“That’s a value I would transmit in some way, but how concretely, I don’t know” – Intergenerational value transfer revisited in light of memory

Intergenerational value transmission occurs widely and to a large extent within the family as primary socialization agent. In families, children are confronted with specific practices, paradigms, rules and routines which are part of their family culture (Albert & Barros Coimbra, 2017) and as such family is a mediator between societal/cultural and individual values. The ability to transmit values is essential for collective knowledge and memory, the continuity of value orientations being a main feature of intergenerational relations that enables members of different generations to communicate with each other (Barni, Rosnati, & Ranieri, 2013; Halbwachs, 1941/1992; Schönpflug, 2001). Intergenerational transmission of values becomes particularly complex in the context of migration or in times of rapid social change. On the one hand, family identity and traditions might provide a secure base in light of a changing context, and parents might find it important to transmit traditional values to the next generation in order to keep memories alive. At the same time, they might feel that their children should adapt to the changed cultural context, resulting in a (not always clear) dilemma about what they want for their children. How can migrant parents reconcile or move between the different collective frameworks of their culture of origin and the receiving culture (Middleton & Brown, 2005)? In the following, we will first give a brief overview over research in the area of intergenerational value transmission, and we will second illustrate and further inform our theoretical assumptions by identifying related themes and phenomena in our qualitative dyadic interviews. Then, we will delve into memory as a horizon that is emerging out of the analysis as a transversal theme. From this point of view, we continue the analysis and progressively integrate the notions pertaining to the role of memory in the intergenerational transmission of values. Aspects of cultural background are apparent in the excerpts that we will quote supporting the themes we will refer to. We will more explicitly return to this in our conclusions.