SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF GENERATION

Abstract

Sociological concept of generation should be distinguished from biological and statistical, and they discussed all three of its meaning. In a sociological sense, it is characterized by a common historical experience that has its own internal and external, subjective and objective dimension. In sociology it was introduced by Dilthey, one of the main representatives of historicism, and which is characterized by discontinuous conception of history and emphasizing specialality of cultural epochs. In contemporary sociology, this concept was reaffirmed under the strong influence of Mannheim who argued that the generation is in the range of analytical categories of class and nation. The major historical generations in our society are pointed. Four generations are considered as the main age groups but also as social constructs - children, youth, middle aged and old people. Their status in the traditional and contemporary, especially in our society is pointed. In the research of generation and its main forms have formed a special sociological disciplines, except for the middle-aged who are, as a generation, at least sociologically studied.