One of the reasons that the Many Happy Returns cards can work so well, is because they bridge the generation gap.
There are acres of books and articles about the five major generational groups in the western world, e.g
- Traditionalists – the Radio Generation, born 1920 - 1943
- Baby-boomers, born 1943 - 1960
- Generation X, born 1960 – 1980
- the ‘Y’ (Why) Generation, Millennials, ‘Nexters’, or as described by AdBusters magazine, Generation 'O' (Obama), born 1980 - 2000
The challenges – and potentialities – of working in
environments where different groups may work - alongside one another with all
their attendant prejudices which come from their early life and peer group
experiences - are becoming increasingly recognised and documented.
Businesses may have at least three
generations working alongside each other. Their ability to communicate
effectively is critical to business success. By looking at the value systems
and emotional 'need states' of the different groups and their outlooks,
companies can create a more productive working and learning environment.
Of course, although there are many dimensions of diversity (race, sex, sexual orientation, geographic location and so on) which
shape who we are and how we behave, it is possible to generalise about the
values of different generations. How they communicate and inter-relate is also
changed by and predicated on their formative experiences.
Thus, at one end of the spectrum, growing up at the end of
WWI and losing their youth to WWII, these harsh experiences mean that
Traditionalists value hard work, trust, formality, authority and institutional
leadership, social order and their possessions. Sometimes referred to also as
the ‘Silent Generation’ they cherish honesty, privacy and discretion.
At the other end of the age scale, the ‘Y’ generation growing up with the
hi-tech revolution and a time of relative financial comfort, they value such things as their
autonomy, positive attitudes, ethnic diversity, their technology and their
money – and spending it. They seek action, constant feedback and want fun in
their life. The growth of online social networks has been largely driven by
this group.
In the middle, sits the ‘Sandwich Generation’ – the baby-boomers… about whom more has been written than could be deemed either feasible or appropriate, (and often by this group itself of course) but this is the generation that demands to be heard – and not only because it is a huge, powerful, if ramshackle cohort.
The boomers have had the ‘good life’. They have been very influential in the development of both media and ‘youth’
culture. And they hate rules and regulations, and like to fight for a cause.
The social revolution of the 1960s is central to this group.
So what does this prove, if anything? Well, as the late,
great, Douglas Adams said in the Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy;
“Anything that is in the world when you were born is normal
and ordinary and is just a natural way the world works; anything that is
invented between the time when you are 15 to 35 is new, revolutionary and
exciting and you can possibly get a career in it and anything invented after
you are 35 is against the natural order of things”.
The Many Happy Returns cards have been designed with
people's differing generational, attitudinal behaviours in mind, as well as the
National Curriculum, for the next generation growing up – however they will be
described by social psychologists.
The cards help younger generations, with their differing value systems and attitudes, to relate to people over the age of 75 years. They help the younger generations to empathise with older people, by demonstrating what was so very different about life then – and perhaps more surprisingly, what is oddly similar and commonality they share. They allow people to exchange stories and histories, allowing them to share in each other's lives in so many unique, valuable and rewarding ways.
Image: Many Happy Returns
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