New challenges for theory and research

Intergenerational family and kin relationships have increasingly become a focus of social science research since the 1980s. There are several reasons for this development, with the most frequently mentioned reason being demographic change. Changes in population structure, however, are embedded in broader social, economic and cultural changes and therefore specific attention should be paid to intergenerational relationships in family and society (as the title of this book suggests). However, these changes do not follow a linear trajectory. On the 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 women – and even more men – decide 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 of life. All these are expressions of accelerated and at the same time contradictory dynamics of post-modern lifestyles, which include intergenerational relations, both at the family and societal level. These circumstances present new challenges for the social scientific analysis of intergenerational relationships, such as covering the wide range of contemporary intergenerational relations.

Questions to be asked in this context include the following: are there any overarching concepts suitable for analysing the contradictory dynamics of intergenerational plurality in post-modern society? Are there theoretical concepts which 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 the concepts of intergenerational solidarity and intergenerational ambivalence emerged, before supplying a brief conceptual history of intergenerational ambivalence. The next section of the chapter provides a comprehensive review of the intergenerational ambivalence discourse in the international research literature. By contrast, the following section focuses on the conceptual advancement of intergenerational ambivalence. Beginning with a critical review of the 2002 debate on intergenerational solidarity, conflict and ambivalence in the Journal of Marriage and the Family (JMF), the reader will be introduced to several more recent contributions that further develop the concept.