Discussions of generational identities need to take into account their long and non-linear history. Our present focus on intergenerational inequity Baby-Boomers vs. Millennials disregards the much more complex history of this social identity. This paper by a historian and literary scholar teases apart (1) the diachronic and synchronic meanings of ‘generation’, (2) the difference between ‘a generation in itself’ from ‘a generation for itself’ that has a social identity, and (3) generational identities that are claimed from within or ascribed from without. This paper places the question of how generational change takes place into historical context, showing that while generational identities came to focused attention during the First World War, they arguably began a century earlier, in the upheavals of the French Revolution and worldwide Napoleonic Wars. Nineteenth-century intellectual movements were often generation-conscious, though these identities did not translate across the social spectrum. The paper emphasises the intersectional nature of any generational taxonomy in relation to class, gender, race and national context, drawing brief examples from independence-era Jamaica, post-Soviet Russia, and mid-twentieth-century UK and USA. A final section highlights the value of ‘intergenerational’ approaches over those that emphasize a ‘generation gap’.

中文翻译：

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世代认同：历史和文学观点

代际身份的讨论需要考虑到他们长期和非线性的历史。我们目前对婴儿潮一代与千禧一代代际不平等的关注忽视了这种社会身份更为复杂的历史。历史学家和文学学者的这篇论文梳理了（1）“世代”的历时和共时意义，（2）“一代自在”与具有社会身份的“一代为自己”之间的区别，以及（ 3) 从内部声称或从外部归因的代际身份。本文将代际变化如何发生的问题置于历史背景中，表明虽然代际身份在第一次世界大战期间受到关注，但可以说它们早于一个世纪就开始了，在法国大革命和世界范围的拿破仑战争的剧变中。19 世纪的知识分子运动通常具有世代意识，尽管这些身份并没有跨越社会范围。该论文强调了与阶级、性别、种族和国家背景相关的任何世代分类法的交叉性质，并从独立时代的牙买加、后苏联时代的俄罗斯以及 20 世纪中叶的英国和美国抽取了简短的例子。最后一部分强调了“代际”方法的价值，而不是那些强调“代沟”的方法。种族和国家背景，从独立时代的牙买加、后苏联时代的俄罗斯以及 20 世纪中叶的英国和美国汲取了简短的例子。最后一部分强调了“代际”方法的价值，而不是那些强调“代沟”的方法。种族和国家背景，从独立时代的牙买加、后苏联时代的俄罗斯以及 20 世纪中叶的英国和美国汲取了简短的例子。最后一部分强调了“代际”方法的价值，而不是那些强调“代沟”的方法。