Generationism is the belief that a specific
generation
A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It also is "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and b ...
has inherent traits that make it inferior or superior to another generation. The term is usually applied to claims of superiority in the expressed values, valuations, lifestyles, and general beliefs of one generation compared to those of another, where objectively verifiable criteria substantiating the claim of superiority in themselves are lacking.
Description
Generationism is most commonly used as an accusation against the belief that the contemporary generation in itself is inherently superior to previous generations, for example through the common practice of pejoratively referring to ancient cultures as "primitive" – not to be confused with the positive label of
primitivism – although an older generation's opposition to the values and lifestyles of a younger generation may also popularly be referred to as generationist.
Critical analysis
Generationism as a recurring sociological phenomenon has been studied in detail by the Swedish philosophers
Alexander Bard
Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard (born 17 March 1961) is a Swedish musician, author, lecturer, artist, songwriter, music producer, TV personality, religious and political activist, and one of the founders of the Syntheism, Syntheist religious movement ...
and
Jan Söderqvist
Jan Söderqvist (born 1961) is an author, lecturer, writer and consultant, and among other things also working as a literary and film critic for the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
Söderqvist has written three books on the Internet revolut ...
in their work ''The Global Empire'' (published in Swedish in 2003).
Bard and Söderqvist regard generationism as a close but far less frequently analyzed relative of
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
which they propose should be studied in more detail to strengthen the general argumentation for
relativism
Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to absolute objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assess ...
and
pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...
in contemporary philosophy.
See also
*
Ageism
Ageism, also called agism in American English, is a type of discrimination based on one's age, generally used to refer to age-based discrimination against Old age, elderly people. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe this ...
*
Intergenerational Equity
Intergenerational equity in economic, psychological, and sociological contexts, is the idea of Social justice, fairness or justice between generations. The concept can be applied to fairness in dynamics between children, youth, adults, and Old a ...
*
Inter-generational contract
* "
OK boomer"
*
Transgenerational design
References
External links
'Generationism' was society's last acceptable prejudice - but the pandemic has toxified it on The Telegraph
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Sociological theories
Cultural generations