Book Review: The Way We'll Be - The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream by John Zogby - Page 2

It would be easy to take passages like the preceding and dismiss The Way We’ll Be outright. Many of Zogby’s theses depend on percentage-points differences that are barely above the margin of error. But to dismiss Zogby’s entire book would ignore some of the more compelling points that he makes. One of the more fascinating is his argument that the best ways to measure voting tendencies are by consumption habits. It seems that many of our commonly held stereotypes are actually crucial statistical predictors: Wal-Mart shoppers and NASCAR lovers primarily vote Republican, while Target shoppers and fans of Richard Pryor vote Democrat. This use of statistical examination to address commonly held assumptions is exactly what a pollster should be doing, and Zogby has admittedly used unconventional methodology to come up with some particularly striking results.

After the mess of his chapter on authenticity, we get a concluding chapter that utilizes some of his strongest and most convincing data. Rather than divide American generations into the standard Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, and Generations X and Y, he divides America into “Privates,” “Woodstockers,” “Nikes,” and “First Globals.” This division overcomes some commonly held misconceptions. Generation X, for instance, may be more cynical and apathetic towards politics, but they also represent a sea change of devotion of the individual to one’s own family and personal convictions. The Baby Boomers did make a breakthrough with radical politics, but they’ve also become decadent whiners who are primed for a political reinvention.

It’s unclear how much of the differences of opinions between these generations are due to the natural process of maturing or the product of something specific to this particular period in American history. What’s more compelling than Zogby’s analysis of general beliefs, however, is his data on specific issues. Across the board, adults under the age of 40 are consistently on the more progressive side of a controversial issue. They’re more likely to be tolerant of stem cell research, more in favor of net neutrality, more concerned with carbon emissions, and more open to multinational negotiations in the Middle East. More so than any larger intellectual change in American values (or what Zogby calls the rise of “Secular Spiritualism”), these specific results are the most telling signs of what the future holds in America’s political landscape. Zogby has his numbers right, but in The Way We’ll Be, once more, he lets his mouth get the best of him.

Article Author: Ethan Stanislawski

Ethan Stanislawski is a freelance journalist/critic and new media specialist. He is a regular reviewer and staff writer at Prefix Magazine, and also contributes regularly to Blogcritics Magazine. His interests include theater, film, and pop music …

Visit Ethan Stanislawski's author page — Ethan Stanislawski's Blog