Change happens around us everyday, but understanding change has always been difficult. Why did a generation become infatuated with rock 'n' roll and the civil rights movement? Why did our focus change to an obsession with the stock market and in investing in ever larger homes? What is the future of pensions and healthcare when Baby Boomers retire?

Baby Boomers, Generation X and Social Cycles, Volume 1: North American Long-waves, begins by examining the population growth rates of the United States and Canada from 1789 to the present and shows that population growth rates have not always been uniform throughout history. The changes in the rates of population growth were caused by changes in birth rates. When birth rates increased, baby booms were created and when birth rates decreased, Generation Xs were born. These changes in population growth have created recurring themes in history.

Each baby boom was followed by a period of increasing activism. When birth rates declined, society entered a period of decreasing activism. In the 1900's and 1910's the women's movement was revitalized to rally for voting rights and the settlement house movement was established to help the poor. The young reveled in the new music called Jazz while the establishment frowned upon what it thought was nothing but noise. As a result of the baby boom of the 1940's and 1950's, similar themes re-emerged in the 1960's and 1970's. The women's movement was revitalized for equal rights and the War on Poverty was carried on by governments. The young reveled in the new music called Rock while the establishment went looking for heavy-duty ear-plugs.

In the 1920's there was a great investment boom followed by the collapse of the stock market. Social security, healthcare and pension plans were the themes of the 1930's to the 1950's. Millions of people were given entitlements to these benefits for the first time. From the 1980's onward, we have again entered a period of rising stock markets with a focus on pensions, healthcare and social security.

Baby Boomers, Generation X and Social Cycles examines the history of Education, Popular Music, the Women's Movement, Politics, Heath Care, Retirement, the Economy and many others to show how changes in population growth have affected our social, political and economic life. Approximately 60 long-term statistics are analyzed in their relation to demographics including the Consumption of Alcohol, Diabetes, Investments, Money Supply and Violent Crime. This is the first book to provide compelling historical and statistical evidence to link the long-waves of social change to demographics for the past 200 years in North America.

Whether you are interested in creating a better society, investing for retirement, concerned about your pension or the economy, understanding the demographics of social change is vitally important.