Generational identities: Historical and literary perspectives

Abstract

Discussions of generational identities need to take into account their long and non-linear history. Our present focus on intergenerational inequity Baby-Boomers vs. Millennials disregards the much more complex history of this social identity. This paper by a historian and literary scholar teases apart (1) the diachronic and synchronic meanings of 'generation' , (2) the difference between 'a generation in itself' from 'a generation for itself' that has a social identity, and ( 3) generational identities that are claimed from within or ascribed from without. This paper places the question of how generational change takes place into historical context, showing that while generational identities came to focused attention during the First World War, they arguably began a century earlier, in the upheavals of the French Revolution and worldwide Napoleonic Wars. Nineteenth-century intellectual movements were often generation-conscious, though these identities did not translate across the social spectrum. The paper emphasises the intersectional nature of any generational taxonomy in relation to class, gender, race and national context, drawing brief examples from independence-era Jamaica, post-Soviet Russia, and mid-twentieth-century UK and USA. A final section highlights the value of 'intergenerational' approaches over those that emphasize a 'generation gap' .

Comparative analysis of Australian climate change and COVID-19 vaccine audience segments shows climate skeptics can be vaccine enthusiasts

“…Research on science skepticism is trying to better understand these attitude roots and their influence across scientific domains. While this study did not examine generations specifically (but age groups), the concept of generational identities is not new and these are known to intersect with other forms of identity 85 . Differences associated with generational identities may contribute as attitude roots reflected in the age group effects we identified.…”

Humanities and a Longer History of Social Generations

“…Although social generations came to focused attention in the 20th century, scholars' understanding needs to address a longer timeline (Kingstone, 2021). Karl Mannheim wrote his foundational theory of social generations in the aftermath of the First World War in Germany, but he rooted it in the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars of 1789 to 1815 (Mannheim, 1952(Mannheim, [1928).…”

Secondo movimento. Rappresentazione

“…Which sense we therefore understand not only in a biological or socio-historical sense, but also and above all as an act of creation and creativity. For this reason, we will deal with phenomena that, starting from the linear verticality of genetic transmission in close family relationships (Hopwood, Flemming, Kassell 2018), follow vectors of movement that are increasingly inclined and slant, or perhaps more and more "lateral" and intersectional (Kingstone 2021;Bristow, Kingstone 2021), redesigning the family tree of generational representation in an increasingly detailed, peripheral, elective and accelerated manner. And photographing families and lineages of people, ideas, codes, practices and texts as they become increasingly ramifi ed, intricate, enlarged (Davido 2012) -or, as in the case of our lovely cover picture, defi nitely bizarre.…”