Me generation

The "Me" generation is a term referring to the Baby Boomers, especially the second half, in the United States, and the self-involved qualities associated with this generation. The 1970s was dubbed the "Me decade" by writer Tom Wolfe in The "Me" Decade and the Third Great Awakening; Christopher Lasch wrote about the rise of a culture of narcissism among younger baby boomers. The phrase became popular at a time when "self-realization" and "self-fulfillment" were becoming cultural aspirations to which young people supposedly ascribed higher importance than social responsibility.

Origins

The cultural change in the United States during the 1970s that was experienced by the Baby Boomers, upon when the second half of the demographic, known as Generation Jones, or simply as Jonses, when they came of age, is complex. The 1960s are remembered as a time of political protests, and radical experimentation with new cultural experiences (the sexual revolution, happenings, mainstream awareness of Eastern religions), which were practiced by older Boomers. The first half of the Post-WW II Generation are sometimes called the Leading Edge Boomers, or simply as the Leading Edges. The civil rights movement gave rebellious young people serious goals. Cultural experimentation was justified as being directed toward spiritual or intellectual enlightenment. The mid-to-late 1970s, in contrast, was a time of increased economic crisis and disillusionment with idealistic politics among the young, particularly after the resignation of Richard Nixon and the end of the Vietnam War. Unapologetic hedonism became acceptable among the young.