First things first, lets begin by understanding what is zeitgeist?

Here’s Merriam-Webster’s definition:

the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era

I like to look at multiple sources. Wikipedia is a bit more dramatic in their definition:

a Zeitgeist (German pronunciation: [ˈtsaɪtɡaɪst]) ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent or force dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history

In essence, it is the state of mind reflective or reactive of the prevailing culture of a given time. It is how and what an individual is thinking of the times we’re living in, and how does she feel about it. It is derived out of the culture and it also influences it.

Albiet derived from impersonal instances, it does ultimately creep into the personal psyche.

It is dependent on the geography, as the overarching culture and state of affairs and affairs of the state changes with distance

Albiet I haven’t lived in the eras, you here are some examples of Zeitgeis:

  • Roaring ‘20s in the United States
  • The struggle for Indian independence in the ‘40s
  • The three social movements in ‘60s and ‘70s in United States (Civil Rights, Feminism and Anti-War)
  • The rise of consumerism in 2000s in India

These are isolated examples, there are a plethora of things humans care about and the overarching outlook of a particular thing can be applied to something as boring as a market study

Very famously, the crypto movement started with a distrust of authorities after the 2008 market crash.

Similarly, in hindsight one could say that the rise of social and other similar networks in mid 2000s was because of the loneliness that crept in after the capitalistic outlook stated in the 1990s.

That’s why I feel it is very crucial for one to look at the market through a more qualitative lens of the Zeitgeist. In terms of how to go about doing that, that’s a topic for another day

But one should always remember to use the facts to derive the theory and not the other way around, hopefully I haven’t committed that sin myself.