Case Study: The Baby Boomer Generation

My group decided to research the baby boomer generation. The baby boomers were born from 1945 to 1965, or a 20 year span. They were the largest generation with an estimated 80 million people born. This means that over the entire period 7 new babies were born a minute. Today, they make up 25% to 28% percent of the population. Almost 65% of them are married, and only 28% graduated college.

The baby boomers lived during the post-war and cold war era. The post-war era was was a prosperous time in America where unemployment was at a record low of around 2%. Many baby boomers were born into ‘nuclear families’, which were families that had 2.5 kids, a mother, a father, and a cookie-cutter neighborhood home. They also group up with ‘American family values’, which they still exhibit today. They also group up during the cold war, which means that they lived during the red scare, when the american population was petrified of the Soviet Union and communist-friendly ideals. As a result, many baby

boomers are staunch republicans.

This learning was very interesting. I believe baby boomers lived through the best times in America. They had high employment and a high GDP. From this learning, I think that they are a very privileged generation group. However, I also learned about the cold war. During the cold war, all of America was petrified of a Soviet nuclear attack. I cannot imagine living in a time where I was taught how to survive an attack on America soil. This makes me think that we are very privileged today since we do not have this threat.

My research of Baby Boomers has changed my viewpoint on the world. I learned that a majority of people in the American government are baby boomers. This has made me feel a new sense of misrepresentation in our government, as baby boomers only make up around 25% of the American population. This changes my outlook on my government to be more critical, because many baby boomers do not have the same ideals as the majority of the American population. I have also learned that only 28% of baby boomers have graduated from a college or university. This is in contrast to the graduation rate of millennials, which is significantly higher. This changes my outlook to be less trusting of people that say that college is the only way to a wealthy life, since baby boomers did not graduate from college and they were the most wealthy generation in American history.

I can use this research in my writing when trying to connect to baby boomers.

I now know the ideals and virtues of the generation. A majority of baby boomers believe in republican-based ideas. They also are more interested in getting ahead in life than helping others. From this, I know that if I wanted to write something to persuade something or to market something to a baby boomer community, I would have to make it more personal and less focused about the greater good for the entire population. I also know that baby boomers are less likely to understand electric technology, since they were born too early. From this, I know that I shouldn’t market technological products to baby boomers using technical terms.

My research will also help me understand the baby boomer generation and make my essays on the topic expansive and distinct. Since I would already know the information, I would save time on research. This would allow me to write more material in an orderly amount of

time.