ECREA16-Abstract

Thursday, November 10

1 6 : 3 0 – 1 8 : 0 0

of media use, lifestyles, values, etc.) in the 5

round of the representative population survey “Me. The World. The Media” (N=1,500), conducted in the fall

of 2014 in Estonia. The paper will focus on the module of generational identity, consisting of 27 indicators. First, the theoretical approaches and concepts

(such as structural versus intangible features; cultural values and ideologies; generational location, habitus and semantics; generational memories and me‑

dia experiences), employed in operationalizing generational identity, will be briefly discussed. Secondly, the paper will introduce the findings of empirical

analyses regarding the underlying structure of the indicators of generational identity and the main differences and similarities between generation groups

in the importance assigned to (the groups of) those indicators. (324 words)

PN 094

Media, Memory and Mnemonic Apparatus in Digital Era

F. Colombo

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy

The relationship between media and technologies of memory has changed over time, playing a key role in modifying the perception and the use of memory

for different generations. In the decades between the 1950‘s and the 1980‘s for example, electronic media such as the television became crucial in the social

processes of acculturation and information of generations, but the supporting technologies of memory were still constituted by writing-centred practices

and institutions (print, public archives, library, museums); to say it with Foucault, the mnemonic apparatus was in some way separated from everyday life,

and public memory was separated from private memory. Of course media technologies enabled, though in a minor way, the construction of photographic or

video family memories (8mm, super8). Also collections of pop culture objects existed and artistic practices dignified media production (for example comics

in pop art), but, overall, media produced contents had an ephemeral character. The development of digital media, of broadband technologies, of content

hosting and sharing platforms such as YouTube and social media more in general, have radically changed this scenario. After the digital revolution, the re‑

lationship between media and technologies of memory changed dramatically. The nature of newmedia contents itself seems to have changed. They are no

longer ephemeral contents, but assume a permanent character and somehow become more similar to printed media products (for example from the point

of view of lifespan and accessibility). Moreover, the distinction between private and public memory is fading out, and we can find in the same place (the‘2.0’

web) contents and materials from classical cultural institutions (museums and archives) together with small, private collections and personal archives.

What kind of new memory is then being developed from this change? And how do different generations live the relation with and use the new“mnemonic

apparatus”?

PN 095

Media and TV Memories of Italian Boomers

P. Aroldi

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy

On the basis of a set of qualitative studies on different generations of media audiences in Italy, the paper presents an analysis of the media memories

of the first two cohorts that “domesticated” television (1954–1975). The collected dataset opens an insight in two main mnemonic processes: using Tv

memories in order to 1) remember historical events or everyday routines, habits and cultural climates of early years of life, and 2) to build a collective iden‑

tity, shared with those of the same age and differentiating from other generations. The data show the lasting relevance of the social, political and cultural

framework of the nation-state for the older generations, alongside with the increasing relevance of (local and global) media experiences in the shaping

of generational identities. Movies, radio, music and – above all – television memories are actually a plot that supports a shared account of the years

of youth. Television plays an undisputed role especially in the memory of the young Boomers, as an element of modernity at the heart of the family and

household, especially with the soothing evening ritual represented by the show Carosello (“After Carosello, everyone go to bed!”) and by the afternoon

programs (La Tv dei Ragazzi): TV played a crucial role in activating their imagination; its contents (programs and characters) became an almost indelible

memory of generations. Such type of generational identity – affecting also media uses, tastes and habits in the present – can be used by both the audi‑

ences and the broadcasters for very divergent goals. On the one hand, members of a generation choose some media and reject some others, domesticate

in a certain way a new technology, use (or do not use) a kind of device, read and interpret some narratives on the base of their habitus and conditioned

by their present position in the life course. On the other hand, forecasting these behaviours and providing them with generational products and rhetoric,

are, obviously, the main aims of the generational marketing developed by the broadcasters. In the paper, examples from these studies are reported and

discussed. (342 words)

PN 096

Rethinking Perceived Generational Time

S. Opermann

University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

In media studies, generational phenomena are becoming increasingly conceptualised on the basis of theories developed by Karl Mannheim, who thinks

of generation as both “a product and maker of history”, i.e. an entity able to rediscover the individual experience of biographical time and transform

the shared experiences into the time of“our generation”. This paper aims to depart from the cultural perspective on generations, according to which the po‑

tential members of a generational group construct themselves as a unit sharing a common identity or consciousness. Therefore, it is not appropriate to

reduce a generation merely to birth cohort or age group, which has by itself no inherent cultural pretension or meaning. This paper discusses social gener‑

ations as units that define themselves under particular conditions during a period of social or historical change. At this point, the concept of time becomes

crucial to reflect on. A discussion on phenomenological analysis of time – understood as consciousness of past, present, and future – has been developed

by Husserl, Heidegger, Ricœur, and others, with an intention to approach time more fluidly. Ricœur suggests that, aside from calendars and archives (as

instruments for determining the passing flow of time), generation finds its sociological projection in the relationship between contemporaries (or coevals),