世代存在嗎?

Do Generations Exist?

Post published by Steven Mintz Ph.D. on Feb 26, 2015 in The Prime of Life

 

Source: G.F. Nesbitt & Co., printer, 1855,

 Are generations caricatures or are they drivers of social and cultural change?

這是世代諷刺漫畫或者他們驅動社會和文化的變革？

it to speak of the Lost Generation, the Greatest Generation, the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomers, the Vietnam or Watergate generation, Generation X, or Millennials, and attribute to them certain common characteristics? 

當提起迷惘的世代，最偉大的世代，沉默的世代，嬰兒潮世代，越南或水門事件世代，X世代，或千禧世代，歸因他們有某些共同特徵？

Is it misleading to speak about a self-absorbed “Me Generation” or jaded, cynical GenXers, overeducated and underemployed?

談論一個專顧自我“自我世代”或厭倦，嘲諷新人類，超過教育水平和未充分就業是誤導？

Is generation-speak, in short, little more than conjecture or cultural stereotyping, or does it speak to a fundamental truth: That a cohort of people often share certain shaping experiences, economic or developmental challenges, childrearing patterns, and cultural touchstones, which, in turn, breed a distinctive outlook and leave a lasting imprint on behavior and attitudes?

是世代發言 ? 總之，多一點猜想或文化的刻版印象，還是提到基本的真理說：那一組人往往有某些共同的塑形經驗，經濟或發展挑戰，育兒模式和文化試金石，對此，反過來，培育出鮮明的前景，並在行為和態度留下一個持久的印記？

It is easy to dismiss the concept of generations as a gross oversimplification.  After all, diversity based on gender, class,ethnicity, and politics makes any sweeping generalizations problematic. The politics of an age cohort generally vary widely.  In the late 1960s, more young people supported the conservative Young Americans for Freedom than the left wing Student for a Democratic Society.

世代的概念很容易打消是過於簡單化。畢竟，差異化基於性別，階級，種族和政治作出任何一概而論問題。一個年齡組的政治觀有很大的不同。在20世紀60年代後期，年輕人為了自由支持年輕美國人保守派比為民主的社會左翼學生越來越多。

The precise meaning of generation is contested.  It has been viewed as a culture, a demographic, an outlook, a style, an economy, a scene, a literature, a political ideology, an aesthetic, an age, a decade, a way of life, a marketing category, and a lazy shorthand.  Age cohorts clearly differ markedly in the homogeneity of their experience.

新世代的確切含義是兵家必爭之地。它已被視為一種文化，一種人口，展望，一種風格，一個經濟體，一個場景，文學，政治意識形態，審美，年齡，十年，一種生活的方式，營銷類，以及慵懶的簡寫。年齡組顯然與經驗的同質性明顯不同。

Only rarely are generations clearly delineated, in the way that the Baby Boom generation of the 1950s and early 1960s was, reflecting the depressed birthrates and delayed marriages of the 1930s, the disruptions of World War II, and rapid post-war economic growth. Also, generationally defining events—such as the deprivation, skewed sex ratios, delayed schooling, in Europe following World War I and II -- are unusual.

只有很少的世代明確界定，在嬰兒潮這樣的世代在20世紀50年代和60年代初，反映了低迷的出生率和20世紀30年代延遲結婚，二戰的破壞，及戰後經濟迅速增長。此外，世代定義事件，如剝奪，不平衡的性別比例，上學推延，在歐洲追隨第一次和第一次世界大戰 - 是不尋常的。

Nevertheless, no one would deny that certain historical upheavals or social realities leave a stamp on large segments of an age cohort.  A detailed sociological study by Glen H. Elder Jr. of the children who grew up during the Great Depression uncovered marked differences in the life experiences of older children (who were born around 1920) and younger children (born around 1928), with those who were adolescents during the 1930s forced to take on adult responsibilities from an early age and, as a result, developing a strong sense of independence among many boys and a commitment to familial responsibility among many girls, while those who were younger were better insulated from the Depression’s hardships.  It also found that those Depression era children who entered a stable marriage and who attended college following military service were best able to overcome the Depression’s impact on life trajectories.

然而，沒有人會否認，某些歷史動盪和社會現實留下印記在一組年齡階段的大部。詳細社會學研究的Glen H. Elder Jr 在大蕭條時期長大，發現在年齡較大的兒童（誕生於1920年）和年幼的孩子（約1928年出生）的生活經歷顯著的差異，那些在20世紀30年代的青少年從小被迫承擔成人的責任，因此，在許多男孩身上發展了獨立的強烈意識，而許多女孩承擔家族責任的承諾，而那些更年輕者最好與抑鬱症的艱辛絕緣。調查還發現，那些進入了穩定的婚姻，與大蕭條時代的孩子上大學之後服兵役者能夠克服大蕭條的生活軌跡的影響。

The notion that society is divided into distinct generations is an old one.  In their sermons, the New England Puritans drew a negative contrast between the founding settlers and the rising generation, which were supposedly straying from their elders’ religious faith. The Romantic movement gave added impetus to the notion of generations, contrasting "fuddy-duddies" and "old fogies" (pejorative terms for the older generation) with the vibrancy and creativity youth.  In the mid-nineteenth century, many younger writers and staunch nationalists in the United States embraced the label Young America. 

這個社會被劃分為不同的世代的概念是舊的。在他們的布道裡，新英格蘭清教徒將創始定居者和崛起的一代劃出一負反差，這是假想是偏離他們的長輩的宗教信念。浪漫主義運動給了進一步推動世代的概念，對比“ 自命不凡的人”，“ 守舊派 ”（貶義詞為老一代）與活力和青春創造力。在十九世紀中葉，在美國許多的年輕作家和堅定的民族主義者擁抱年輕美國的標籤。

But it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, when a French lexicographer defined a generation in 1863 as "all men living more or less in the same time," that a recognizing modern use of the word generation emerged, partly reflecting the rise of military conscription, in which young men were called into military service by age.

但事實並非如此，直到十九世紀，當法國詞典編纂於1863年定義了世代，為“所有人同時或多或少的生活，”一個認定現代世代用字出現，一定程度上反映出軍事徵兵崛起，其中年輕男性屆年齡時被徵召服兵役

The influence of Darwinian evolution was apparent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century argument that the clash of generations was one of history’s driving forces.  The Young Turks were only one of many generational groups that were thought to be driving historical transformation.  Young Germany and Young Italy were said to propel national unification in their regions.

在十九世紀末和二十世紀初達爾文進化論的影響是顯而易見的，爭論世代人的衝突是歷史的動力之一。少壯派是許多世代群體中唯一一個被認為能推動歷史變革。年輕的德國和意大利年輕人據說在他們的地區推動國家統一。

It was a German sociologist, Karl Manheim, who, in a 1923 essay, advanced a formal theory about the origins of generational consciousness and the role of generational cohorts as agents of change.  Mannheim rejected the notion that every age cohort develops a distinct generational consciousness.  Rather, he claimed, it was during times of crisis or extremely rapid social change that such a consciousness was most likely to emerge.

這是德國社會學家卡爾·曼海姆 (Karl Manheim )，在1923年的文章，關於世代意識的起源先進的正式理論和同齡群世代的角色為變革的推動者。曼海姆拒絕了每一個年齡組發展一個有區別的世代意識概念。相反，他聲稱，在危機時刻或社會變化極為迅速的年代，這樣的意識是最有可能出現。

Despite their enormous diversity—in terms of race, geographical residence, gender, ethnicity, education, and class—it is not wrong to speak of today’s young people as a generation.  They have confronted certain shared experiences, including the Great Recession and a protracted, seemingly futile war on terror.  They’ve had to wrestle with the impact of certain widely shared generational experiences, notably their parents’ high divorce rates and slow economic growth, increasing levels of economic inequality, and high unemployment rates, which have bred pessimism about stable relationships and upward economic mobility.  A substantial generation gap has arisen in social values, family structure, racial and ethnic identity, gender norms, religious affiliation and practice, and technology use. 

儘管他們的，種族，居住地域，性別，種族，教育和條件類 巨大差異 — 今天的年輕人可言是一世代並沒有錯。他們面臨著某些共同的經歷，其中包括大衰退和反恐 ，一場曠日持久看似徒勞的戰爭。他們不得不與某些廣泛分享經驗世代的影響角力，尤其是父母的高離婚率和緩慢的經濟增長，經濟不平等程度提高，以及高失業率，已育成悲觀穩定的合作關係和向上流動的經濟。大幅代溝也在社會價值觀出現，家庭結構，種族和民族認同，性別規範，宗教信仰和實踐，以及技術的使用。

Generation is a problematic term, one that must be used with care and caution.  But, nevertheless, it represents an aspect of our social and psychological reality that can’t be denied.

世代生成是一個長期問題，必須小心謹慎使用。但是，儘管如此，它代表我們社會和心理現實層面是不能否認的。