A Formulation for the Demographic, Sociological and Economic Dimensions of the So-called Generation Gap

The structure of this paper is adequately described by its title. The title also summarizes its content. There is also a fourth part to the paper, which suggests such alternative explanations of the generation gap as might appear reasonable to those who agree with the three main propositions of the paper. The paper does not deal with the host of considerations outside demography, sociology and economics that are not mentioned in the title, even though such considerations could be relevant to the discussion. The paper does not deal with the psychological, certainly not with the psychiatric (Freudian and pseudo-Freudian), political, cultural and historical aspects, except in so far as they are convenient or helpful in determining the main theme of the paper. The various facets not covered have been excluded partly because of this author’s incompetence in the respective fields and partly because of his lack of interest. The last phrase is a euphemistic way of saying that in this opinion many of the explanations are nonsensical, such as the son-father conflict viewed as a matter of general, inevitable, and unavoidable development and not merely as a sporadic, infrequent and individual aberration.