Generation Gap: Why the Baby Boomers Still Dominate American Politics and Culture

by Kevin Munger

The Baby Boomers are the largest and most powerful generation in American history—and they aren’t going away any time soon. They are, on average, whiter, wealthier, and more conservative than younger generations. They dominate cultural and political institutions and make up the largest slice of the electorate. Generational conflict, with Millennials and Generation Z pitted against the aging Boomer cohort, has become a media staple. Older and younger voters are increasingly at Republicans as a whole skew gray-haired, and within the Democratic Party, the left-leaning youth vote propels primary challengers. The generation gap is widening into a political fault line.Kevin Munger marshals novel data and survey evidence to argue that generational conflict will define the politics of the next decade. He examines the historical trends that made the Baby Boomers so consequential and traces the emergence of age-based political and cultural divisions. Boomers continue to prefer the media culture of their youth, but Millennials and Gen Z are using the internet to render legacy institutions irrelevant. These divergent media habits have led more people than ever to identify with their generation. Munger shows that a common “cohort consciousness” binds aging Boomer voters into a bloc—but a shared identity and purpose among Millennials and Gen Z could topple Boomer power.Bringing together expertise in data analysis and digital culture with keen insight into contemporary politics, Generation Gap explains why the Baby Boomers remain so dominant and how quickly that might change.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

300 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 7, 2022

Reviews

[Alex MacMillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"More than anything, Boomer influence is a story of sheer numbers. As of the early 1980s, when the Boomer revolution really kicked off, the generation represented no less than 42 percent of the voting-eligible population and up to 51 percent, depending on whether one calculates the Boom’s start from 1940 or 1946. Under either analysis, the Boomers have been by far the most important political group for several decades—e.g., there were roughly as many white Boomers in 1990 as all ethnic minorities, of all generations, combined. The Boomers’ numerosity meant that even a modest tilt in any one direction influenced [policy] outcomes profoundly. In matters where the Boomers identified themselves by generational interests, as they often did, their power would be overwhelming, allowing Boomers to set policy essentially by themselves, without any of the usual coalition building, compromises, or concessions to other interests. It has been an extraordinary situation in American democratic history." - Bruce Cannon Gibney

"Gradually, then suddenly." - Ernest Hemingway

The 2020s will continue a fierce political battle as the Boomers cede power to their children. I'm eager for my generation's imminent takeover, and fascinated by how public policy will shift to our preferences. From 1964 to 1980 was the last time America had such a turbulent demographic transition, as the Greatest Generation (born 1901-1927) gradually lost out to the Baby Boomers (1946-1964).* After forty years with Boomers in the driver's seat (1980-2020), we have entered a new era as Millennials and Gen Z (born 1981-) reach voting age. Much of the extreme political polarization we see today results from the policy disagreements between young and old. Boomers are unaccustomed to sharing power, so certain Boomer factions have violently lashed out at the young instead of compromising. In 2020, for example, one in four Millennials marched to protest George Floyd's murder, while roughly the same proportion of Boomers supported the Big Lie and an attempted coup to disenfranchise the young.

Millennial voters were the decisive factor in a close defeat of Donald Trump. President Biden's need to straddle between Boomer and Millennial preferences is why his approval rating has been underwater. And notwithstanding voter suppression tactics, court packing, and high-precision gerrymandering of legislative districts, the current Republican coalition is on track to be wiped out in upcoming elections as younger generations start voting and older generations pass away. Trump's largest base of support, the Silent Generation (1927-1945), were 16% of voters in 2016, while the Zoomers were just 2% (most were too young to vote). Those percentages will flip by 2028. The continued threat of Trumpism, repeal of Roe, and social media campaigns to register younger voters will only accelerate this seismic shift in power.

Generation Gap is a survey of Boomer power within politics, the economy, and popular culture, and a prediction of how that power will wane, bend, or break over time. The author uses the concept of "Boomer Ballast" to explain how and why the institutions in American life will transfer power and influence to younger generations at different rates of speed during the 2020s.

While I greatly enjoyed the writing and analysis, I only give a 3-star rating because I've read even better books exploring the generation gap. The author quotes approvingly from Bruce Cannon Gibney's A Generation of Sociopaths, which I highly recommend. I see Generation Gap as a more balanced addendum to Gibney's polemic. - 9/14/22

* - (The story of this last major battle between generations is brilliantly depicted in Nixonland and other works by political historian Rick Perlstein)

[Ian Loree · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly insightful book about the forthcoming political conflict between Baby Boomers and younger generations (Millenials / Gen Z) that will likely define the political climate of the early 2030s and beyond. Munger is the first political scientist I've read who formally analyzes these two groups as political factions, due to their respective aggregation into self-identified groups with unique political aims (Social Security vs student loans & climate change) - unlike the in-between Gen Xers, who themselves are also victims of what Munger terms as "boomer ballast", their overrepresentative dominance of American government and institutions beyond a historically typical time frame. He additionally uniquely acknowledges the starkness of the information-technological revolution brought on by the Internet in the context of cross-generational communication and replacement.

While Munger makes a stronger argument for Boomer-Millenial/Z conflict based on the zero-sum nature over political spending, based on a strictly economic argument, than for conflict that would come about due to cohort consciousness driving the election of generationally opposed candidates, I do take a few issues with this approach. Munger frames the decision over federal spending as a zero-sum binary, and does not consider the avenue of cutting spending in both areas, nor private solutions combatting climate change or reducing college cost - understandable, given the the decline of fiscal conservatism over the past decade, and Millenials' more liberal attitudes, but worth noting. I also would not discount the potential for social issues (such as LGBT issues) to be a part of this conflict, but that is difficult to foretell at this time. The book could also benefit from a reworked conclusion, as his ponderings on the 2024 election are already out of date.

Neverthless, his chapter on generational identification based on unique forms of media consumed (cable TV vs Internet & social media) is excellent, along with his analysis of how government policies in the 20th century helped Boomers dominate the booming market while the government's response to the Great Recession helped maintain it. The last chapter of the book is dedicated to examining Boomers' relationship with the Internet, and is worth reading in its own right (regardless of the overall generational picture) as they confront a technology that is beyond their time.

[Marc Sabatier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, clearly arguing that generational conflicts will be clear in the 2030's. It's really an excellent description of how demographics are changing, and what this will mean for society at large.

One element that could've been developped further is the theory of generational conflicts. Are people self-interested? Do they think as individuals, or do they also account the welfare of their children? A little more work on the intuitions here would've pleased this reader, but the book accomplishes the goals it states.

Recommended!

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Useful! Really incredible presentation of the generational media trends, predictions-and perhaps most useful-the language needed to describe these inevitabilities. Appropriately, I guess I’m revealing my late-boomer card when I say although I listened to it on audiobook, I seriously am considering buying an analog print copy and marking it up all over with a fat yellow highlighter. It’s that worthwhile to anyone interested in digital media studies and speculation.

[Danny Zimny-Schmitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robust and original work on the role generation plays in culture and politics - I hope this is the first of much more research in this understudied area.