Cycle | Turnings | Life Phases | Generations | Archetypes
Prophet | Nomad | Hero | Artist
The Four Turnings
A turning is an era with a characteristic
social mood, a new twist on how people feel about themselves and
their nation. It results from the aging of the generational
constellation. A society enters a turning once every twenty years
or so, when all living generations begin to enter their next
phases of life. Like archetypes and constellations, turnings come
four to a saeculum, and always in the same order:
- The First Turning is a High,
an upbeat era of strengthening institutions and weakening
individualism, when a new civic order implants and the
old values regime decays. Old Prophets disappear,
Nomads enter elderhood, Heroes enter midlife, Artists
enter young adulthoodand a new generation of
Prophets is born.
- The Second Turning is an Awakening,
a passionate era of spiritual upheaval, when the civic
order comes under attack from a new values regime.
Old Nomads disappear, Heroes enter elderhood, Artists
enter midlife, Prophets enter young adulthoodand a
new generation of child Nomads is born.
- The Third Turning is an Unraveling,
a downcast era of strengthening individualism and
weakening institutions, when the old civic order decays
and the new values regime implants. Old Heroes
disappear, Artists enter elderhood, Prophets enter
midlife, Nomads enter young adulthoodand a new
generation of child Heroes is born.
- The Fourth Turning is a Crisis,
a decisive era of secular upheaval, when the values
regime propels the replacement of the old civic order
with a new one. Old Artists disappear, Prophets
enter elderhood, Nomads enter midlife, Heroes enter young
adulthoodand a new generation of child Artists is
born.
From The Fourth Turning, William
Strauss and Neil Howe, Copyright 1996 Broadway Books. All rights
reserved. To learn more, visit www.fourthturning.com.