“Everyone feels humiliated today” – sociologist Heinz Bude asks where our courage to live has gone

One has to imagine Heinz Bude as a boomer. A boomer, as he, the sociologist, defines himself: a person of cheerful composure, even in the face of crises and catastrophes. Bude calls it "laconic existentialism." This, he says, characterizes the baby boomer generation. Born in 1954, Bude just barely counts himself among the cohort that isn't easily upset.

With a spring in his step, Bude crosses the cobblestones in Prenzlauer Berg in northeast Berlin. Cafés, bookstores, a fashion store called Woodstock. His face beneath his Borsalino looks youthful, and the smile never disappears, even as Bude dissects the present, in which so much is happening that for many, it becomes "too much," as they say.

The emeritus professor is one of Germany's most prominent sociologists. He has written books on the society of fear, solidarity, and the power of moods. In his most recent book, "Farewell to the Boomers," published last year by Hanser Verlag, he analyzes those born between 1955 and 1970 who are now gradually entering retirement.

They aren't disappearing; on the contrary: Because "there are so many of them," in Bude's words, they remain visible. They are an interesting target group for the economy, but a burden on the pension and healthcare systems. They also continue to occupy "the elite ranks in science and politics," says Bude. The best example of this is the presumptive new Chancellor Friedrich Merz, born in 1955.

Bude noted a few years ago that there is a "great irritability" in society. People see themselves as being at the mercy of technological developments; they feel abandoned, patronized, and ignored. They are plagued by fears of social decline, exhaustion-induced depression, and politics only annoys them.

However, Bude claims an attitude for his generation that can be an advantage in a time of multiple crises. So why are older generations better able to cope with the demands of the present, while younger generations seem increasingly depressed by world events?

"Nothing was better in the past," Bude points out, while drinking a cappuccino and eating a croissant at a sidewalk café, apparently his lunch. The baby boomers "grew up in the aftermath of the World War." He remembers the hairdresser with the wooden leg, the neighbor without an arm, the damaged bodies that were part of everyday life. And the teachers, who everyone knew were Nazis.

"My generation knows what war means without having experienced it," says Bude. Because they no longer had anything to do with the war, a lot of hope was placed in them. But, and this, for him, is the unifying attitude of the Boomers: "There were too many of us. We are a generation without a mission and without a form."

Bude says the boomers' view of the world was shaped by two crises in the 1980s: AIDS and Chernobyl. This has led to a "resilience from contingency." By this, he means a psychological robustness that one acquires because one expects the unexpected at any time. Because little is certain, many things can change.

The lack of expectation that things will improve linearly protects against resignation and bitterness. "After every end, there was a beginning." Boomers aren't "stupid optimists," he says, but rather they've recognized that life is full of coincidences. "This reduces the need to complain," says Bude. "We don't let ourselves be terrorized by the past or the future. We know how much can go wrong."

There's something stoic about this attitude: You expect catastrophe and are pleasantly surprised by its absence. Or, if it does occur, you're less shocked. But the ancient Stoics' philosophy of life is too closed for Bude. He proposes "positive thrownness." Boomers viewed life with an existential irony. Their stylistic hallmark is laconicism.

He also sees this as a difference from the '68 generation, "who looked and behaved like caricatures." The Boomers were far removed from their spirit of optimism, their hedonism, and their utopian belief in a different, better world. Because they knew: "We only have this world."

Bude knows he's exaggerating, and that every life has its individual variations. "Generation Chatty," the "TAZ" newspaper described his observations of the generations. You can sense his delight in inventing the attributions. It's inspiring to follow him. If you raise objections, because the demarcation of one generation from another always has something arbitrary about it, he addresses them. And he tends to agree.

Bude also had his rebellious phase, occupying houses in the 1980s to protest the lack of affordable housing in Berlin. He wrote the novel "Aufprall" (Impact) about that time with two authors.

There were too many Boomers, and this feeling gave rise to a strong commitment to performance. Because there are so many competitors, you need a strong inner drive to achieve something. Only 5 percent of Boomer generations don't have a vocational qualification, says Bude. Today, in cities like Berlin, the number is 20 percent. You had to be better, to assert yourself against your neighbors on the bench. "At the same time, there was the comforting feeling that others were going through the same thing and that you weren't alone."

Nevertheless, Bude doesn't elevate himself above other generations, especially not above the younger generation, who are said to have high expectations but are afraid to deliver. He doubts this. He finds the term "woke" derogatory and generally avoids culture-warring vocabulary. When young people mocked people his age on social media with "Okay, Boomer," he accepted it.

However, he doesn't completely let the identity-political zeal of the young, left-leaning generation go. Bude speaks of the "judicialization of life" and says: "If I address someone incorrectly, I could be committing an administrative offense. Something has clearly gone wrong." Behind the desire to have everything regulated so that nothing unjust happens, he detects a despondency and a sense of loss. Without him saying so, one might add: something that is less common in his generation.

Now the zeitgeist is changing. Reasonable arguments might once again prevail over hurt feelings. Bude agrees. What we're experiencing now is "a moment of pause": "You take stock and ask yourself: Was all of this really good?" Barack Obama once said: "What if we were wrong?" What if we were wrong?

It worries him that leftists never ask this question. "You can't always just say that Donald Trump is to blame for everything."

As an expert on social sentiment, Bude perceives a strong need to "feel offended." Everyone feels humiliated, even though they're living life as usual. He calls it madness: We have to come to terms with society's madness again. Many perceive the promise of democracy, equality, and freedom as a lie. This is where resentment grows.

"Let's remember how different things were a few years ago," says Bude of his country. "During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the motto was: the world is a guest of friends. Black, red, and gold flags were waving everywhere. The world was radiating how cheerful it was. Where did all that go?"

He blames politics for this. He says we now live in a "spectator democracy" where everyone is waiting for someone to show up at the stadium. Trump is exploiting this longing. Bude also agrees with US Vice President J.D. Vance, who accused Europeans of being afraid of their own people at the Munich Security Conference. Now Europe is rediscovering politics and realizing: Nothing is apolitical, especially not the mood.

"If we Europeans understand that we can change the world through political action, the mood will also improve," says Bude. "Only the authority of politics can help against authoritarianism."

Ultimately, however, he doesn't see it as dramatically as some sociologists, who interpret the crisis mood as an experience of loss: as the end of the certainty that things would always get better. The reality of most people's lives is characterized by gains, says Bude. There are enough jobs, it's possible to make a political impact. But people have little confidence in themselves. "There's a skepticism about oneself, a lack of trust." Yet, to quote the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, confidence is the willingness to stop doubting.

Now the Boomer speaks again: "When everything is so bad, there's nothing left to do but have confidence in yourself." He certainly doesn't lack that.