There is evidence for a clear break between preand
post-war generations in terms of how they
manage their emotional lives and their attitudes to
support services – the difference between the prewar
‘silent’ and the post-war ‘me’ generation. In
this context, the notion of the ‘buffer’ generation,
the generation caught between more traditional
and progressive cohorts, helps make sense of the
ambivalent emotional (and other) practices of the
current cohort of men in their mid-years. Men find
themselves caught between new identities and the
pull of the older classed masculinities of their
fathers.