Gen C

Citizen - Community - Collaborative - Collective

The Good Turns Foundation charts a cultural evolution - from Gen Me (individual) & Gen We (group) towards Gen C (citizen, society) & Gen P (purpose, people, planet) - two cross‑generational movements defined by shared values, collective responsibility, and a clear sense of purpose.

Gen C - Citizens with a community consciousness that see civic responsibility and collective action as a driving purpose. Just as Gen P invites individuals to become Purposeful Learners, Leaders, Practitioners, and Storytellers, and most significantly, Purposeful Citizens, Gen C amplifies this by turning collective purpose into civic action rooted in virtue, shared values, and participatory democracy.

Values & Virtue: The Moral Compass of Purposeful Collectives

Gen P’s vision rests on elevating values over mere economic metrics - redefining success as human flourishing, wellbeing, and ecological stewardship.

Building on virtue ethics, Gen C emerges through a shared moral vocabulary: compassion, community, solidarity, belonging, integrity, dignity, equality, reciprocity. Ancient philosophical traditions taught that citizens need virtues (e.g. justice, courage, temperance) to sustain good societies - Gen C revives this ethos in modern form.

And at the heart of it is the Purposeful Citizen - someone who integrates a purposeful life with civic responsibility. They are not passive observers but active contributors, linking the personal with the political, the ethical with the collective, people and places with the foundations needed to thrive.

When collectives cultivate virtue - through public dialogue, deliberation, listening, mutual accountability - they reinforce civic character, cultivate trust, and create a clear sense of belonging. As historical research on commons shows, longevity thrives when citizens meet, communicate and negotiate - creating rich social bonds.

Civic Responsibility & Participatory Democracy

In Gen C, civic responsibility becomes active rather than symbolic. Citizens engage in local governance, co‑create policy, steward public commons - and hold institutions accountable. They see citizenship as more than voting: it’s regular participation in shaping society’s direction.

Gen P promotes Purposeful Governance and Purposeful Citizenship as frameworks that embed purpose across public institutions and civil society.

Collectives under the Gen C banner form neighborhood groups, citizens assemblies, and cross-generational forums. Together, exercise participatory democracy and using online tools to assert civic identities, organise swiftly and effectively, amplify locally and globally, and turn collective decisions into action.

The Unique Power of a Cross-Generational Movement

What makes the Gen C - Gen P convergence so powerful is that it’s defined by shared values and purpose, not age, gender, ethnicity, background. It brings together elders with wisdom, youth with urgency, professionals with platforms, and citizens with care.

In a world often fractured by generational divides, this movement transcends them, creating shared purpose across time and life stages. Elders bring lived experience, long-term thinking, and memory of past civic struggles. Young people bring creativity, digital fluency, and moral clarity. Mid-life workers bring institutional access, networks, and often the means to resource collective change. Young children bring hope, and a natural connection to values such as fairness and kindness.

This intergenerational alliance becomes a living ecosystem of purpose, where stories, skills, and stewardship flow across generations. It’s how cultures regenerate - and how democracies renew.

The Purposeful Citizen is the common identity that connects these movements. Whether you're 4 or 104, you can be a Purposeful Citizen - deeply committed to values, and actively engaged in shaping a more just, inclusive, and regenerative environment.

Rather than waiting for a single demographic to lead, Gen C invites everyone to take responsibility, regardless of age or background. The result is a people-powered cultural evolution - capable of reshaping politics, economics, and daily life.

Working for & Buying from Purposeful Organisations

One expression of civic virtue is economic choice shaped by values. Gen P encourages the development of Purposeful Organisations - enterprises that embed social and environmental purpose into their governance and operations, not just marketing slogans.

At the same time, Gen C encourages purposeful citizens to prioritise these organisations: choosing fair‑trade, shared‑ownership, social enterprise, and purpose-driven organisations. In doing so, the marketplace becomes a democratic arena and purchase decisions a civic act.

Purposeful procurement - by individuals, schools, councils, government - which elevates public purpose over private profit, aligning consumer power with collective good.

Purposeful Citizens vote with their time, their wallet, and through the ballot box - actively supporting those collectively focused on creating a thriving, flourishing, purposeful future.

Synergy and Alignment: Gen C Meets Gen P