Angloamerican long-term cycle, part 3, generational archetypes

As it is with Turnings, there are four generational archetypes. Each archetype has their own common characteristics. These characteristics are found from the majority of each generation. Each generation lasts about a one phase of life. All these archetypes arrive always in the same order. Each archetype has its own way of reacting to events in different phases of life. These phases of life start from childhood, moves through young adulthood to midlife, and ends in elderhood. One can also add late elderhood for the fifth phase, but it is irrelevant in this context. There are not enough people in late elderhood to have a significant effect on events in the world. Each archetype in each phase of life has a different effect on other archetypes. These effects are guided by the long-term cycle with four Turnings.

Childhood is a time for growing, learning, and approving the need for protection from older generations. The social role of children hasn´t really changed in the last decades, even though technology and medicine have improved significantly. When the childhood ends, young adulthood begins. In this phase of life, it is time to transform ideas and dreams into projects and plans. It is also time for building a career and starting a family. Midlife is a time for conserving lifestyle, and transferring dreams and ideas into reality. Guiding younger generations is one of the most important tasks at this phase of life. Most people also start realizing their aging and start seeing signs of their transformation towards elderhood. Most people die in this fourth phase of life. This is the time when you can stop caring about your duty towards the society and finish your career.

There is a contradiction to consider, when you think about how the generations are formed. History makes the generations and generations make history. It is not easy to define the generations when new children are born so much every second. So the question is how do you define the generations? First, you need to define the length of each generation. A generation is a group of people who have been born in the same time in history. This time has the approximate length of one phase of life which is around twenty years. One generation has seen the same events at the same time. Second, majority of the generation have similar beliefs about families, gender roles, institutions, politics, religion and future. And majority of them react the same way for the same events. Any individual can still have his own ways of believing and reacting. Third, they have a sense of belonging to a certain generation. For example, Millennials feel they belong to their own group of people. Each generation has also its own biography.

Different archetypes

Prophets are born and raised during a High. They come of age as a narcissistic young adults during an Awakening. When they are in midlife, they cultivate their moral principles during an Unraveling and they become wise gray champions during a Crisis. During this fourth Turning, leaders are usually Prophets. They guide younger generation to a great victory or catastrophe. Other archetypes see them as narcissistic, arrogant, and ruthless. They are principally endowed towards vision, values, and religion. Prophets have the greatest Effect on Heroes, and vice versa. The reason for this is that when Prophets are in midlife, Heroes are in childhood, and vice versa. Some of the Prophets that had big effects on people in history were, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt. The best known Prophet today is probably Donald Trump.

Nomads are born and have a liberal upbringing during an Awakening. During an Unraveling, they become marginalized from the society when they are in young adulthood. Their actions are pragmatic during a Crisis in midlife and they accept their destiny as ignored elders during a High. During this Turning, their efforts and actions during a Crisis are forgotten. Some of them are even humiliated with a lack of respect from younger generations, even though they were the most important generation for the victory during the last Turning. Other archetypes see them as practical, cultureless, and amoral. They are principally endowed towards freedom, survival, and honor. Nomads have the biggest effect on Artists, and vice versa. Some of the Nomads that had big effects on people in history were George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and Dwight Eisenhower. The best known Nomad today is probably Barach Obama.

Heroes are born and protected during an Unraveling. They have a role as cooperative young adults for solving a Crisis. They are then guided by some Prophets and middle-aged Nomads for getting the best possible result from the Crisis. During a High, they are arrogant middle-aged people and during an Awakening, they are strong and effective elders. Other archetypes see them as selfless, capable and mechanistic. They are principally endowed towards community, technology, and prosperity. Heroes have the biggest effect on Prophets, and vice versa. Some of the Heroes that had big effects on people in history were Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. Most known Hero today is probably Mark Zuckerberg.

Artists are born as overprotected children during a Crisis and they are senstive yound adults during a High. They function as undecided middle-aged leaders during an Awakening and are emphatic elders during an Unraveling. Others archetypes see them as open-minded, emotional and undecided. They are principally endowed towards competence, due process, and pluralism. Artists have the biggest effect on Nomads, and vice versa. Some of the Artists that had big effects on people in history were Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Colin Powell. The best known Artist today is probably Warren Buffett.

Next week, I will publish a text about an ongoing Crisis. Until then,

-TT

Anglo-American long term cycle, Saeculum, Part 1, Basics

What we learn from history that we do not learn from history

-Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

I will focus on the Anglo-American long-term cycles and generations in this text. For now, Anglo-American world is the most dominant one in this globe. This thing may change in this century. To me, this change is actually more probable than continuous Anglo-American dominance. This first part is about the basics of a saeculum cycle, its four different seasons and different archetypes of generations. ”History does not repeat but it rhymes”, said Mark Twain. This text is mostly based on the book called ”The Fourth Turning”, written by William Strauss and Neil Howe. This book is an excellent and worthwhile reading. It was written in the middle of 1990s and is still relevant. Some of its forecasts have actualized and some of them have not.

As you can divide a year for four different seasons, you can do the same for a long-term saeculum cycle. A long term cycle lasts 80-100 years and in an Anglo-American societies they have lasted from the 1400s. These long-term cycles can be divided into four generational cycles called turnings. They represent different seasons in one long-term cycle. These turnings can last anything from 15-30 years, like different phases of life. Most often they last about 18-22 years. These turnings are a first turning called a High, second turning called an Awakening, third turning called an Unraveling and fourth turning called a Crisis. There are four phases of human life, childhood, young adulthood, midlife and elderhood. One generational archetype dominates one phase of life in one turning. These archetypes are:

• A Prophet generation, born in a High
• A Nomad generation, born in an Awakening
• A Hero generation, born in an Unraveling
• An Artist generation, born in a Crisis

You have to understand these archetypes and their role in the long term cycle. You have to understand that majority of the people in one generation have special characteristics these archetypes have, not all of them. These characteristics are formed by the events of history and vice versa. You have to also understand that without different archetypes, their wouldn´t be different turnings. A new archetypal generation is born, when most people of the same generation are either dead or living their last years. These archetypes are the main reasons why long term cycle reoccurs again and again.

About the length and reason of the cycle

Most people in Anglo-American countries are not aware of these long-term cycles and their roles in them. A Crisis in the end of the cycle happens, because most people who remember the last Crisis are long gone. A society and the nature have to complete their social and biological changes. Periodic destruction in the end of the cycle is needed to renew the society and the nature. Human life time is the natural rhytm for these cycles. How could it be anything else? The changes in political regimes, natural disasters, and technology vary in length, but natural human life cycle hasn´t much changed in the previous centuries. People died before in diseases and wars before their natural life spans ended.

The most important reason for why people are doomed to see these long-term cycles are that they think linearly. People think mostly about today and they forget to think about longer-term cycles. They have no idea about seasonal changes in societies. Within a long-term cycle, each season has its own characteristics. These characteristics vary within a cycle more than seasons in different long-term cycles. An Unraveling in one cycle looks more like the Unraveling in the previous cycle than an Awakening and Unraveling in the same cycle. The reason for variation is that different archetypes have different roles in different seasons. Different generations are dominating different seasons. Archetypes in young adulthood and in midlife have bigger roles in seasons. These dominant archetypes also move their actions and behaviors for reflecting their own lifetime experiences. Thus, their efforts are directed into different directions than the efforts of the previous dominant archetypes. These changes in efforts move people from one season to another. The most dominant archetypes have the biggest effects on the second younger generation. For example, Nomads that are in midlife right now have the most effects on Artists in the childhood.

This text was part 1 of the Anglo-American cycles and generations.

There is more to come in the next few weeks. You will be less well prepared for the future, if you don´t understand a long-term cycle.

-TT