Posts Tagged ‘generational theory’

• Promoting a Creative Generation

  By adam On 29th July 09

  Comments 0

  

  Today marks the start of Promoting a Creative Generation, a tw

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  o-day conference in Göteborg looking at the role of children and young people in the new culture and media landscape.

  Taking place within the context of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation and hosted under the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, 350 experts and participants will discuss the creativity and cultural habits of children and young people.

  

  Gunnar Seijbold/ Regeringskansliet.

  Swedish Minister for Culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth says, “this conference is to learn more about both the possibilities and problems of the new culture and media landscape that our children and young people encounter. The digital cultural platforms create new and often difficult issues that, despite their different starting points, are clearly related. And it is almost always young people who are affected”.

  Keynote speakers include Renad Qubbaj from the Tamer Institute for Community Education in Ramallah

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  and Professor Bamford, Director of Cultural Programmes for Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE), London.

  The conference programme focuses on different aspects of daily life for children and young people, recognising that, today, children and young people are to a great

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  extent not only consumers but also producers in the new media landscape. Sessions will look at how to strengthen children and young people’s right to culture, how traditional cultural institutions can find ways to remain attractive and accessible for the new generation, promote the exchange of experience and knowledge on how public investments can help to ensure that children and young people’s right to culture in all forms is guaranteed and will also include participants trying out the younger generation’s world of digital communication.

  The opening and closing sessions can be watched via webcast

  In the UK, very similar questions are being raised by The New Deal of the Mind coalition, chaired by the journalist and former political editor of the New Statesman, Martin Bright. The New Deal of the Mind is a grouping of like-minded individuals who believe we must not let the recession crush creativity and innovation. Learning the lessons of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal, the coalition believes the creative and digital industries can help provide a route through the recession for young people and others. Check out their latest report, ‘Do It Yourself: Cultural and Creative Self-Employed in Hard Times’, exploring self employment options in the cultural and creative sector.

  Of course this blog celebrates how creativity and innovation are changing youth volunteering, but revolutionising how young people can share their time and talents with others is becoming of much broader concern, across many sectors.

  Any thoughts on these issues?

  Tags:

  european union, generational theory, innovation policy, innovations, participation, social media, Youth, youth unemployment

  Posted in Research

• The Generational Theory

  By Anjali Ramachandran On 26th May 09

  Comments 1

  

  Along with this blog’s coverage of innovations in

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  youth volunteering, it is important to articulate and fully understand the psychology behind the generation that most youth projects are aimed at. American authors Cheap viagra soft

  om/about/howe.html” target=”_blank”>Neil Howe and William Strauss have studied the various cycles of American society extensively and have formulated a generational theory that splits each cycle into four phases, or what they call ‘turnings’. According to them, each new generation develops values from its previous one but they are distinct from the following one, bringing unique perspectives to their roles in society.

  The generational theory postulates that as with individuals, a whole generation’s collective personality develops during childhood, and this causes them to be risk-taking or cautious, for example – traits which then follow them into the next phase and more importantly, reflect the mood of the era.

  In the first turning, children are given freedom, hope and security by their families, leading them to distrust authority. When they grow up, they start defying political authority as a result. This then begins the second turning, where parents focus on things like spirituality and self-discovery, leaving the children to grow up on their own, without a focus. This generation then produces the third turning, where, the parents being devoid of social obligations leads to the children being raised in an environment mandated by strict rules and regulations, even politically. Howe and Strauss give the example of “ zero-tolerance rules, laws named after victimized children (Megan’s Law, Amber’s Law), and endless political wrangling over the educational system” being indicators of the Third Turning child rearing mode, which is where we as a society currently stand.

  The authors believe that the fourth turning, or Millenials, where young people are increasingly civic-minded and potentially powerful leaders of the next political environment, is where we could be now.

  The generational theory is interesting from the point of view of youth volunteering because if it is right, then opportunities to volunteer (that enable them to be civic-minded and participate in the community) are exactly what this generation is looking for. Which makes the work of organisations in this field all the more salient.

  If you’re interested in the theory, read Howe’s book Millenials Rising and the description of the theory.