The generational relation - Reflections on a basic concept of educational science

Findings of interdisciplinary research that point to a decrease in differen ces between the generations have caused educational science to reconsider t he concept of the generational relation regarding its special significance for pedagogics Against this background, the author draw up a conceptual-the oretical framework, allowing, on the one hand, to put the inner structure o f issue at question into a categorial order according to the pedagogical pe rspective and, on the other hand, to reveal the topical links for the pedag ogical processing of interdisciplinary findings. The author argues both aga inst a rash marginalization of the generational relation in educational sci ence and against an import of knowledge from adjacent disciplines which has not been sufficiently explicated in terms of pedagogical theory. He instea d, points to the theoretical gain connected with the concept of the generat ional relation as a point of orientation for the analysis of the problems o f adolescence in a constantly changing modern era.