The members of the International Network for the Analysis of Intergenerational Relations (Generationes) proudly present the most recent issue of the jointly produced compendium “Generations, Intergenerational Relations and Generational Policy”. This new version includes seven languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish (New) and Portuguese (New)). Its layout is designed for using it to translate the specific concepts and terminology of research into generations and intergenerational relations from one language into another.

The members of the International Network for the Analysis of Intergenerational Relations (Generationes) proudly present the most recent issue of the jointly produced compendium “Generations, Intergenerational Relations and Generational Policy”. This new version includes seven languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish (New) and Portuguese (New)). Its layout is designed for using it to translate the specific concepts and terminology of research into generations and intergenerational relations from one language into another.

Intergenerational family and kin relationships have become a focus of social science research since the 1980s. There are several reasons for this development, witb tbe most frequently mentioned reason being demograpbic cbange. Changes in population structure, bowever, are embedded in broader social, economic and cultural changes and therefore specific attention should be paid to intergenerational relationships in farnily and society (as the title of this book suggests). However, these changes do not follow a linear trajectory. On tbe contrary, there are multiple contradictions and distortions that also refer to the meanings commonly ascribed to intergenerational relations. To put it simply: intergenerational relations can no longer be taken for granted. For example, a considerable number of womenand even more rnendecide against parenthood, or become parents comparatively late in their lives. Separation, divorce, new family types and reconstituted families contribute to the increasing plurality of private forms oflife. All these are expressions of accelerated and at the same time Contradietory dynamics of post-modern lifestyles, which include intergenerational relations, botb at the family and societallevel. These circumstances present new challenges for the social scientific analysis of intergenerational relationships, such as covering tbe wide range of contemporary intergenerational relations. Questions to be asked in this context indude the following: are there any averarehing concepts suitable for analysing the Contradietory dynamics of intergenerational plurality in post-modern society? Are there theoretical concepts wbicb represent people's day-to-day experiences but which nonetheless allow distance for reflection? Are there concepts suitable for challenging the pitfalls of intergenerational rhetoric? These questions delineate the scope of this chapter. The concept of'intergenerational ambivalence' will be proposed as an instrument for resolving these issues. This chapter first provides a guide to the historical context in which concepts of intergenerational solidarity and intergenerational ambivalence emerged, before supplying a brief conceptual history of intergenerational ambivalence.The next section ofthe chapter provides a comprehensive review of the intergenerational ambivalence discoursein the international research literature.

When I first read the book title Generational Intelligence I was mystified as to what exactly it meant. Does “generational intelligence” refer to some mystical intelligence service for which spies collect confidential information on members of different generations? Does that kind of knowledge help to navigate, negotiate, or manipulate intergenerational relations? Or does “intelligence” refer to some kind of intergenerational sensibility based on knowledge about generations? Does “generational intelligence” refer to a specific skill to understand and to manage generational differences? Does the concept imply a diagnosis of currently lacking intergenerational empathy in our increasingly aging but also increasingly individualistic societies? With their book, Simon Biggs and Ariela Lowenstein introduce a new perspective on studying intergenerational relationships. Their generational intelligence approach suggests a new method of raising awareness of other generations, to put oneself into the shoes of someone belonging to a different generation. However, this is much easier said than actually done, as both authors explain very sensibly. Metaphorically speaking, the authors take the reader on a step-by-step journey, thereby circumnavigating a number of cliffs. But whereas the challenge in sailing is evading undetectable rocks hidden beneath the surface, the test readers of Biggs and Lowenstein’s book face is uncovering subconscious/unconscious elements of their own minds, which I would argue is even more challenging. Biggs and Lowenstein start their book with a bold claim: “Our main goal has been to develop a new conceptual-theoretical framework for understanding intergenerational relations in their broadest perspective” (p. viii). Crucially, Biggs and Lowenstein remind us of the close association between generation and two other concepts: age and identity. By linking generation with age they introduce the notion of the “age-other”—“someone who is constructed as being of a different group to oneself, based on age” (p. xii). Following these conceptual preparations, Biggs and Lowenstein set out to develop their new concept of generational intelligence that they claim will change the way we approach intergenerational relationships. The point

This state-of-the-art report of intergenerational relationships in Switzerland summarizes the outcomes of the Swiss National Research Program NFP (Nationales Forschungsprogramm) 52 “Childhood, Adol...

ABSTRACTThe paper focuses on intergenerational support relations between grandparents and their grandchildren in Germany, and how they have changed from 1996 to 2002. The paper begins with a brief review of the literature on functional aspects of the grandparent-grandchild relationship, after which the research hypotheses about intergenerational support in the relationship are elaborated. Following a description of the data source, theGerman Ageing Survey, and its samples and measures, the evidence on the patterns of grandparents' provision and receipt of intergenerational support to and from their grandchildren are presented and compared with parent-child support patterns. The analysis also considers variations by age groups and birth cohorts and changes over time. The main empirical finding is that there was a greater likelihood of financial transfers to grandchildren in 2002 than six years earlier. Nevertheless, the grandparents' relationships with their grandchildren remained imbalanced or asymmetrical, at the older generation's expense. It was found that financial and instrumental support patterns between grandparents and grandchildren were best explained using an ‘intergenerational stake’ hypothesis rather than one of ‘intergenerational solidarity’; the latter is more consistent with parent-child support patterns.

Gender, Ageing and Power : Changing Dynamics in Western Societies; Special Issue of Current Sociology, Monograph 1