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

Artist is one of the four generational archetypes. The artist archetype is born during the crisis era, enters young adulthood in a high era, enters midlife in an awakening era, and enters elderhood in an unraveling era (125). According to Strauss and Howe’s generational theory, the Silent Generation (1925-1942) belongs to the artist archetype (135).

Awakening refers to the second turning of a saeculum. It is a passionate era of spiritual upheaval, when the civic order comes under attack from a new values regime (124). The awakening of the current saeculum was the Consciousness Revolution, lasting from 1964 to 1984.

Crisis refers to the fourth turning of a saeculum. It is a decisive era of secular upheaval, when the values regime propels the replacement of the old civic order with a new one (124). Strauss and Howe predicted that the crisis era of the current saeculum would begin in the middle of the 2000s and end roughly 20 years later.