Push forward thirty years and something has changed. Today the generational gap has expanded dramatically and really come home to roost. It is no more about a few years. All of us are engulfed in it all the time. Its more like a generational war between old and new. We saw it in action in 2016. Both the Brexit and Trump votes showed the age divide in the segments vote.
Older people generally are less concerned about the materiality of things. It's more about culture, nationality, independence, the feeling of isolation and being disenfranchised. "We do not belong; no one listens to us; we simply do not exist. It's as if we have fallen off the back of a truck and no one has noticed". The older generation is feeling left out, perhaps technology and social media making them less relevant. Hence their is a reaction, against economics, more about culture, more about race and nationalism.
The younger ones are concerned about the future shape of things. They have grown up in a networked environment and are at home in this global village. They are less worried about migration and how society is being homogenised. It's about eco systems, environment, interlinkages and how to make a prosperous future. Make the global village work together. And at the backend, how best to deal with rampant technology, use it and drive it further. There is a further change in Millennials (early 80s to late 90s birth) thinking. Research is showing that ideas about prosperity are changing. Millennials are opting for valuable personal experiences than necessarily outright ownership of property. This is part of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. As Millennials have grown up in a more secure environment, they do not necessarily feel property ownership is a purpose in life and would much rather go on a holiday and value that experience more.
Partially this generational gap is laid on the door of demographics. In many developing countries the youth bulge is giving the under 30s a very large and dynamic say in society. This leads to a face off, between the conservative and liberal agendas. Quite the opposite, in developed societies with birth rates dropping and population ageing, it is the older population which has a significant vote bank, and it is this population which is driving a nationalistic agenda. You see that with Brexit and Trump votes.
What is coming is a more scary generational scenario. As the world population growth declines and comes to a standstill somewhere around 2045, the older population will become bigger in numbers. However, technology and the operations of the world, will be more readily handled by the youth. Simultaneously, the older population will start retiring in big numbers. The responsibility to run the world and provide for a growing old age population will fall squarely on the youth. As the retired population increases, it will be fewer younger people providing for more and more older people. One can actually see an 'inverse responsibility pyramid', leading to a generational conflict developing and chaos prevailing. This is all the more likely, as the then youths will not attach much value to wealth accumulation. So looking after the workings of an aging world will become a huge bind for them.
Since this eventuality of generational conflict is so obviously apparent today, governments and world organisations need to come together to carve a plan which shall stop this terrible situation developing. Part of the solution may be to reverse declining birth rates, but also will include a big increase in the retirement age and further utilisation of retired people in society (perhaps volunteer work). Also legislation to enhance inter-generational mixing and teams. Age diversity! Without such reforms and actions to stop this generational divide, it can tear us apart and cause endless harm and destruction.
*picture is from Shutterstock
*picture is from Shutterstock
