Chapter Ten Summary and Analysis

Although Boomers and Generation X-ers often assume that Millenials lack political understanding, Millenials are actually engaged in numerous social and civic projects.

Howe and Strauss highlight Millenial acts of charity such as a sixteen-year-old girl in Baltimore who founded an organization that feeds six hundred lunches to homeless people every week and elementary students in Washington state who raise money for victims of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. As children, Millenials drive a resurgence in uniformed service organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, whose memberships since 1980 are up 50 and 20 percent, respectively. Furthermore, Millenials spend more hours doing community service than Boomers, but Boomers become more active when they can help Millenials in their service.

Millenials are less focused on issues of race than any other generation and are less likely to label themselves as purely white or...