. I believe most people at worldmagblog believe that.
I used to find this amazing, but it’s lost its novelty value on the bed post overnight. Now it just strikes me as just plain dumb. OK, dumb with a maaschino cherry on top. Evidence? Keep it to one average length comment, please.
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This study may simply signal how wide the swing of the pendulum may be when these kids grow up and face life’s realities (which may take a while for some, I admit).
As for spoiled, materialistic, self indulged etc; the same was said of my generation. Older people complaining about younger people — we need a study to confirm this????
I find value in both Joel Mark’s words and HRW’s words. The “generation Gap” may be simply as both Joel and HRW say simply a fact of there being people of different ages in the world. And as we age we simply float from one side of the gap to the other.
For me personally I have never felt the gap for myself. But I have felt that others perceived it in others. I have never felt out of place with anyone of any age at any time. I have never been ‘offended’ by the cultures of the old fogies nor of the whippersnappers. There are plusses and minuses every where. I have felt that for some people to let you belong to their group, require you to dislike someone else. I think that is total foolishness.
There is still good music being written today. Even though many of the oldies are goodies. It is a rare Gregorian chant that I don’t like. I don’t believe that the Devil has all of the good music. And I also don’t believe there exists any hymnal anywhere that has enough songs of praise.
I admire the ability of people like Weird Al Yankovic to take one of the ‘Devil’s Songs’ and make it into a parody. (”White and Nerdy” is a song and a video I think most people should experience.) I grew up watching “Candid Camera” and I concur that it’s a tonic tried and true to laugh at yourself.
I have enjoyed some Rap ( I know ,I know everyone should hate rap…… ) and enjoyed some Tap. (You actually should get up and try to tap dance to see how really special it is.) I actually wrote a rap song about Velociraptors for the twelve year old daughter of a friend. Her response to the song was “You’re weird.”
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Weird continued.
I have also been considered weird because I have been equally at ease teaching Sunday School to children, teenagers, twenties, thirties, forties , up to eighties. Each Group wants me for them. I strongly believe in Vacation Bible Schools and strongly encourage the parents to come and get involved. I strongly believe in Revivals and Retreats. I strongly support both Missions and local ministries. I have taught in Megachurches and on the street. We are all God’s children.
Age really makes no difference to me and never has in any ‘Gap’ type way. I think if we concentrate on the gaps, we don’t see the bridges. I concentrate on the bridges.
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Yes. It is true that as far back as Plato, “kids these days” has been a perennial complaint of the older generation, but I think we’re on the cusp of something more than that, here — some fundamental change in the American religious/political landscape.
I’ve said it before. I see the stirrings of a virulent strain of atheism on the rise among 20-somethings and teens. When these kids are running Congress, it will be a trying time for American Christians.
Of course, American Christians have not helped their cause by allowing themselves to be politically defined by two issues: anti-abortion and anti-gay.
And in the service of those two issues, we went and shot ourselves in the other foot by becoming the religion of anti-intellectualism, blind nationalism, aggressive war, and torture for crying out loud.
So generation gap? Yeah. For many young people, “Christian” has stopped meaning “follower of Christ” and now implies a portmanteau of reactionary politics and belligerent nationalism.
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