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 sociopolitical
difference in landscapes in which parents and their
children have grown up leads one to hypothesise that there would
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a generation gap between present-day urban Zulu adolescents
and their parents. The empmcal part ofmy research tests the validity
of the before-mentioned generation gap hypothesis. I however
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 generational
differences could not be seen as wearing masks.