"Krieg zwischen den Generationen?" : die Darstellung von Generationenbeziehungen in ausgewählten Sachbuchtexten

Abstract

The "war between the generations" is becoming a common topic of public discourse. What arguments and rhetorical elements are used to characterize intergenerational relations? How does this relate to recent findings in the social sciences? Three popular non-fiction books were chosen for a detailed analysis of arguments and rhetorical elements in the public discourse about generations. This special genre is becoming even more important in a time, when more and more people are looking for knowledge with which to orient themselves in life. They have more education and interest in discussing major contemporary issues. Another important reason for the choice of topics is the self-referentiality of the media. This means that certain topoi found in non-fiction books are used in other types of publication.After describing our analytical method, we introduce the content of the three books. We then reconstruct important topoi, typical arguments and rhetorical elements of each text. Through a comparison we gain insights about different perspectives on intergenerational relations and propose tentative explanations for their emergence. Finally, we summarize the main elements of the texts and discuss possible functions of the found dramatization. This leads to questions of whether and how non-fiction books and texts in the social sciences can influence each other.