Generationality: On Intergenerationality, Transgenerationality, and the 'Generation War'.

The article examines shifting intergenerational relations in the contemporary world, focusing on the concept of generationality—the social and political rationalities underpinning generational identities—and how these are historically situated amid post-Cold War economic and social transformations. Using South Africa and the United States as case studies, it highlights heightened intergenerational antagonism characterized by younger generations’ perceptions of economic precarity, social exclusion, and environmental crisis, which contrast with older generations’ perspectives. The analysis situates these tensions within disrupted processes of social reproduction, where traditional expectations of generational succession and progress have fractured, leading to conflicts over material conditions, political recognition, and cultural values. The article also discusses how neoliberalism, global capitalism, and digital media have intensified generational identities and conflicts, making generation a central axis of social division and political struggle in the early twenty-first century.