'' Nomad '' ( Reactive ) generations enter childhood '' during an Awakening '' , a time of social ideals and spiritual agendas , when young adults are passionately attacking the established institutional order . Nomads grow up as under-protected children during this Awakening , come of age as alienated , post-Awakening young adults , become pragmatic midlife leaders during a Crisis , and age into resilient post-Crisis elders . Examples : Gilded Generation , Lost Generation , Generation X '' Hero '' ( Civic ) generations enter childhood '' after an Awakening '' , '' during an Unraveling '' , a time of individual pragmatism , self-reliance , and laissez-faire . Heroes grow up as increasingly protected post-Awakening children , come of age as team-oriented young optimists during a Crisis , emerge as energetic , overly-confident midlifers , and age into politically powerful elders attacked by another Awakening . Examples : Republican Generation , G.I. Generation , Millennials '' Artist '' ( Adaptive ) generations enter childhood '' after an Unraveling , '' '' during a Crisis '' , a time when great dangers cut down social and political complexity in favor of public consensus , aggressive institutions , and an ethic of personal sacrifice . Artists grow up overprotected by adults preoccupied with the Crisis , come of age as the socialized and conformist young adults of a post-Crisis world , break out as process-oriented midlife leaders during an Awakening , and age into thoughtful post-Awakening elders . Examples : Progressive Generation , Silent Generation , Generation Z Note ( 0 ) : Strauss and Howe base the turning start and end dates not on the generational birth year span , but when the prior generation is entering adulthood . A generation " coming of age " is signaled by a " triggering event " that marks the turning point and the ending of one turning and the beginning of the new . For example , the " triggering event " that marked the coming of age for the Baby Boom Generation was the Assassination of John F. Kennedy . This marked the end of a first turning and the beginning of a second turning . This is why turning start and end dates do n't match up exactly with the generational birth years , but they tend to start and end a few years after the generational year spans . This also explains why a generation is described to have " entered childhood " during a particular turning , rather than " born during " a particular turning
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Strauss–Howe generational theory