Based on current issues in generational relationships, the two authors present social backgrounds for the dissolution of familial ties, even in later life, using selected examples. Unlike biographical or literary representations, they focus on the social contexts of such breakups. They highlight the insight that these ruptures are based on opposing value systems of the generations, which emerge in a new societal dimension. In this context, insurmountable boundaries of communication between the generations have developed, the consequence of which is the breakdown of contact. The book argues against the psychiatric labeling of these conflicts.