The Decade Matrix: Coming of Age in the Twentieth Century

Gollub, director of the Stanford Research Institute Life Span Project, here posits seven distinct generations, each defined by a decade. Members of the Dream-Deferred Generation (born 1910-1919), survivors of the Depression, are ``angry about the past and suspicious of the future.'' Marked by practical self-centeredness, the Bridge Generation (born 1930-1939) straddles the goal-oriented WW II period and the baby-boom era. Those of the Gap Generation (born 1940-1949) experienced 1960s idealism and now bring to their early middle age ``a tremendous amount of authenticity and compassion.'' Techno-Kids (born 1960-1969), reared in conformity, are ``cultural orphans'' who ``tend to express their alienation inwardly, against themselves, rather than against the world.'' While not free of psychobabble, this often intriguing report stands miles above other life-cycle schemes, largely because Gollub concretely ties each generation's imputed personality profile to historical events, socioeconomic conditions and cultural trends. (May)