Social Change and its effects on Generation Gap in the Pashtun Society of Balochistan

Abstract

The generation gap is the discrepancies between the old and young generations regarding their views, thoughts, lifestyle, experiences, ambitions, knowledge, dreams, values, and different other aspects of social life. This cleavage is natural as well adopted especially by the young generation because the social world is changing very rapidly, the said generation desires and trying to move with this change, but the old generation is not that open and often proved stubborn to adopt the new ways of life. So, as a result, a gap creates between the two generations, which later causes conflict and distances between these generations. This research paper evaluates the understanding and knowledge of the old generation about the generation gap and the state of actions and interactions in the generation gap among Pashtuns in Balochistan. In this quantitative research study, the data were collected from people above the age of fifty years from the Zhob division through proportionate random sampling, with a sample size of 200 respondents. The primary data was gathered through an interview schedule, in which the majority of the respondents communicated that a generation gap exists in their community which suffers more from the old generation. They complained that children are not cooperative and remain at distance from parents in different spheres of life, which seriously affect the relationship between the two age groups. The study informs that the old generation requires to develop a flexible and smooth relationship with the young generation to strengthen human development.