Introduction: Generation as an Open Question

Späth, Jens

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-77422-0_1

Jens Späth⁴

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements ((PSHSM))

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Abstract

Scholars disagree about how generations come into being, how they can be identified and what socialising effect they have over the lifetime of their members. Therefore, Späth addresses the concept of ‘generation’ as an open question. In trying to fill the gap in the transnational component of political generation formation, he invites us to concentrate on one crucial moment of “the age of extremes” and on one specific generation: the year 1945 and its progressive politicians and intellectuals. Starting with the Second World War as civilizational rupture, the chapter suggests that there were new democratic political cultures in Western Europe after 1945. Outlining the contributions following in the volume, Späth contextualizes them within a framework toward an integrated Western European history.

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Notes

1.
Mannheim, Karl. “Das Problem der Generationen.” Kölner Vierteljahreshefte für Soziologie 7 (1928), 157–185, 309–330; reprinted as a single article in: Id. Wissenssoziologie, ed. by Kurt H. Wolff. Neuwied am Rhein: Luchterhand, ²1970, 509–565.
2.
Gerland, Kirsten/Möckel, Benjamin/Ristau, Daniel. “Die Erwartung. Neue Perspektiven der Generationenforschung.” In id., eds. Generation und Erwartung. Konstruktionen zwischen Vergangenheit und Zukunft. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2013, 9–25.
3.
For further information, current projects and publications about the Göttingen graduate school, see: http://www.generationengeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/ (14.04.2017).
4.
See Lovell, Stephen, ed. Generations in Twentieth-Century Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
5.
Berghoff, Hartmut/Jensen, Uffa/Lubinski, Christina/Weisbrod, Bernd. “Introduction.” In id., eds. History by Generations. Generational Dynamics in Modern History. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2013, 7. A recent example of the Anglo-American type is Parment , Anders. Generation Y in Consumer and Labour Markets. London: Routledge, 2015.
6.
See e.g. Carlson, Elwood. “Generations as Demographic Category. Twentieth-Century U.S. Generations.” In Berghoff et al., eds. History by Generations, 15–37.
7.
For France, see e.g. Andro, Gaïd. Une génération au service de l’État. Paris: Société des études robespierristes, 2015; Glazman, Wolf. De génération en génération. Les enfants de la Shoah. Paris: Harmattan, 2009; Chauveau-Veauvy, Yves. Génération AFN [Algérie 1956–1962]. Turquant: À Part du Temps, 2009; Fouque, Antoinette. Génération MLF 1968–2008. Paris: Des Femmes, 2008; for Italy e.g. Mori, Maria Teresa. Di generazione in generazione. Le Italiane dall’Unità a oggi. Rome: Viella, 2014; Latini, Carlo/Vita, Vincenzo. Il Sessantotto: un evento, tanti eventi, una generazione. Milan: Franco Angeli, 2008; Capuzzo, Paolo, ed. Genere, generazione e consumi. L’Italia degli anni Sessanta. Rome: Carocci, 2003; Grandi, Aldo. La generazione degli anni perduti. Storie di Potere Operaio. Torino: Einaudi, 2003.
8.
Lovell, Stephen. “Introduction.” In id., ed. Generations in Twentieth-Century Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, 11.
9.
Bohnenkamp, Björn. Doing Generation. Bielefeld: transcript, 2014.
10.
Jureit, Ulrike. Generationenforschung. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 2006, 35–39; as a positive exception, see Grace, Nancy M./Skerl, Jenny, eds. The Transnational Beat Generation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
11.
Koselleck, Reinhart. Vergangene Zukunft – Zur Semantik geschichtlicher Zeiten. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1988.
12.
The most recent literature review is Hölscher , Lucian. “Historische Zukunftsforschung – neueste Literatur.” Neue Politische Literatur 61: 1 (2016), 47–62; see also his revised book Die Entdeckung der Zukunft. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2016; and the study of Seefried , Elke. Zukünfte. Aufstieg und Krise der Zukunftsforschung 1945–1980. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2015.
13.
See Levsen, Sonja/Torp, Cornelius, eds. Wo liegt die Bundesrepublik? Vergleichende Perspektiven auf die westdeutsche Geschichte. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016, especially the introduction 9–28.
14.
For a global perspective, see Buruma , Ian. Year Zero: A History of 1945. London: Atlantics, 2013.
15.
Herbert, Ulrich. Best. Biographische Studien über Radikalismus, Weltanschauung und Vernunft 1903–1989. Bonn: Dietz, 1996, 42–45.
16.
Moses, A. Dirk. German Intellectuals and the Nazi Past. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, 55–73.
17.
In addition to Mannheim’s article, see Sirinelli , Jean-François. “Génération et histoire politique.” Vingtième Siècle 22 (1989), 67–80; Nora , Pierre. “La génération.” In id., ed. Les Lieux de Mémoire. Vol. 3. Paris: Gallimard, 1992, 931–971; Whittier , Nancy. “Political Generations, Micro-Cohorts and the Transformation of Social Movements.” American Sociological Review 62 (1997), 760–778.
18.
Stambolis Barbara. Leben mit und in der Geschichte. Deutsche Historiker Jahrgang 1943. Essen: Klartext, 2010, particularly 11–24.
19.
Möckel, Benjamin. Erfahrungsbruch und Generationsbehauptung. Die “Kriegsjugendgeneration” in den beiden deutschen Nachkriegsgesellschaften. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2014, 9.
20.
Ibid., 387 f.
21.
Daniel, Ute. “Die Erfahrungen der Geschlechtergeschichte.” In Bos, Marguérite et al., eds. Erfahrung: Alles nur Diskurs? Zur Verwendung des Erfahrungsbegriffs in der Geschlechtergeschichte. Zürich: Chronos-Verlag, 2004, 59–69.
22.
For the concept of disappointment, see Heinsohn , Nina/Moxter , Michael, eds. Enttäuschung. Interdisziplinäre Erkundungen zu einem ambivalenten Phänomen. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink, 2016; Gotto , Bernhard. “Enttäuschung als Politikressource. Zur Kohäsion der westdeutschen Friedensbewegung in den 1980er Jahren.” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 62 (2014), 1–33; Gotto is also the project manager of “Enttäuschung im 20. Jahrhundert” (“Disappointment in the Twentieth Century”) at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich: http://sofis.gesis.org/sofiswiki/Entt%C3%A4uschung_im_20._Jahrhundert._Utopieverlust_-_Verweigerung_-_Neuverhandlung (10.04.2017).
23.
Weisbrod, Bernd. “Generation und Generationalität in der Neueren Geschichte.” Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 8 (2005), 3–9, quotations 8.
24.
This has been addressed e.g. by Horn, Gerd-Rainer/Kenney, Padraic, eds. Transnational Moments of Change. Europe 1945, 1968, 1989. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.
25.
Berger, Stefan/Nehring, Holger. “Introduction.” In id., eds. Towards a Global History of Social Movements. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 20.
26.
Cf. Kershaw, Ian. To Hell and Back: Europe 1914–1949. London: Penguin Books, 2015.
27.
Cf. Brian Shaev’s contribution in this volume.
28.
On Germany, see Reichardt, Sven/Zierenberg, Malte. Damals nach dem Krieg. Eine Geschichte Deutschlands 1945 bis 1949. Munich: DVA, 2008; in a global perspective, Buruma, Year Zero.
29.
See, with evidence from Schumpeter to Churchill, Nolte, Paul. Was ist Demokratie? Geschichte und Gegenwart. Munich: C.H. Beck, 2012, 284–293.
30.
For the legacy of the European ideas of non-communist resistance-members on European integration, see Heyde, Veronika. De l‘esprit de la Résistance jusqu’à l’idée de L’Europe. Projets européens et américains pour l’Europe de l’après-guerre (1940–1950). Brussels et al.: P. Lang, 2010.
31.
See e.g. Kalyvas, Stathis. The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996; Sack, Daniel. Moral Re-Armament: The Reinventions of an American Religious Movement. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009; Durand, Jean-Dominique, ed. Christian Democrat Internationalism, vol. 2: The Development 1945–1979: The Role of Parties, Movements, People. Brussels et al.: P. Lang, 2013; Großmann, Johannes. Die Internationale der Konservativen. Transnationale Elitenzirkel und private Außenpolitik in Westeuropa seit 1945. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014; Grabas, Christian/Nützenadel, Alexander, eds. Industrial Policy in Europe after 1945. Wealth, Power and Economic Development in the Cold War. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
32.
For Germany, see Doering-Manteuffel, Anselm. Wie westlich sind die Deutschen? Amerikanisierung und Westernisierung im 20. Jahrhundert. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1999; Angster, Julia. Konsenskapitalismus und Sozialdemokratie: die Westernisierung von SPD und DGB. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2003; for Europe as a whole, see De Grazia, Victoria. Irresistible Empire: America’s Advance Through Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005; and Stephan, Alexander, ed. The Americanization of Europe. Culture, Diplomacy, and Anti-Americanization after 1945. New York: Berghahn, 2006.
33.
Müller, Jan-Werner. Contesting Democracy. Political Ideas in Twentieth-Century Europe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011, 129.
34.
See e.g. Raphael , Lutz. Imperiale Gewalt und mobilisierte Nation. Europa 1914–1945. Munich: C.H. Beck, 2011 for a consequently comparative study. On recent transnational approaches, see Patel , Kiran Klaus/Reichardt , Sven, eds. The Dark Side of Transnationalism: Social Engineering and Nazism, 1930s–40s, Special Section of Journal of Contemporary History 51: 1 (2016).
35.
Koselleck, Reinhart. Vergangene Zukunft. Zur Semantik geschichtlicher Zeiten. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1988, 349–375.
36.
Möckel, Erfahrungsbruch und Generationsbehauptung, 28.
37.
Moses, German Intellectuals, 56.
38.
Mannheim, Problem der Generationen, 544.
39.
Pakier, Malgorzata/Strath, Bo, eds. A European Memory? Contested Histories and Politics of Remembrance. New York, Oxford: Berghahn, 2010.
40.
Cf. Assmann, Aleida. Erinnerungsräume. Formen und Wandlungen des kulturellen Gedächtnisses. Munich: C.H. Beck, 1999; Assmann, Aleida/Frevert, Ute, Geschichtsvergessenheit/Geschichtsversessenheit. Vom Umgang mit deutschen Vergangenheiten nach 1945. Stuttgart: DVA, 1999; Assmann, Aleida. Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit. Erinnerungskultur und Geschichtspolitik. Munich: C.H. Beck, 2006.
41.
Margalit, Avishai. The Ethics of Memory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
42.
Uhl, Heidemarie. Zivilisationsbruch und Gedächtniskultur das 20. Jahrhundert in der Erinnerung des beginnenden 21. Jahrhunderts. Innsbruck et al.: Studien-Verlag, 2003; Kalyvas, Stathis. “Cuatro maneras de recordar un pasado conflictivo.” El Pais, 22.11.2006.
43.
Wehler, Hans-Ulrich. Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte, Vol. 5: Bundesrepublik und DDR 1949–1990. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2009, 185–191.
44.
Forner, Sean. German Intellectuals and the Challenge of Democratic Renewal. Culture and Politics after 1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014, 1. A thorough overview of the debate on 1945 has been written by Kleßmann, Christoph. “1945 – welthistorische Zäsur und „Stunde Null“. Version: 01.0.” In Docupedia-Zeitgeschichte 15.10.2010, http://docupedia.de/zg/1945 (10.04.2017).
45.
Doering-Manteuffel, Anselm. Das doppelte Leben. Generationenerfahrungen im Jahrhundert der Extreme. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2013, 4, 16.
46.
Merkel, Wolfgang. Systemtransformation. Eine Einführung in die Theorie und Empirie der Transformationsforschung. 2nd revised and enlarged edition. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2010, 15–19.
47.
Exemplary for West-Germany, see Frei, Norbert. Vergangenheitspolitik: die Anfänge der Bundesrepublik und die NS-Vergangenheit. Munich: C.H. Beck, 2012.
48.
Nolte, Paul. Was ist Demokratie? Geschichte und Gegenwart. Munich: C. H. Beck, 2012; Müller, Jan-Werner. Contesting Democracy. Political Ideas in Twentieth-Century Europe. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011.
49.
Conway, Martin/Depkat, Volker. “Towards a European History of the Discourse on Democracy. Discussing Democracy in Western Europe 1945–60.” In Conway, Martin/Patel, Kiran Klaus, eds. Europeanization in the Twentieth Century: Historical Approaches. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, 134–144.
50.
See Dülffer, Jost, ed. Frieden durch Demokratie? Genese, Wirkung und Kritik eines Deutungsmusters. Essen: Klartext-Verlag, 2011, especially the contributions by Kater, Thomas. “Am Anfang war Kant? Über Demokratie, Republik und Frieden.” 17–34 and by Müller, Tim B. “Frieden durch Demokratie? Intellektuelle im Dienst der US-Regierung vom Zweiten Weltkrieg zum Kalten Krieg.” 147–166.
51.
See Levsen, Sonja. “Authority and Democracy in Post-War France and West Germany (1945–1968).” Journal of Modern History 89 (2017), 812–850.
52.
The term “engaged democrats” was introduced by Fröhlich, Claudia/Kohlstruck, Michael. “Einleitung.” In id., eds. Engagierte Demokraten: Vergangenheitspolitik in kritischer Absicht. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, 1999, 14–18.
53.
Good introductions offer Erll, Astrid/Nünning, Ansgar, eds. A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2010, and Sierp, Aline. History, Memory, and Trans-European Identity: Unifying Divisions. New York: Routledge, 2014.
54.
Kalyvas, Cuatro maneras.
55.
Echternkamp, Jörg/Martens, Stefan, eds. Der Zweite Weltkrieg in Europa. Erfahrung und Erinnerung. Paderborn: Schöningh, 2007. English translation: Experience and Memory. The Second World War in Europe. New York/Oxford: Berghahn, 2010.
56.
Leggewie, Claus (with Anne-Katrin Kang). Der Kampf um die europäische Erinnerung. Ein Schlachtfeld wird besichtigt. Munich: C.H. Beck, 2011.
57.
Moses, German Intellectuals, 56.
58.
Some of these topics were addressed by Robert Dale, Christiane Kohser-Spohn and Richard Bessel at a conference in Munich in 2011 on “Enttäuschungen im 20. Jahrhundert” (“Disappointments in the Twentieth Century”); see the conference report by Nadine Recktenwald in: H-Soz-Kult, 02.02.2012, <http://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-4035> (10.04.2017).
59.
Winter, Jay. “Thinking about Silence.” In Ben-Ze’ev, Efrat/Ginio, Ruth/Winter, Jay, eds. Shadows of War. A Social History of Silence in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, 3–31.
60.
Levsen/Torp, eds. Bundesrepublik, 20–28. Especially interesting for the German−Italian context is the chapter by Gatzka, Claudia Christiane. ““Demokratisierung” in Italien und der Bundesrepublik. Historiographische Narrative und lokale Erkundungen”. In ibid., 145–165.
61.
See the reflections of Espagne, Michel/Kreienbaum, Jonas/Cooper, Frederick/Conrad, Christoph/Ther, Philipp. “Forum II: How to Write Modern European History Today? Statements to Jörn Leonhard’s JMEH-Forum.” Journal of Modern European History 14: 4 (2016), 465–491.
62.
Cf. Berger/Nehring, eds. Towards a Global History.
63.
Ibid., 3.
64.
Horn/Kenney, eds. Transnational Moments, xiv.
65.
Especially interesting is the article by Martin Conway/Volker Depkat, Towards a European History of the Discourse of Democracy: Discussing Democracy in Western Europe, 1945–60, in: id./Kiran Klaus Patel (eds.), Europeanization in the Twentieth Century. Historical Approaches, Basingstoke: Palgrave 2010, pp. 132–156.
66.
See the introduction by Hirschhausen, Ulrike von and Patel, Kiran-Klaus, 1–18, and the conclusion by Conway, Martin, 271–277, in the same volume.
67.
See Nehring, Holger. “Generation” as a Political Argument in West European Protest Movements during the 1960s.” In Lovell, ed. Generations, 57–78.

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Späth, J. (2018). Introduction: Generation as an Open Question. In: Späth, J. (eds) Does Generation Matter? Progressive Democratic Cultures in Western Europe, 1945–1960. Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77422-0_1

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