A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Communication Science at the University of Zululand, 2003. / In this study I investigated generational differences between
urban Zulu adolescents in the Durban region and their parents
or guardians in order to determine whether there is, as it was
popularly known in the nineteen seventies, a generation gap
between children and their parents.
My research entailed a literature survey phase in which I analysed academic literature relating to the socialization of adolescents, the socio-political climate in which present-day Zulu parents grew up under the now gone Apartheid system and the socio-economic climate in which the present generation or urban Zulu adolescents have grown up since the introduction of the new democratic dispensation in South Africa in 1994. The stark socio¬political difference in landscapes in which parents and their children have grown up leads one to hypothesise that there would a generation gap between present-day urban Zulu adolescents and their parents. The empirical part of my research tests the va¬lidity of the before-mentioned generation gap hypothesis. I how¬ever prefer to think of serious generational differences as children WEARING MASKS in the presence of their parents. Instances where children and parents do not discuss specific topics could be seen as both parties wearing masks. Instances where they strongly disagree or agree to respectfully disagree, while signifying genera¬tional differences could not be seen as wearing masks.
The major findings of my research is that there are clear indica¬tions of generational differences between my respondents and their parents with regard to matters like the interpretation of 1. current affairs and 2. political matters,
but not with regard to 1. music taste, 2. adolescent friendships, 3. perceptions about the HIV/AIDS pandemic or 4. religious be¬liefs. My conclusion therefore is that while generational differ¬ences do exist, Zulu adolescents and their parents in the Durban region in fact are not wearing masks when interacting with one another.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uzulu/oai:uzspace.unizulu.ac.za:10530/295 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Mbatha, Khulekani Clifton |
| Contributors | Klopper, R.M. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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