Renewing the Family: A History of the Baby Boomers

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

   Pages 1-13

3. Baby Boomers in the Family

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

      PDF

   2. The Baby Boom Phenomenon

      • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

      Pages 17-40

   3. The Baby Boomers’ Childhood

      • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

      Pages 41-63

4. Baby Boomers Against the Family

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 65-65

      PDF

   2. The Family in Perpetual Motion

      • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

      Pages 67-86

   3. Rebellious Teenagers

      • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

      Pages 87-108

5. Baby Boomers in Alternative Families

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 109-109

      PDF

   2. Life outside the Family: Working Women

      • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

      Pages 111-139

   3. The Family Wins Through

      • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

      Pages 141-168

6. Baby Boomers with the Family

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 169-169

      PDF

   2. Caught Between Parents and Children

      • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

      Pages 171-197

   3. Baby Boomers and Their Family Entourage

      • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

      Pages 199-227

   4. Conclusion

      • Catherine Bonvalet, Céline Clément, Jim Ogg

      Pages 229-240

7. Back Matter

   Pages 241-268

   PDF

This book traces the history of the baby-boomers, beginning with an explanation of the cause of the post-war baby boom and ending with the contemporary concerns of ageing boomers. It shows how the baby-boomers challenged traditional family attitudes and adopted new lifestyles in the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing on 90 interviews conducted with baby boomers living in London and Paris, the book demonstrates how their aspirations for leisure and consumption converged with family responsibilities and obligations. It shows how the baby boomers emerged from an authoritative upbringing to challenge some of the traditional assumptions of the family, such as marriage and cohabitation. The rise of feminism led by the baby-boomers is examined, together with its impact on family forms and structures. The book shows how women’s trajectories veered between the two extremes of family and employment, swerving between the models of stay-at-home mother and working woman. It demonstrates how new family configurations such as solo parenting, and recomposed families were adopted by the baby boomers. Today, as they enter into retirement, the baby-boomers remain closely involved in the lives of their children and parents, although relationships with elderly parents are maintained primarily through a sense of duty and obligation. The book concludes that the baby boomers have both been influenced by and actors to the changes and transformations that have occurred to family life. They reconciled and continue to reconcile, individualism with family obligations. As grandparents often with an ageing parent still alive, the baby boomers wish to keep the independence that has been the hallmark of their generation whilst not abandoning family life.

• Ageing boomers
• Authoritative upbringing
• Cause of the post-war baby boom
• Family responsibilities and obligations
• New lifestyles
• Traditional family attitudes

“This is an excellent book and makes for a compelling read. The authors make a valuable contribution in documenting the many changes in family structure over the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st century, with a detailed portrait of a large generation that went along for the ride.” (Rosemary Venne, Canadian Studies in population, Vol. 42 (3-5), 2015)

• INED, Paris, France

  Catherine Bonvalet

• Université Paris Ouest Nanterre, Nanterre, France

  Céline Clément

• CNAV, Paris, France

  Jim Ogg

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