The Concept of Generations

Abstract

“Generation” is a polysynthetic concept with several meanings that captures the relation between the individual and the collective in both societal and kinship relations, the concept of the life course as individuals age, and collective existence as lived out in the company of time-based cohorts of contemporaries. Karl Mannheim, who presented himself as a sociologist of knowledge rather than history, developed the theory of generations in 1927, during a period of rapid modernization. The ascendancy of the concept today also reflects the rapidity of social change. A key example is the growing imbalance between older and younger populations in Western societies that raises issues of generational justice, especially at times when many governments have cut back public expenditures and welfare benefits. The concept of generations as originally proposed by Mannheim in his germinal essay, Mannheim 1952 (cited under General Overviews, [first translated into English in 1952]), has inspired generations of sociologists. However, the concept has been applied relatively little in empirical research. Mannheim conceived of generations as a problem for historical sociology. In his view, historical context had strong experiential effects on the formative years of a birth cohort (those who were born and grew up in the same period), effects which persist over the life course. In addition, Mannheim proposed the idea of generations as units, by which he meant the ways in which a birth or age cohort responds collectively to a set of social conditions and the ways in which each generations develops its own consciousness and sense of belonging and identity. At the same time, Mannheim was clear that generations were not subjected to the same experiences and that divisions of class and gender were significant. The concept of generations has also been the central territory of anthropology through its study of kinship relations. It is also a focus of demography in its study of populations; of psychology in its focus on the life span and child development; and of sociology in its focus on parenthood, household, and childhood. Within these disciplines and fields, there is considerable variation in the use of the term. Some researchers use it as a bridging concept; some, for example, contextualize family and kinship relations in historical context, while others focus exclusively on intergenerational relationships and processes of intergenerational transmission within families, taking little account of history. In this bibliography we will make certain broad distinctions. First, we consider the literature on the concept of historical generations and linked concepts of the life course and age. We then go on to consider the literature on families and kinship relations as they relate to intergenerational transmission in families and the sociologies of childhood and youth. We end with a section on intergenerational solidarity, fairness, and social policy. The literature includes papers with a conceptual slant, empirical research, textbooks, and works by organizations that produce relevant research.

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