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

by William Strauss

As exhausted Nomads replace Prophets in elderhood, they slow the pace of social change, shunning the old crusades in favor of simplicity and survivalism. Tired of big causes and ideologies, elder Nomads calm society, accept the outcome of the Crisis, and build a functioning civic order out of its glory (or ashes). Believers in functional social rituals, they become old-fashioned elders who place a high priority on protecting children and safeguarding the society’s long-term future. They are less impressed than their juniors by swift progress or national triumph, and more fearful of where institutional hubris may lead. Still stigmatized, they strike other generations as burned-out, even reactionary. In old age, the Nomads’ reputation for shrewdness never wins them much public reward. They claim little for themselves at a time when the public mood is focused less on rewarding the old than investing in the young.