Detlef Siegfried

‘Don’t Trust Anyone Older Than 30?’ Voices of Conflict and Consensus between Generations in 1960s West Germany

The dynamic of change in the long 1960s was pushed forward significantly by the young. The assumption that this happened mainly in conflict with the older generations is not based on fact. In reality, older people reacted to new patterns of behaviour in a measured way and adapted to them relatively quickly. In particular, there is not much evidence for intra-family conflict between the generations. On the other hand, an increasing number of youth subcultures appeared, which distanced themselves from the political and cultural mainstream. Within society as a whole, there was considerable conflict, since there were many cultural, but only a few political, opportunities for young people.