Notes taken from: Jane
Pilcher: Mannheim's sociology of generations: an undervalued
legacy. Mannheim's 1923 essay 'The
Problem of Generations'.
The term ‘Generation’ is a social phenomina- of social interaction
between human beings….. Were it not for the existence of social interaction
between human beings — were there no definable social structure, no history
based on a particular sort of continuity, the generation would not exist as a
social phenomenon: there would be merely birth, ageing and death. (1952:291)
'All people living at the same time do not necessarily share the
same history'
Human beings are 'biological clocks and organic beings'
‘Generation’ has its potential in revealing the 'secret of
history'- historical progression or social change.
Generation is more
than just parent-child relationship, It is the bringing together of biological (ageing
and death- a limited span of life, and ageing', the physical replacement of
individuals over time as a consequence).
Trying to find a
general law of historical development 'based on the biological law of the
limited life span of man and the overlap of new and old generations', is
one of the driving forces of social change and progression. This has the
possibility of predicting the direction of social change. Attempts to discover
the 'rhythm of history' can be achieved only through research into the 'nearer
and more transparent fabric of social processes' and their influence on
generations, since 'any biological rhythm must work itself out through the
medium of social events'
'Generation' is
really in the sense of 'cohort' and that this would be a more accurate term to
employ… A 'cohort' is defined as people within a delineated population who
experience the same significant event within a given period of time. The term
'generation' is a structural one in kinship terminology denoting the
parent-child relationship. Individuals
are generations in the kinship sense, yet are also generations in the cohort
sense P483
Generation with
cohort and multiple nature of time and to the complexity of biographical and
historical connections. (integration of new human beings into society is a
fundamental concern) and mechanisms of orderly cohort flow and gradual
evolution of the social order'.
…There being a lack of sociological theorizing and research on age
in terms of social generation (in the Mannheimian tradition) within British
sociology. To encourage the newly developing field of the social significance
of age to include a concern with age in terms of social generation, this paper
gives an account of Mannheim's theory and highlights its value in illuminating
a number of key sociological concerns. These include:
1.
The relationship between biology and the social;
2.
The nature of time; the relationship between biography and history
and between personal and social change. time is a multi-layered and complex
fact of life, multiple in its forms and its expressions, Conceptions of time
are central to the variety of ways in which generation is used in everyday
language, including in terms of locating persons within historical time and as
a marker of time past, time future and historical progression. Romantasist
interior time and the experience of time, rather than quantified time in
decades and years. 'External units' of time such as decades, years and months
are replaced by 'generation' as a temporal unit in history.
3.
The mechanisms of social change; and socio-psycho-logical
connections of language and knowledge.
Mannheim's sociology
of generations 483
Mannheim identifies generational location as a key aspect of the
existential determination of knowledge. Generational location points to
'certain definite modes of behaviour, feeling and thought' (Mannheim 1952:
291), and the formative experiences during the time of youth are highlighted as
the key period in which social generations are formed.
Seeing ‘generation’ as an individual or group
located in a ‘social class structure, generation emerges from the existence of
an economic and power structure within society. Generation emerges from a
biological rhythm in human existence.
THE BIOLOGICAL RHYTHM OF HUMAN
EXISTENCE :
We breathe, eat, digest; our
activities and our sleep are linked to the light-dark cycle of the earth; our
life span follows the natural cycle of growth and decay. These features have
effects which cannot, Adam argues, be limited to our physiology, but which
permeate our social lives. our organic existence has effects, not limited to
physiology, but which permeate the social world.
