Desert Island: the Inter-generational Experience through the Eyes of Young People Cover Image

Bezludna wyspa: wspólne międzypokoleniowe przeżycie oczami młodych dorosłych
Desert Island: the Inter-generational Experience through the Eyes of Young People

Author(s): Ewa Witczyńska
Subject(s): Media studies, Social differentiation
Published by: Państwowa Szkoła Wyższa im. Papieża Jana Pawła II w Białej Podlaskiej
Keywords: young; old; stereotype; relation; communication

Summary/Abstract: Since the 1960s the popular culture discourse has set firm boundaries between age groups in the society. The domination of youth, disseminated by the mass media, has taken root in the western culture and the elderly have found themselves marginalised. As a result, the communication between the young and the old has been limited and the mutual perception of each other has become more and more negatively stereotypical, according to many researchers. This paper attempts to find out to what extent the aforementioned attitudes impinge on the consciousness of Polish young adults and in what terms they describe their relations with the elderly. In order to answer these questions, a writing task, describing an imaginary situation involving both the young and the old, was performed by a group of college students in Sandomierz aged 20-23. The compositions were analysed in search of age stereotypes, social role perceptions and communication modes between generations.

  • Issue Year: 9/2015
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 64-69
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: English