Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:59:38.712Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Generations, Age Groups and Cohorts: Conceputal Distinctions1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Victor W. Marshall
Victor W. Marshall
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Current scholarship in the sociology of age relations suffers from conceptual ambiguity and confusion in the area of age and generational relations. This paper recommends precise definition and use of the terms cohort, generation, age grade, age stratum, age group, and generation groups. Concrete or real definitional constructs are distinguished from nominal constructs and their advantages are described. The central thrust of the paper is a call for a return to the conceptualization of Mannheim about generations and a parallel conceptualization concerning age groups. The usefulness of this approach is discussed in terms of the political sociology of age relations.

Résumé

Les études actuelles dans le domaine de la sociologie des rapports d'áge sont entachées de confusion et d'ambiguité conceptuelle en ce qui conceme les rapports entre les âges et les générations. Il est recommendé que soit adoptée une définition précise de chacun des termes suivants: cohorte, génération, classe d'âges, couche d'âges, groupe d'âge et groupe générationnel. L'auteur distingue les construction concrètes et réellement définitoires d'une part, et d'autre part les constructions nominales, tout en exposant leurs avantages respectifs. L'auteur insiste sur la nécessité de revenir au concept proposé par Mannheim pour définir la génération, et d'élaborer un concept parallèle en vue d'arriver à une définition du groupe d'âge. Il discute l'utilité de cette approche dans le cadre de la sociologie des rapports d'âge.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , October 1983 , pp. 51 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Becker, H.German youth: bond or free. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Truber and Company, 1946.Google Scholar
Bengtson, V.L., Inter-age differences in perception and the generation gap. The Gerontologist, 1971, 77 (4, Part II), 85–89, 103–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, V.L. et al. , Aging, generations, and relations between age groups. In Binstock, R. & Shanas, E. (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences, Revised Edition. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, In Press.Google Scholar
Berger, B.M.How long is a generation? British Journal of Sociology, 1960, 11, 557–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanchard, R.D., Bunker, J.B., & Wachs, M.Distinguishing aging, period and cohort effects in longitudinal studies of elderly populations. Socio- Economic Planning Sciences, 1977, 11(3), 137–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cain, L.D. Jr. Life course and social structure. In Fans, R.E.L. (Ed.), Handbook of modem sociology. Chicago: Rand McNally and Company, 1964.Google Scholar
Cain, L.D. Jr. Age status and generational phenomena: the new old people in contemporary America. The Gerontologist, 1967, 7, 83–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowd, JJ. The old person as stranger. Chapter to appear in Marshall, V. W. & Harris, A. (Eds.), Later life: social psychological issues. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Company, Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Easterlin, R.A.Population, labor force, and long swings in economic growth: the American experience. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research (Columbia University Press), 1968.Google Scholar
Easterlin, R.A.What will 1984 be like? Socioeconomic implications of recent twists in age structure. Demography, 1978, 15(4), 397–432.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elder, G.H.Children of the Great Depression: social change and life experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Estes, C.L.The aging enterprise. San Francisco, Washington and London, 1979.Google Scholar
Flacks, R.The liberated generation: an exploration of the roots of student protest Journal of Social Issues, 1967, 23(1), 52–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foner, A.Age stratification and age conflict in political life. American Sociological Review, 1974, 39, 187–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foner, A. & Kertzer, D.Transitions over the life course: lessons from age-set societies. American Journal of Sociology, 1978, 83(5), 1081–1104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glenn, N.D.Cohort analysis. Beverly Hills and London: Sage Publications, 1977.Google Scholar
Guillemard, A.M.La vieillesse et l'etat. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1980.Google Scholar
Heer, F.Revolutions of our time: challenge of youth. London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1974.Google Scholar
Hempel, C.G.Aspects of scientific explanation and other essays in the philosophy of science. New York: The Free Press, 1965.Google Scholar
Hogan, D.F.Transitions and social change: the early lives of American men. New York; Academic Press, 1981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, L.Y.Great expectations: America and the baby boom generation. New York: Ballantine Books, 1980.Google Scholar
Kaplan, A.The conduct of inquiry. San Francisco: Chandler, 1964.Google Scholar
Kertzer, D. Generations as a sociological problem. Annual Review of Sociology, 8, In press.Google Scholar
Laufer, R. & Bengtson, V.L.Generations, aging and social stratification: on the development of generational units. Journal of Social Issues, 1974, 30d 181–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitt, C.The new left, the new class and socialism (1). Higher Education, 1979, 8, 641–655.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maddox, G.L. & Wiley, J. Scope, concepts and methods in the study of aging. In Binstock, R.H. & Shanas, E. (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1976.Google Scholar
Mannheim, K. The problem of generations. In Kecskemeti, D. (Ed.), Essays on the sociology of knowledge. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1952.Google Scholar
Mannheim, K. The problems of the intelligentsia: an inquiry into its past and present role. In Mannheim, E. & Kecskemeti, P. (Eds.), Essays on the sociology of culture. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1956.Google Scholar
Marshall, V.W.Generations and cohorts: a generation is a cohort but a cohort is not necessarily a generation. QSEP Research Report No. 11, Program for Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, 1981a.Google Scholar
Marshall, V.W. Societal toleration of aging: sociological theory and social responses to population aging: pp. 85–104 in Adaptability and Aging I (Proceedings, IX International Conference of Social Gerontology,Paris:CIGS/ICGS),1981b.Google Scholar
Nash, R.The nervous generation: American thought, 1917–1930. Chicago: Rand McNally and Company, 1970.Google Scholar
Neugarten, B.L.The old and the young in modem Societies. American Behavioral Scientist, 1970, 4(1), 13–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North, C.C. and Hatt, P.K.Jobs and Occupations: a popular evaluation. Public Opinion News, 1947, 9, 3–13.Google Scholar
Ortega, y Gasset, Man and crisis. New York: W.W. Norton, 1962.Google Scholar
Ossowski, S.Class structure in the social consciousness. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963.Google Scholar
Palmore, E.When can age, period, and cohort be separated? Social Forces, 1978. 57(1), 202–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, M.W. Social gerontology and the age stratification stratification of society.Google Scholar
The Gewntologist, 1971, 77(1), 79–87.Google Scholar
Riley, M.W. Age strata in social systems. Pp. 189–217 In Binstock, R.H. & Shanas, E. (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1976.Google Scholar
Rosenmayr, L. Biography and identity. Pp. 27–53 In Harevan, T.K. & Adams, K.J. (Eds.) Aging and life course transitions; an interdisciplinary perspective. New York and London: The Guilford Press, 1982.Google Scholar
Rosow, I.What is a cohort and why? Human Development, 1978, 21, 65–75.Google Scholar
Ryder, N.B.The cohort as a concept in the study of social change. American Sociological Review, 1965, 30(6), 834–861.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schutz, A. Common-sense and scientific interpretation of human action. In Natanson, M. (Ed.), Alfred Schutz, Collected Papers I: The Problem of Social Reality. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1967.Google Scholar
Tindale, J.A. Generational conflict: class and cohort relations among Ontario public secondary school teachers. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Sociology, York University, Toronto, Canada, 1980a.Google Scholar
Tindale, J. A.The intersection of age and class interests in a profession facing external pressure.Paper presented at the Ninth Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting, Canadian Association on Gerontology,Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,1980b.Google Scholar
Tindale, J.A. & Marshall, V.W. A generational conflict perspective for gerontology. Ch. 5, pp. 43–50 In Marshall, V.W. (Ed.), Aging in Canada: Social perspectives. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1980.Google Scholar
Waring, J.M. Social replenishment and social change: the problem of disordered cohort flow. In Foner, A. (Ed.), Age in Society. Beverly Hills and London: Sage Publications, 1976.Google Scholar
Winsborough, H.H. Statistical histories of the life cycle of birth cohorts: the transition from schoolboy to adult male. Ch. 11, pp. 231–259 In Taeuber, K.E.Bumpass, L.L. and Sweet, J.A. (Eds.), Social Demography. New York: Academic Press, 1978.CrossRefGoogle Scholar