The Sociology of Generations

"An engagingly written and impressively resourced book which brings together historical, literary and ethnographic material on formal education and policies on gender, parenting and the 'safeguarding' of children - topics rarely considered together. The author holds her novel and ambitious thesis together by locating it within Karl Mannheim's renowned but neglected theory of generations. She brings out clearly how it was, for him, an example of the potential of the sociology of knowledge." (Michael Young, UCL Institute of Education, UK) "Popular usage of the term "generation" tends to be characterised by opacity and imprecision, and the sociology of generations is hardly less murky and contested. The same can be said of public discussion and academic consideration of problems and issues around education, teaching, child protection and safeguarding, parenting and the family, living with uncertainty and risk, gender relationships and reproduction, and bureaucratic and governmental incursions into the personal and private sphere. This short book bravely takes on these issues and more, through a discussion of the idea and reality of generations situated firmly in the sociology of knowledge ... Building on refreshingly eclectic sources and ideas, Jennie Bristow offers an engaging discussion of some fundamental issues." (Heather Piper, Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh, UK)

This book suggests that the enduring problem of generations remains that of knowledge: how society conceptualises the relationship between past, present and future, and the ways in which this is transmitted by adults to the young. Reflecting on Mannheim’s seminal essay ‘The Problem of Generations’, the author explores why generations have become a focus for academic interest and policy developments today. Bristow argues that developments in education, teaching and parenting culture seek to resolve tensions of our present-day risk society through imposing an artificial distance between the generations.

Bristow’s book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of Sociology, Social Policy, Education, Family studies, Gerontology and Youth studies.