The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny

by William Strauss

The phases, and social roles, of the modern American life cycle can be summarized as follows: ■ Childhood (pueritia, ages 0–20); social role: growth (receiving nurture, acquiring values) ■ Young Adulthood (iuventus, ages 21–41); social role: vitality (serving institutions, testing values) ■ Midlife (virilitas, ages 42–62); social role: power (managing institutions, applying values) ■ Elderhood (senectus, ages 63–83); social role: leadership (leading institutions, transferring values) ■ Late Elderhood (ages 84+); social role: dependence (receiving comfort from institutions, remembering values) The first four (childhood through elderhood) comprise the quaternity of the human life cycle. The combined length of these four phases, roughly eighty-four years, matches the span of the American saeculum dating back to the Revolution.