Die Ambivalenz familialer Generationenbeziehungen : konzeptuelle Überlegungen zu einem aktuellen Thema der familienwissenschaftlichen Forschung

Abstract

Interest in intergenerational relationships between adults has grown dramatically in recent years, both among social scientists, and in the general public. There has been a tendency to interpret these relationships within a framework that emphasizes intergenerational "solidarity". In contrast, we propose that a more useful conceptual framework for understanding intergenerational relations is that of ambivalence. We use sociological and anthropological theory, as well as selected evidence from family history, to argue that relationships between the generations in families are structured such that they generate various types of ambivalence. A number of exemplary studies from the contemporary sociological literature are then presented that support this orientation. The implications of this new conceptualization of intergenerational relations for both theoretical and empirical efforts are discussed.