‘Let Me Entertain You: Researching the ‘Thirtysomething’ Generation’

This paper explores the limits and possibilities of research in the sociology of generation by taking the ‘thirtysomething’ cohort as a case study. It addresses a number of critical research issues, namely: how does one identify the parameters of a generation? Are there different sorts of generations, and if so how can this fact be established? And how can one deal with the internal diversity of generations, both in terms of their stratification and in the lived experiences of its members? The empirical research for this study was conducted using focus groups, and analysis loosely follows a grounded theory approach. In the paper, I reflect upon how the context of doing research in an ‘entertainment and consumer society’ might affect the research process and its findings. This leads me to conclude that research methods themselves have an historicizing character, and that sociology also has a generational flavour.