Generational Differences and the Women's Movement

Abstract

This article examines the dispositions toward the contemporary women's movement and its goals of two generations of similarly educated wonmen. Specifically it is a comparison of mothers and daughters who have attended (or are attending) the same college. Two competing hypotheses will be offered to explain the basis of support. One hypothesis identifies the social position of women as the key variable, starting with the assumption that all women occupy similar positions in the social structure; that is, their position is lower than that of the males. We shall refer to this hypothesis as the stratum theory. The other hypothesis, instead of emphasizing the common aspect, focuses on age-based differences in experiences and socialization patterns and their consequences for the movement. We shall refer to it as the generational hypothesis. To begin with the generational hypothesis, age-based differences should be expected for several reasons: Mothers in all probability have been socialized to rather traditional values regarding the proper female role; marriage and childrearing have offered them experiences none of the daughters in our sample has as yet had; and these experiences (and the status connected with them) might have caused them to feel a certain emotional commitment or investment in the persistence of these time-honored patterns. Some corroboration for these assumptions can be found in the literature on generations. One set of explanations deals with the different developmental stages at which two or three generations find themselves. For example, Bengtson and Kuypers suggest that generational discontinuities are likely to arise because children and adolescents are at