ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the conceptual confusion found in many social scientific discussions of generation. The persistent attempts by Western scholars to link generation to age groupings will be shown to be symptomatic of a cultural trait found in many societies, the linking of generation to age. Both age and generation are important elements of social stratification systems. The most highly institutionalized development of generations as social groupings is to be found among a number of East African societies. Such an age and culture-homogeneous group includes all people born at the same time who have been raised under comparable historical and cultural circumstances and were thus subject to similar socialization. In contrast with the broad use made of the generation concept by sociologists, psychologists and political scientists, anthropologists have primarily utilized generation in its genealogical, kinship-related sense. Anthropologists have been sensitive to the fact that other usages of the generation concept may lead to confusion.
