ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the genaeological roots and intellectual strands of thinking with which Mannheim engaged on the Problem of Generations. It was written as part of a wider work on the sociology of knowledge, and allowed Mannheim to consider the sources and drivers of new knowledge. Modernity presented new drivers which led to a reinvention and adaptation of the concept of generation. These included: Time and space, Key scientific breakthroughs, Discontinuity in the lifecourse. Mannheim's insight on the Problem of Generations, was to gather together of thought to show that the continuous social process was not shaped by innate, naturally occurring forces but by social and political processes. This applies to intellectual theories, ideas, and ideology, which Mannheim understood to be forms of situated knowledge. Mannheim allowed for internal differentiation by the concept of generational units. These units, demarcated by a range of socio-demographic factors which included class, language and region, develop a range of distinctive social analysis and responses.
