#ThrowbackThursday: Exploring The Shifts Between Millennials And Grandparents

The pace of human progress has accelerated exponentially in the past 50 years, especially, in the United States of America. Those who were in their 20s in 1970s and 1980s (also called the Silent generation) have seen it all. They have overseen the large shifts in society and culture that rapid technological progress brought them. In those old days, institutions like politics, religion, military service and marriage were considered important, with a greater percentage of population in tune with them. With today’s Millennials, however, the reality is far different as these institutions are being viewed with an enormous degree of detachment and disinterest. On the positive side, today we are observing more people enrolling for colleges, women taking a bigger role in workforce and in academia. We even have a black President in 2015, serving the last of his term. America has changed a lot in these years, though certain things like racial discrimination and prejudice continue to linger.

Let’s take a look at how certain things have changed in 50 years’ time and how the society has transformed in distinctive ways.

• Education

More investment in education, a better academic network and infrastructure, improved teaching techniques, all these things have made today’s Millennials more educated than those in the 1970s. In those old days, only an abysmal 7% of the women completed their bachelors. Today it’s 27% more likely for a woman to complete her undergraduate studies. Even men are faring better, with 21% of the millennial males possessing a bachelor’s degree. This is in comparison to 12% of the Silent generation’s men. Academic surveys and modern data gathering methods have confirmed these findings, illustrating how integral education is considered in today’s world.

• Workplace

Getting employed these days is tough business, since it wasn’t too long ago that the US economy was in a recession. Today’s Millennials were entering the labor force smack dab in the middle of the crisis. The only difference was that they went against the tide and got employed during tough times. Other generations haven’t enjoyed a quick labor market recovery rate especially after the 1981-82 crisis.
This is where the link between education and working career comes into sharp focus. Most Millennials from today are graduates or are enrolled full time, than the Silent generation from the 1980s.

• Marriage

In 1963, it used to be that American women were ardent believers of the ‘traditional’ values and married young, most of them marrying at 21 years of age. Men also got into wedlock by 23. In 2014, this figure has increased to 27 for women and 29 for men.

This is because women have more financial independence now, are more educated, confident and sure of their purpose in life. Partners can take their time in finding that special someone.

• Ethnicity

Large-scale immigration of ethnic minorities from all over the world into America has transformed today’s society. Many people, such as, Hispanics and Asians sought out the ‘American dream.’ The rise of interfaith and inter-racial relationships during the last 50 years has given birth to a more expansive melting pot of ethnicities in America. The Silent generation from a few decades ago had 78% non-Hispanic whites. Compare it to the 57% of today and you can see black, Hispanics, Asians and other ethnicities on the rise in America.

Millennials have made huge strides and progress as compared to the Silent generation from the 1970s. On average, they are better educated, more financially independent, increasingly mobile and ardent believers in individualism than two generations ago.