One source of inspiration for us came from a version of Generativity Three that was proposed by George Vaillant in his important book about the unprecedented longitudinal study begun in 1938 of 200 Harvard graduates: the Grant Study of Adult Development. As with Erikson, Vaillant sets aside our first role of generativity (parenting and conducting projects):
Generativity, of course, may . . . include community building (our fourth role) and other forms of leadership, but not, in my mind, such pursuits as raising children, painting pictures, and growing crops. [Vaillant, 2012, p. 164]
Vaillant also associates himself with most of what Erikson has to say about our second role of generativity:
Generative people care for others in a direct, forward-oriented relationship—mentor to mentee, teacher to student. They are caregivers.” [Vaillant, 2012, p. 165]
However, Vaillant (2012 p. 165) is critical of Erikson’s Generativity Two because he believes his analysis is too restrictive in setting the stage for Generativity Three: “Erikson sometimes fails to distinguish between the care that characterizes Generativity and the wisdom that characterizes Guardianship and which he ascribed, I believe incorrectly, to Integrity (one of Erikson’s other stages of life.)”
It is here where Vaillant offers significant insights into the stage of generativity and contributes to how we define our third role of generativity. He (Vaillant, 2012, p. 165) writes about the Harvard men he was studying during the latter third of their lives who became generative and provided deep care by serving as Guardians of traditions, heritage and culture: “Guardians are caretakers. They take responsibility for the cultural values and riches from which we all benefit, offering their concern beyond specific individuals to their culture as a whole; they engage a social radius that extends beyond their immediate personal surround.”
Much as Generativity Two is an expansion of care beyond our immediate family and our special projects, Generativity Three moves us past deep care about specific people to deep care about an entire set of values and an abiding and important history. In the case of Generativity Three, the expansion has to do with broadening concerns for a much larger group of people (an entire society or culture) and also going backward in time to honor the past. (We will see yet another shift as we move to Generativity Four, an expansion in space – a direct and tangible expansion of care regarding an entire community.)
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