Generations and the intimate politics of reproduction

Interest in the 'problem of generations' has come to the fore in recent years, through debates about the disproportionate influence of the 'Baby Boomer' generation and the alleged crisis of 'parenting'. This paper examines some of the reasons why generational relations have come to be seen as a site for political debate and policy intervention, and some of the tensions that emerge from this. The policy focus on generations tends to have a naturalistic quality, expressed in a preoccupation with demographic trends or the ideology of eugenics. It also presumes an interest in the domain of social reproduction, situating the family as a cause of, and solution to, social problems. This intersects with a wider, cultural 'transformation of intimacy', with the consequence that relations within, and between, generations are conceptualised in increasingly brittle terms.