Has any generation generally agreed that the next generation was better?

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In their book, Generations, William Strauss and Neil Howe (S&H) postulate that the World War II (or "Greatest") generation was seen as "better" by the two preceding generations, largely because they fought and won World War II.

The immediately preceding generation was the "Lost" generation (of FitzGerald and Hemingway), who saw themselves (and were seen by others) as a "wasted" generation. Hence, they admired the World War II generation, whom they thought were "better" by comparison.

The generation before the Lost was FDR's generation, which Strauss and Howe call the "Missionary" Generation, and what I call the "Rendezvous" (With Destiny) generation in my own book. These people (and the Lost) were the parents of the World War II generation, and "showered them with praise and reward" (S&H) for bringing about their own "Rendezvous With Destiny" (America as the world's greatest power with them on top). This "praise and reweard" was expressed in legislation such as the GI Bill, and various other "veteran's" programs enacted after the war.

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New Soviet Man was a phenomena in Soviet culture and art in the post-1920 period. It finds its most heightened non-ironic form prior to the economic crisis of the mid 1950s.

Versions of the New Soviet Man myth can be seen in the film version of Dr. Zhivago. Burnt by the Sun plays with the same tropes (a daughter with soft feet into adulthood).

The ironic form is reasonably obvious. A day in the life / Gulag Archipelago give this precisely, with the Zek / Thief dynamic.

Andrle and Fitzpatrick's work on new Stalinist operatives, the class of 1936, is also useful for the ironic version.

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