Every society must face the fundamental question of the appropriate extent of family responsibility for older people: for their emotional and financial support, living arrangements, and care when ill. This question needs to be examined in the context of sweeping changes in the economy and society that are everywhere leading to a redefinition of family life, and changes in family structure and functions. How does the increasing specialization and mobility of modern life affect the scope of family control? How do these family changes in turn affect the aged? “Ironically, modernization brings not only the greater longevity of old people but also changes in family size and composition that make family care more problematic” (Giele 1982, p. 43). Decreasing family size means fewer potential family caretakers for the elderly person, and the increasing tendency for married women to be in the paid work-force also works against their availability to care for the aged.

The impact of development on the position of the elderly has been the subject of considerable research and speculation (Treas and Logue 1986). A prominent view is that a general decline in the status of old people is associated with modernization (Cowgill and Holmes 1972), whereas others note the better income and care that well-paid workers can afford to give their parents or other aged relatives in modern society (Inkeles and Smith 1974). Cowgill (1974) singled out several factors associated with development — modern health technology, economic technology, urbanization, and increased education — and concluded that each tended to reduce the status of the elderly by depriving them of meaningful roles through early retirement, trapping them in more traditional and less rewarding jobs, separating them from their families, and lowering their social status relative to the young. At the same time, he recognized that several benefits accrued to the elderly from development, and observed that in the more economically developed countries, there was increasing attention to their needs and interests.