Generation and Family—On the Ambivalence of Multi-Structural Relationships

Abstract

The collected volume Generationen und Familien, which is dedicated to the sociologist Kurt Lüscher on his 70th birthday, presents a critical diagnosis of the current state of theory and research on this theme. The editors point to the diversity and multi-structural nature of the concept of family and generation in their forward to the volume: Familial relations between generations are experienced in very different ways and, depending upon the theoretical reading, they provide multiple patterns for interpretation. The contributions approach the linkage between family, generation, and society in a theoretical and an empirical manner. The contents can be divided into three general thematic blocks: “Generation, generational relations, and generational relationships,” “family, daily life, and identity,” and “sociology, law, and politics.”