Longview promotes lifecourse as well as longitudinal studies, and I’ve been thinking about the way our focus on generations changes over the lifecourse. I have no evidence on this, but would guess that there is a kind of swing from the horizontal to the vertical. By this I mean that earlier in the adult lifecourse we are more oriented laterally (in age terms) towards our peers and co-evals. As we get older, we maybe look more up and down than across.
First, we start getting more interested in our ancestors. Hence the tremendous interest in family history, particularly pronounced amongst 50-70 year olds. (I have just been to a packed lecture at the British Library on using the census for research, and many of the audience were amateur genealogists who fall into this category. The lecture is the first in a series Longview is running with the BL and the Academy of Social Sciences, to coincide with the BL’s illuminating exhibition on the Census.)
Secondly, grandparents become fascinated , even obsessed with their grandchildren. Not being in that category I can’t speak from personal experience. But I do have enough friends who are, and the downwards focus is very apparent indeed.
Of course that doesn’t mean that older people give up their peers, nor that younger people pay no attention to older and younger generations (including their children). But a change in perspective of this kind may be something to think about in an ageing, and increasingly multi-generational, society.
Interesting thoughts Tom. I’m just getting used to the grandfather role. I think you are right to suggest that looking up and down generations becomes more of a focus as new generations arrive. I find, it is not that you look up any less – the longer timescale across 3 generations makes me much more aware of the pace of social change, changing opportunity structures and social mobility issues when you look across life-course events. The changing place of learning in all this would be an interesting perspective to develop.