Generational Role Models
The definition of a role model is someone that inspires you in all aspects of life, not just your image. Someone whose behaviours or success is or can be emulated by others. Sometimes the role models are suitable and incredible and sometimes perhaps people are slightly misguided. It really is up to the individual to decide but for the external world to encourage the right habits.
Role models are commonly more significant in our younger teenage years, although they carry heavy influence throughout life. They inspire us both positively and negatively, give us hope and create opportunities for others, directly and indirectly. We determine our course of action by observing and practising the behaviour of those who strike a chord with us.
Through each Generation, we have been inspired by some truly spectacular and unforgettable iconic figures and it really is important to note that they are not always good influences. Each generation has been shaped by a number of different forces and trends and we are going to have a look at the different labels we have given the generations since the World War II.
BABY BOOMERS
Following World War II (1939–1945), the largest increase in population for the US ever recorded took place. For the UK, in 1947 there was a boom in the population but the numbers were nowhere near as high as the 1920's. By 1952, approximately 4 million babies were born every year until 1964.
The counter reaction was to fast track procreation and this population push continued for a sustained 20 years from 1946–1964. It seems likely that this was partly a reaction to the negative extremities and impact of the war, where as a race we had lost an enormous amount of human life. Globally over 80 million people had died, including those who suffered from war related disease and famine.
Reproduction was the name of the game and this was followed by a period where marriage breakdown and divorce were more prevalent than ever before. Much of this could also possibly be attributed to the fast-growing women’s liberation movement, where women were able to make more independent decisions both broadly and close to home. As a result, men and women were simply encouraged to walk different paths that often led to the dreaded ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ conversations.
The latter stages of this era overlapped with the influences of Generation X and essentially opened the door to an emerging population that desired the kind of freedom never before experienced. This largely came through the labels of ‘free love’ with an immersion in music, drugs and the embrace of many religious replacements.
Furthermore, there was a continuation of gender movement and equal pay was introduced in 1956 and The Life Peerages Act entitled women to sit in the House of Lords for the first time.
The global desire to deal with slavery and the treatment of ‘race’ came to the forefront and at pace there seemed to be an awakening amongst larger groups that we are all one race and being together as a united human race was the best form of progress. Still today this war rages on! This kind of positive progress was exemplified by Dr Martin Luther King. He enforced the Civil Rights movements in the early 1950's and if it wasn’t for his presence, racial equality across the world would not have progressed to where we stand today. Unfortunately, in the emergence of such an incredible progression was great negativity and in 1968 Dr King was assassinated. In his death was the cementing of his vision and most of us still celebrate everything this stands for today.
On the other side we were making great technological advances. This can be seen with the late Steve Jobs, a tech-obsessed hero, who was a figure that revolutionised the world from as early as the 1960’s. Jobs was categorised as one of the unconventional heroes because of his attitude towards life. He believed that we should be free to express ourselves in business and life, how one as the individual would see fit. Steve Jobs openly spoke about his childhood and growing up, dropping out of college and starting a business from his parents’ garage. It was not the done thing back then but Jobs had other ideas and his associated attitude, perfected in his earlier years, contributed to a computer revolution with ‘Apple’ years later.
The 50's and 60's also saw the emergence of new forms of music such as Rock & Roll. Iconic figures such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Rolling Stones, The Who and The Beatles took over the radio stations and TV’s. No longer were the young restricted and they were more than happy to openly express themselves in open and passionate showings of love and affection for their icons.
‘The Beatles’ who in the modern day, are arguably more musically influential than any other band that has ever existed (there is an argument for the Stones)! Bands like the Beatles impacted many people’s lives in all aspects and contributed to a change in thinking and a lifestyle movement within the young. The whole attitude and approach, including The Generation X look (hair, clothes etc) saw them as a symbol of freedom. They influenced millions to learn to play an instrument, opening their ears to music and awakening their aesthetic sensibilities. On the other hand, this musical movement created a radical and sometimes damaging drug culture that has been changing and developing ever since.
It is apparent that this generation has had an impact both socially and economically, but is it a positive one?
The mid 60's to early 80’s formed Generation-X.
One of the smaller generations, perhaps lead by the release of the birth control pill in 1962. Gen-X steer away from the style of the sixties and execute a sense of ‘individualism’. Politics became a real scandal, the Rock & Roll stars continued to grow but in addition, we were introduced to ‘Disco’ by the likes of ABBA and the BeeGees. The cinemas were packed out on release of films such as Jaws, The Godfather and Star Wars and the first gay pride parade was held in New York City on June 28th 1970.
One SHB’er from this generation took part and expressed; as a malleable teenager, his role model was Andre Agassi. He was a tennis player at the time who very much went against the grain in terms of conventional norm in his style. He was another one to set a trend with his wardrobe, not to mention the fact he was an exceptional player! Unfortunately, this heroic view on Agassi was later tarnished after his autobiography was released and it became apparent he suffered from a crystal meth addiction in 1997. It turns out that very few people are perfect!
During this fascinating period, we were also introduced to a whole new scientific presence by the late Stephen Hawking who proposed the ‘Black Hole Theory’. Hawking also played an extremely important role model to disabled people by demonstrating that you “could achieve anything’, at a time when so many were still viewing those with physical and mental disabilities could teach the world so much.
In the dividing lines between Gen-X and Millennials, there are not many differences as they identify with similar characteristics and knowledge on technology. So, who influenced the Millennial generation? Let us enlighten you…
The glorious 90's era, the majority of the SHB team are part of the millennial generation. The Spice Girls, Oasis vs Blur, Carrie Bradshaw, Rachel from Friends…. These were the icons on our TV screens at this time.
Millennial's have grown up into a world where Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other forms of popular social media platforms are used so frequently that often it becomes the norm to look at influencers on these apps and say “I want to be like them” or “I wish I had the money to dress like them”. Does that make them role models? Personally, I don’t think so but most would argue that. It’s concerning that most from our generation believe the epitome of heroism is a ‘YouTuber’, a Kardashian, a ‘star’ from The Only Way Is Essex or a ‘public figure’ on Instagram.
The Kardashians — known for what exactly? (Or was it just Kim who went from sex tape to female idol?) Their wealth, outrageous and disproportionate amounts of plastic surgery and their TV show, Keeping up with the Kardashians, that was first aired in 2007. We all love a bit of crap TV!
Politically, well it’s a mess. A recent survey, carried out by the Pew Research Centre, suggested that most of Donald Trump’s votes had come from white evangelical protestants, winning the “family values” vote. So, he is arguably seen as a role model in this category but that is just a small portion of frankly, racist and sexist Americans.
If we strip away the social media platforms of today and jump back to our early teens, who were we really inspired by?
‘As the writer of this blog I was heavily influenced by my own Grandmother, who was awarded an MBE because she introduced the ‘Portage’ system to the UK, originally established in the US, which essentially brought home visiting educational services for families with disabled children enabling them to develop a quality of life and experience. For me this was a true inspiration, her kindness, wisdom and powerful positive influence have helped shape my values, humour and views in life.
Another SHB’er, of the same generation, amusingly expressed that they particularly admired Eddie from Ab Fab. The drunken, PR guru was principally known for her ridiculously eccentric and over the top style. It was particularly uncanny for women to act in a juvenile manner on TV but Absolutely Fabulous really hit it off and BBC scored a major hit. The Ab Fab star, Eddie (Jennifer Saunders), became iconic to the impressionable teenagers of the 90’s due to the unconventional attributes she demonstrated.
According to a new survey carried out by GoDaddy in 2016, a large proportion of millennial's are hugely influenced by Mark Zuckerberg (work Flexible hours, call the shots). Mark Zuckerberg is an extremely innovative and talented tech entrepreneur and because of this, the millennial generation is obsessed with the idea of start-ups. Zuckerberg was appreciated at a time where in fact technology had far progressed beyond what his predecessors worked with. Naturally, the millennial gen are probably the biggest users of social media today and we have grown up with Facebook so it’s not surprising that he is up there in the limelight.
For the recent, Generation-Z, we could probably learn a thing or two… or perhaps they could learn a thing or two from us? Whatever the view ‘we’ are responsible for the future generations and the past must also take responsibility for the future.
‘According to numerous pieces of research’ Generation-Z are more ‘politically active and engaged, better connected, more gender and sexually fluid. They are more open about mental health, better at selfcare… oh, and less likely to smoke or drink’ (where’s the fun in that), all of which are applicable to the past generations and discussed throughout this blog. There has been a domino effect running through the era’s, which is likely to continue. Furthermore, we have not only seen social changes represented by icons of their time, but also characteristics. In the throes of adolescence, it’s important we recognise these role models for their hard work, determination, good humour and kindness and not for their popularity in the media.
Not only have we witnessed the positive influence these people have had on our lives, which is often the only bit people tend to remember them for, but there is also an equal amount of negative impact that has been made. You could argue that it might be beneficial or perhaps healthy to have a ‘bad influence’ when growing up, I guess this opens up our eyes the harsh realities we face.
We are without question the influencers of the recent generation; they are so much freer and easily accessible through social media, they have the ability to gain information from the internet in one click and most of the stuff we see online today isn’t for the eyes of the average 15-year old. Just because you have stuck an 18 certificate on the front, does that mean they aren’t going to watch it? How naive are we in a world where gun violence in American schools is rising and violence in our capital is reaching an all time high. The correlations are there and one could argue that we need to be more aware that the modern role model is not just a person, it is a brand of music, a film, a computer game, a celebrity, a politician, a model. They are everywhere and, in a world, where we are so much more connected, we should probably take a little bit more care over the future generations. We have to educate these individuals, how do we do that? Well that’s another discussion.
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