ABSTRACT

Mannheim introduced the concept of social generation - people who were born during the same date range and share similar cultural experiences - and it has since been developed to include human agency and social divisions, such as gender, class and race. The population in Janta is predominantly young and the village has a skewed male-female ratio. The quintessential Janta village scene of cows and goats and a cluster of small brick and mud houses connected by dirt roads and paths, hides the fact that the village experienced diverse social upheavals. Even if female representatives have taken active political roles, the scope of the panchayats' powers is limited, and state policies towards women have been ambiguous. The concept of social generation has appealed to market researchers in their quest to understand generational differences in consumption through such notions as Generation Y, which has mostly been used to refer to young and adventurous consumers mainly in Western countries, but also India.