ABSTRACT
This chapter explores and contrasts different approaches to the study of generations while paying special attention to the Japanese context. We present and compare four distinctive perspectives – social constructionism, life course, social location and demography – and for each of them we provide examples extracted from pertinent research on Japan’s generations. We emphasize that each of these perspectives can be applied beneficially to the study of generational issues but also encourage readers, students and researchers to transcend their limitations. Overall, the chapter promotes a critical understanding of existing approaches, pointing to the need to creatively combine and extend established perspectives – by turning our attention to institutions and communities, for example – especially when generational scholars find themselves faced with novel and changing phenomena.
