Narrated social distance: Generational ties

This chapter studies the recounted distance and proximity in the generational relations of older adults in Finland. The focus is on relations across family generations in the context of financial issues. The data consist of interviews of older adults, members of the baby boomer generation who have experienced the modernization of Finland, live in Lapland and face financial difficulties. The analysis is based on the four basic elements of narratives: situatedness, event sequencing, world-making or world disruption, and what it is like. These relate to the contexts of the story and its telling, the timing of events, the reoccurrence of events, disruptions in the story and the experiences of reliving the events.

The analysis revealed a nuanced picture of the distances among members of the older, younger and the same generations. The two stories by women, which were analyzed in detail, illustrated the distance from their fathers and the proximity to their mothers in terms of values and practices related to money. Money and financial issues in general connect members of different family generations through ties related to values, practices, preferences and priorities and may reflect generational proximity as well as distance.