How did the world arrive to this point? Reactionaries all over the world are on the rise. Conspiracy theorists seem to be gathering a larger following than ever. A new Cold War is seemingly upon the world. As Louis Menand discusses in his essay, generations both enact historical change, while history also acts upon generations. This cycle has been going on for most of recorded history. Many people are shaped by their early years, or by nostalgia for a bygone time, and their outlook on life changes due to their upbringing. With these facts in mind, I want to propose my own topic for the research assignment. The tentative title is, “Generational Geopolitics”, I like alliteration, after all. Though, I want to dive into more than geopolitics. Our culture, our technology, our domestic politics, what is the driving force behind them? I argue that generations have a great effect on the world, with some people’s entire world views being affected by the generation they were born into. For the sources, I will use Menand and Mannheim’s sources as a foundation. Other sources I will research at the library and comb through essays, historical books, and newspaper articles. Through this research assignment, I hope to further my understanding of generations, with a special focus on Generation X and Generation Z, though I will likely mention Boomers and Millennials as well. There will be some elements of the other topics as well, as I believe it’s important to discuss the economy and Covid-19 pandemic. Feel free to let me know if this is an inappropriate topic, but I feel generations are a wonderful tool to understand our world today.
Month: March 2022
Beginning sometime around the 1920’s, the United States’ culture shifted to become an increasingly consumerist society. By the 1990’s, many households in America had access to televisions and the internet was in its infancy. As an effect, most people in the United States were prey to some form of advertisement. In the chapter, “I am not a Target Market” of Douglas Coupland’s book, “Generation X”, Dag reminisces about his stint working in advertising. Even he admits he wasn’t a likable guy working in advertising. Dag recalls his boss giving him an assignment for a hamburger franchise, with the end goal to make the consumers, “vomit with excitement” at the thought of eating a burger. Advertisement is most often predatory and the people behind advertisements work tirelessly to crack their targeted audience. As Thomas Frank discusses in an essay written about advertising targeted toward Generation X, the advertisements shifted to a “hip and cool” form of advertising. The advertisements appealed to Generation X’s rebellious nature, all for the sake of cracking what was thought to be a savvy generation inherently suspicious of advertising campaigns. The field of advertisement is always evolving with the sole goal of gaining consumers in new generations