Gendered forms of intergenerational solidarity in the COVID-19 pandemic: an intersectional perspective on the public renegotiation of a moral resource for future health crises in Germany.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, 'intergenerational solidarity' became a prominent buzzword in public debates. At the same time, a resurge of ageist stereotypes could be observed that proved to be a constant structuring element in the public renegotiation of intergenerational solidarity. Despite a growing body of research indicating that the COVID-19 pandemic also had a significant impact on inequalities related to other social categories, such as gender, the interplay between appeals for intergenerational solidarity and other social inequalities in public debates has received limited attention.

METHODS: To examine how appeals to intergenerational solidarity and gender-related aspects are intertwined in times of crisis, we provide an intersectional perspective on the public renegotiation of intergenerational solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the example of the German media debate. Based on a qualitative content analysis of articles from two major German weekly newspapers, Die Zeit and Welt am Sonntag, published between March 2020 and June 2022 (n = 351), we identified two paradigmatic cases for an intersectional in-depth-analysis, focusing primarily on the categorial intersection of age and gender within the material.

RESULTS: We can observe not only a resurge of ageism and age-related stereotypes in these media representations regarding various aspects of intergenerational solidarity, but also their entanglement with gender norms. Prevailing notions of intergenerational solidarity in the media continue to rely on gendered and age-based assumptions that shape how the moral actors, the basis, contributions, and normative goals of intergenerational solidarity are elucidated. We critically discuss these claims against the backdrop of broader intersectional feminist philosophy literature on structural social inequities and injustices.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings illustrate the significance of a gendered and heteronormative generational divide in appeals for intergenerational solidarity that include pertinent gender and age stereotypes. Intergenerational solidarity proves to be a moral resource in times of crisis, even though it often runs the risk of reiterating and perpetuating gendered ageism. However, approaches from intersectional feminist philosophy can help to conceptualize intergenerational solidarity as a diversity-sensitive moral resource in impending health crises in Germany and beyond.