ABSTRACT
The everyday experience of most members of all age groups in Britain, including their patterns of consumption, has changed markedly over the past one hundred, even the past sixty and the past thirty years. Have the experiences of those defined as “old” changed more/less/differently from those not so defined? Does the concept of generation help us to understand change, or lack of it? Does the evidence exist to enable us to assess change over time in any meaningful way? Firstly, I will try to gather together the relevant evidence for, mainly, the past century.
