A Book Review: A Generation of Sociopaths

Like many other behavioral theories, (e.g., motivational theory: Abraham Maslow, Hertzberg, McClelland, et. al.) generational theory has proven useful in understanding human behavior.

On the other hand, the original theory advanced by Strauss and Howe has been reworked into myriad spin-offs and variations which lead to stereotypes that dilute and corrupt the original.

Stereotypes generally are based on sub-sets of groups or categories, and thus tend to skew the overall perception of the group being stereotyped; for example, racial and ethnic stereotypes.

A case in point is a 2017 book by Bruce Cannon Gibney[1] entitled A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America (New York: Hachette Books).  His case is persuasive; indeed, long before Gibney came of age, the Boomer generation was being called the “Me” generation.

To his credit, Gibney writes an early disclaimer, viz., “For those readers who are Boomers, or have parents or grandparents who are Boomers, it may be of small comfort that this book does not argue that all Baby Boomers are sociopaths.” (p. xii) Nevertheless, he shows little sympathy in his  characterization of the generation: “For the past several decades, the nation has been run by people who present, personally and politically, the full sociopathic pathology: deceit, selfishness, imprudence, remorselessness, hostility, the works. Those people are the Baby Boomers, that vast and strange generation born between 1940 and 1964, and the society they created does not work very well.” (p. x-xi)

Again, Gibney’s thesis is compelling, and to the extent that it is valid, what it compels is a reordering of our understanding regarding American (and by extension, global) politics and economics.

Prior to Gibney, the demons and dragons of socio/political and economic dysfunction have been perceived as corrupt parties and ideologies: Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, etc. (and always the “other” party!) Gibney pushes us to see that the boogeyman transcends traditional partisanship; indeed, the entire spectrum is infected!

For years I have argued that there are rogues in every current manifestation of our partisan system. In doing so, I have alienated friends and strangers who want to deny, overlook or rationalize the proverbial log in their party’s eye, while demonizing the speck in the “other” party’s eye. Moreover, by pointing out the warts on all parties’ faces, I draw criticism for “playing both sides,” “riding the fence,” etc.

To the extent that Gibney is accurate, and I am hard pressed to deny his premise, the elephant in the room is not the Democrats, or the GOP, or the Libertarians, or the Democratic Socialist, or the Gipper, or the Orange Man. The one with peanuts on his breath is a subset of the generation born between 1940 and 1964; and that subset has metastasized into every party and ideology.

Two topics serve to illustrate: (1) laws regarding bankruptcy, and (2) laws regarding student loans. “In 1978, when the median Boomer was twenty-six, Congress loosened the (bankruptcy) law… and has since adjusted the law first to make it easier (when Boomers were primarily debtors and thus beneficiaries of relief) … More recently, debt has become harder to discharge (now that wealthier Boomers have become net creditors).” (p. 172)

Gibney makes virtually the same case regarding student loan debt. A 2005 change in the law “made discharging student debt exceedingly difficult. The Boomers did not have to worry, as formerly generous subsidies meant they carried relatively little of such debt. Their children, however, carried quite a bit, with interest remitted to companies in which Boomers held shares.” (p. 174)

Gibney describes how that same pattern of Boomer indifference to all but their own immediate gratification is corrupting virtually every manifestation of life in these United States. I still have cold chills when I recall our current Boomer President’s response to a question about climate change, “So what? I’ll be dead by then.”[2]

Pew research (2017) indicates 37% of registered voters identified as independents, 33% as Democrats and 26% as Republicans. When partisan leanings of independents are taken into account, 50% identify as Democrats or lean Democratic;42% identify as Republicans or lean Republican. Since 1994, women consistently have identified more as Democrat than Republican, and the gap between levels of education has widened dramatically since ’94, with higher levels being more likely to identify as Democrat. But watch this: prior to 2010, the majority of Baby Boomers had identified as Democrat. Since 2010, the majority has identified as Republican or Libertarian![3]

So, I’m rethinking my whole understanding of “What’s wrong with America?” (You know, the game the whole family can play?) It’s not Republicans or Democrats who are wreaking havoc with our way of life. According to Gibney, it’s a subset of the Baby Boomer Generation, and that subset is bipartisan!

There is, indeed, an elephant in the room; but, I’m remembering the fable about the three blind mice who encounter a sleeping elephant: the first mouse touches the elephant’s tail and says, “Aha! An elephant is like a rope!” The second mouse feels the elephant’s trunk and says, “Oh, no! An elephant is like a fire hose!” The third rodent bumps into the elephant’s torso, and proclaims, “You’re both wrong! An elephant is like a wall!”

More than rethinking my understanding, I’m finding in Gibney’s work a validation of what I’ve sensed for years: we see what we see—too often what we want to see—and then generalize universal truth from our limited vision. And then we refuse to acknowledge any limits to our own vision or any possibility that a different perspective may have some merit. And that describes any “Me” populace.

It’s just a scratch on the surface; but for now, that’s how it looks through the flawed glass that is my world view.

Together in the Walk,

Jim

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[1] Gibney is a writer and venture capitalist: an early investor at PayPal, and subsequently went to work PayPal founder Peter Thiel’s hedge fund Clarium and his venture capital company Founders Fund.

[2] Climate expert, Joe Romm (a much younger Boomer) made a similar statement, but with the opposite intent. After pointing out that at current rates the sea level will rise one foot by 2050, and storm damage will thus increase profoundly, he said, “I’ll be dead by then; but the rest of you have been warned.” (from a Mother Jones Podcast, March 10, 2011)

[3] https://www.people-press.org/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/