Book Review and Discussion: A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America by Bruce Cannon Gibney
Saturday, September 21, 2024.
In A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America, Bruce Cannon Gibney argues that the Baby Boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) is largely responsible for America’s current economic, political, and environmental crises.
Gibney's thesis rests on the assertion that this generation, blessed with unprecedented post-war prosperity, acted in ways that served their short-term interests while ignoring or outright harming the long-term well-being of society.
He labels their collective behavior as "sociopathic"—marked by a lack of empathy for future generations—and draws a compelling, data-driven case for how Boomer-driven policies have set the country on a dangerous path.
The Cultural Narcissism of Policy Choices: A Generational Critique
Gibney’s argument is fundamentally about intergenerational selfishness.
He paints a picture of Baby Boomers who, shaped by the economic and cultural conditions of their upbringing, systematically prioritized their own financial security and personal comfort at the expense of the common good.
This is where Gibney’s critique dovetails with the work of social critic Christopher Lasch and his notion of cultural narcissism, as laid out in The Culture of Narcissism (1979).
Lasch contended that modern American society had become increasingly self-centered, driven by individualism and consumerism.
Gibney argues that the Baby Boomers embodied and amplified this cultural shift, shaping policies that reflect an almost pathological self-interest.
A key example of this Cultural Narcissism is the Baby Boomers' stance on fiscal policy.
Economic policies championed during their political ascendancy—such as large tax cuts, deregulation, and the dismantling of social safety nets—enabled them to accumulate wealth while undermining the long-term economic stability of the country.
Political scientists such as Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson have written extensively about the effects of these decisions in Winner-Take-All Politics(2010), arguing that the Boomers’ policies contributed to increasing wealth inequality.
Hacker and Pierson’s analysis helps to contextualize Gibney’s claims: the shift toward policies that favored the wealthy, at the expense of the middle and working classes, was not merely a trend but a deliberate political choice made by Baby Boomers in power.
Fiscal Irresponsibility and Political Short-Sightedness
A key piece of Gibney’s critique is the fiscal irresponsibility of Boomer-driven policies, particularly the expansion of debt and underfunding of vital social programs. The Baby Boomers inherited a well-funded Social Security system and Medicare, but rather than safeguarding these systems for future generations, they left them underfunded.
This behavior reflects what political scientists refer to as policy drift—a term used by Hacker and Pierson to describe how political elites allow policies to gradually degrade by failing to update them in response to new challenges.
Gibney argues that the Baby Boomers' reluctance to adequately fund social programs and address deficits is a prime example of policy drift. Rather than addressing the long-term challenges of an aging population and rising healthcare costs, they shifted the burden onto future generations.
Moreover, Gibney suggests that Baby Boomers' fiscal irresponsibility goes beyond inaction.
They actively dismantled the policies that underpinned the prosperity they enjoyed.
By cutting taxes, especially for the wealthy, and opposing regulations, they eroded the government’s ability to invest in public goods like infrastructure, education, and healthcare—creating a growing economic burden on Millennials and Gen Z.
Gibney's argument here draws from Thomas Piketty’s analysis in Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2013), which demonstrated how tax cuts and wealth concentration exacerbated income inequality, leaving younger generations with a steeper climb toward economic security.
Environmental Degradation: Short-Term Gains, Long-Term Pain
One of Gibney’s most damning indictments of the Baby Boomers is their handling of environmental issues.
The Boomer generation has largely been responsible for the policies that have failed to address climate change—one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century.
Despite growing scientific evidence from as far back as the 1970s about the dangers of fossil fuels and global warming, the Boomers consistently voted for leaders and policies that prioritized economic growth over environmental sustainability.
Political sociologists, including Anthony Giddens, have explored how modern capitalist societies often ignore long-term risks in favor of short-term profits, a concept Giddens calls the "Giddens Paradox."
The paradox refers to the tendency of people to ignore future threats until they become immediate, even when the consequences are catastrophic. Gibney argues that this perfectly describes the Baby Boomers’ approach to climate change: their inability—or unwillingness—to think beyond their own lifetimes reflects a fundamental lack of intergenerational empathy.
In contrast, younger generations now face a future where environmental disasters, rising sea levels, and more extreme weather events are becoming the norm, largely because of the failure of previous generations to act.
The Chicago Parking Meter Deal: A Microcosm of Generational Narcissism
Gibney's thesis is vividly illustrated by the Chicago parking meter deal.
In 2008, the city of Chicago, under Mayor Richard M. Daley, leased its parking meters to a private company for 75 years in exchange for a mere $1.15 billion.
While the city received a substantial upfront payment, the long-term costs were staggering: over the 75-year contract, the private company is projected to collect over $11 billion in parking revenue. This deal exemplifies the kind of short-term thinking that Gibney accuses the Baby Boomers of perpetuating.
The parking meter deal is a prime example of what economist Joseph Stiglitz has termed privatizing profits and socializing losses.
By selling off a public good for a quick infusion of cash, the city's leadership mirrored the broader Boomer mentality of trading long-term security for immediate gain. This deal resulted in higher parking fees for residents and restrictions on public control over parking policy, with younger generations now paying the price for the previous generation’s shortsighted decision.
Political scientists often refer to deals like this as a form of "fiscal illusion," where the immediate financial benefit masks the long-term costs.
Chicago’s parking meter deal may have temporarily solved a budget problem, but after they’ve pissed through the 1.15 billion, it has left the city with a legacy of debt, much like the broader fiscal policies of the Boomer era. The burden of these decisions will fall squarely on the shoulders of younger generations who must now navigate a financial and environmental landscape shaped by intergenerational irresponsibility.
Sociopathy, Cultural Narcissism, Policy, and the Future
In A Generation of Sociopaths, Bruce Cannon Gibney offers a powerful critique of the Baby Boomers, framing their legacy as one of intergenerational betrayal.
By tracing how Boomer-driven policies contributed to economic inequality, environmental degradation, and political dysfunction, Gibney paints a damning picture of a generation that consistently prioritized its own short-term interests at the expense of future generations.
Gibney’s analysis draws on social science research from scholars like Hacker, Pierson, Piketty, and Giddens, situating the Boomers’ actions within broader trends of fiscal irresponsibility, policy drift, and environmental neglect.
The Chicago parking meter deal serves as a poignant case study in the consequences of this mentality—a microcosm of how short-term thinking can have lasting negative impacts on public goods and future generations.
Ultimately, Gibney’s work is a call to action for younger generations to demand accountability and push for policies that address long-term challenges like climate change, economic inequality, and public infrastructure.
Without confronting the narcissistic governance of the past, future generations will continue to bear the costs of decisions made by those who prioritized their own comfort and security over collective well-being.
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Gibney, B. C. (2017). A generation of sociopaths: How the baby boomers betrayed America. Hachette Books.
Hacker, J. S., & Pierson, P. (2010). Winner-take-all politics: How Washington made the rich richer—and turned its back on the middle class. Simon & Schuster.
Lasch, C. (1979). The culture of narcissism: American life in an age of diminishing expectations. W. W. Norton & Company.
Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the twenty-first century. Harvard University Press.
Giddens, A. (2009). The politics of climate change. Polity Press.
Stiglitz, J. E. (2012). The price of inequality: How today's divided society endangers our future. W. W. Norton & Company.