@ISSUE: The legacy of the Boomers

The last of the baby boomers turn 50 this year. The first boomers, those born in 1946, will turn 70 in two years. How have they shaped society, for better and for worse? We posed the questions to four New Jersey professors.

They have helped sustain our democracy

By Stanton Green

I could hear "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" blasting out of the dormitory from the back seat of my parents' Plymouth. It was 1967 and I was a baby boomer freshman at Stony Brook University about to enter the Sixties, an era of immense social change. What is the legacy of the boomers? I believe it was profound and positive and I would like to illustrate four boomer legacies through personal stories.

Legacy I. Be an informed citizen and question governmental authority.

A typical phone call between my dad and me during my college years went something like this:

Dad: "I don't support the Vietnam War, but why do you have to go to these protests?"

Me: "Because I have a draft card in my wallet."

The American public became conscious of Vietnam via the draft-eligible boys of the 1960s. The war was very personal. My freshman hallway included seniors who were impatient to go to Vietnam and freshmen who became leading anti-war activists. An Ohio state trooper killed a high school friend on his way to class. Twenty-eight student activist friends were arrested at 5 a.m. as part of a marijuana raid of my dormitory. But most of all, the government broke the sacred public trust by lying to the American people about the extent of the war.

Test your boomer IQ: Take our 15-question quiz

Bergmann: Not all boomers were born alike

Legacy II.It's the environment, stupid: Conservation of the environment is not a partisan issue.

I attended the first Earth Day. Rachel Carson, Barry Commoner and Amory Lovins described the Earth's limits and prescribed solutions. President Richard Nixon enacted the National Environmental Protection Act and Congressman Jim Florio enacted the Superfund to clean up waste sites.

Legacy III. Be involved in your community: Civil rights and women's rights are human rights.

The likes of Dick Gregory, Sonny Rollins and John Lewis introduced me to the civil rights movement. I watched Gloria Steinem launch the women's rights movement through speeches to thousands of students. Eldridge Cleaver famously proclaimed. "You are either part of the solution or part of the problem."

Legacy IV: All art is political: Music is a powerful agent of cultural change.

Jim Morrison was arrested for obscenity at the first concert of my freshman year. All the great rock acts visited Stony Brook with countercultural and political messages. Jimi Hendrix's "Star-Spangled Banner" played at Woodstock (while I was stalled on the New York Thruway).

For me as an anthropologist and educator, these four legacies of the baby boomer generation continue to contribute to sustaining American democracy and to the health of the planet. They continue to remind us that Earth stewardship and human rights are not to be assumed. I am proud to be a boomer and to forward the values that have grown from my generation.

Stanton Green is a professor of anthropology and dean of the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University.

Generation characterized by contradictions

By Elizabeth O'Connell

The demographic explosion known as the baby boom resulted in an estimated 79 million births. It is inherently difficult to uniformly characterize such a large group of people, but the boomer generation was the first to actively be thought of as a generation. Moreover, because of their size, they have defined every era in which they have lived. Contemplating their legacy, therefore, requires looking over the past half century with a critical eye.

What one finds, in the bullet points of American history since 1945, is a sea of contradictions. The generation that opposed Richard Nixon voted for Ronald Reagan. It demonstrated against war in Vietnam, but supported the invasion of Iraq. It marched for civil rights, but opposed affirmative action. It witnessed the feminist and gay liberation movements, but defeated the Equal Rights Amendment and dragged its feet on marriage equality. It created Earth Day, but denied climate change. It embraced rock 'n' roll, but censored rap. It defined the rebellious teenage subculture, but became helicopter parents.

And now, the ultimate irony: The youngest members of the generation that famously vowed not to trust anyone over 30 are receiving membership forms for AARP, and the oldest are cashing Social Security checks.

Now, boomers are redefining aging, and it is evident in every drugstore. The beauty industry markets any number of moisturizers and night creams to target wrinkles. More adventurous consumers might turn to their doctors for injectable fillers and facelifts. Men have similarly taken action, in varying forms from the "little blue pill" to brush-in dyes for facial hair, to reclaim their youthful masculinity. These changes are cosmetic, but in a world of uncertainty, one exercises control where it is available.

Unfortunately for boomers, there isn't much else they can control about aging. Not only are there more serious and progressive physical signs, but also external factors that complicate retirement. The economic collapse of 2008 affected job security, retirement savings and home values (who would ever have thought "The Fonz" would be shilling for reverse mortgages?).

Many have postponed retirement, some indefinitely. This has caused even greater emphasis on the entitlements discussion. The futures of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are much in doubt as such a large generation ages into benefits, while younger workers do not generate enough tax revenue to pay out dollar for dollar much longer. The rising costs of health care and the need for long-term planning helped get the Affordable Care Act through Congress, but with much objection about cost and taxes.

So what happens next? Will Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid remain solvent? Will the next generations be capable of taking control of the government and economy, steering both in the right direction? That all remains to be seen, but boomers will likely be involved in the planning.

The last chapter of their story has yet to be written, and if anything can be said of the baby boom generation, it is that they have always determined their own fate.

Elizabeth O'Connell is Psi Iota teaching fellow at Rowan University.

They have created climate of optimism and adaptability

By Yasemin Besen Cassino

How does a generation that does not trust anyone over 30 turn 70? In 2016, the first baby boomers will be turning 70. The generation that would stay "forever young" is nearing retirement. They are the biggest generation as a cohort, but are their large numbers their only legacy?

Their biggest legacy will be in their social attitudes and worldview. Baby boomers have been a socially and politically distinct group, defined by activism, social change and freedom. Socially, they have fought for social equality.

Compared to previous generations, baby boomers have created an era of freedom and fought for social change. They fought for women's rights, gay rights and civil rights and aimed for social equality. They created an era of service and volunteering. Workplaces have benefited immensely from the policies they have fought for and actively implemented.

Most importantly, baby boomers have created an era of optimism and raised their children with the idea that social change is possible, that they can be anything they want to be and that social policies, especially in the workplace, can be changed to adapt to changing society. That, most of all, is the biggest legacy of the baby boomer generation.

Typically, when we think of the baby boomers today, our discussion focuses on the economic burden of their retirement. As the biggest cohort nears retirement, many states, including New Jersey, are apprehensive about the financial benefits they were promised.

They are also a generation that faces a major obstacle to their retirement with the recent economic recession. Many baby boomers have found their retirement savings, stocks and house values substantially diminished, resulting in delayed retirement.

But there is more to the baby boomer generation as its members leave the workforce. What will their legacy be then? As a generation, they have been criticized for being a selfish and materialistic generation. However, many baby boomers are part of the sandwich generation, sandwiched between their adult children and elderly parents. With advances in technology and health care, they have elderly parents living longer lives with increasing needs.

At the same time, with the recent economic recession, many are also still supporting their adult children, who are moving back home or are in financial need. They have stepped up to the plate, taking care of their parents and children.

Yasemin Besen Cassino is associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Montclair State University.

Aging boomers will be active in helping shape U.S. society

By Richard Butsch

According to a May U.S. census report, baby boomers constituted almost 40 percent of the U.S. population in the early 1960s when John Kennedy became president; even today, they still are almost 25 percent of the population. Their sheer numbers made them attractive to marketers, who began to target them as teen consumers in the 1950s. One result was rock 'n' roll.

They benefited from post-war government policies that made college affordable even to working-class families, and from a thriving post-war economy that made jobs plentiful when they were young.

For decades, the many with good educations and good jobs fueled the economy with their purchases. As adults they witnessed deindustrialization as America changed to a low-wage service economy, with imported cars and other goods becoming predominant. They also witnessed a major shift in politics and government policies from progressive to conservative.

Now they have begun to retire. What will that mean for the nation? First, it will not happen overnight. According to a 2010 Pew Foundation research report, about 10,000 boomers will turn 65 every day over the next two decades, although six out of 10 stated that they will postpone retirement due to investment and pension losses.

Second, it will mean a gradual but significant shift in our economy. Baby boomers have been saving for retirement for decades. Their pensions and IRAs have been invested in stocks, bonds and real estate. Now they (or their pension funds) will begin to withdraw that money from investments and they will spend it, on retirement homes, medical care and their children and grandchildren.

Some will be able to travel. But quite a few, without pensions and little savings, will struggle to live on Social Security and Medicare. A 2012 federal report predicted increasing poverty among the elderly population for the first time since the beginning of Medicare in the 1960s.

Since older people tend to vote in higher proportions, in the near term they will probably be able to shift election results. They are not technologically adverse. A 2012 Pew survey found that almost 80 percent used the Internet (to make decisions on purchases, politics, etc.) and about 85 percent had a cellphone. About 40 percent used social media.

All in all, baby boomers may be retiring, but they will remain active in shaping American society, directly or indirectly.

Richard Butsch is a professor of sociology at Rider University