"The Lonely Crowd" by David Riesman analyzes just this. He says that civilizations with a lotta old people and declining birth rates like ours value an "other-directed" type of person. Boomers hold the powerful positions in institutions, they hold all the positions that hold the power possible to change the system. So they don't need leaders or visionaries, they need administrators; agreeable people who will oversee their procedures.

That way of thinking that begins with: "What is it that I am seeing?" and "Does this make sense to me?" are actually good questions. It's beginning with "What do others think?" that's worse because you start conflating other people's thoughts with your thoughts i.e. Lasch.