Summaries

Abstract

The chapter asks how the individual refers to his/her generation and what follows from this for his/her self-perception. Two statements from an empirical study of the ‘68 generation reveal two very different reactions to this generational attribution: a form of positive identification on the one hand and a form of negative rejection on the other. The case of the ‘68 generation is then used to show how the name of a generation gains currency and what this labeling process means for the feeling of belonging among age peers. As a next step, the forms and occasions of generational perception of self and other in everyday life are discussed. A generation turns out to be a community of experience and remembrance that forges a link between the individual biographies. The chapter concludes that the reference to a generation creates a spontaneous ‚we-feeling‘ but not necessarily ‚we-actions‘.