[The consequences of the demographic revolution and of the aging of society: restructuring the age groups and modifying intergenerational relations].

Abstract

The consequences of demographic aging in developed societies are examined. The author notes that "demographic aging has intensified over the last decades, bringing with it a significant modification in relationships between age groups and the sexes.... These changes in demographic structures bring with them the reorganization in intergenerational relations, the most spectacular instance of which...[is] the coexistence at the same time and in the same place of four or five generations of direct descendants." The author develops the hypothesis that a new attitude toward old age is needed in which "the social status of the elderly must be reinstated, and everything must be brought into play to encourage the integration of different age groups and intergenerational solidarity, so as to arrive in the best possible conditions at what [can be termed] the 'era of old age'...which will accompany the coming of the post-industrial society with its orientation toward the mass production of leisure and of services." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND SPA)