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Interdependency and the Generational Compact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Malcolm L. Johnson
Malcolm L. Johnson
Affiliation:
Professor of Health and Social Policy, Director of School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, Rodney Lodge, Grange Road, Bristol, BS8 4EA, U.K.
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Abstract

The demographic revolution has caused turmoil in public policy, leading governments to scale down their commitments to the old, more in panic than in thoughtful response. At the same time, significant changes in family patterns have placed at risk the inter-generational support older people might have expected. Together these structural shifts have stimulated a new debate about the obligations one generation has to another. This essay attempts to bring together the several discrete debates about demography, family and the generational contract. In juxtaposing gerontological evidence and discussions with those about moral order and the state of the social contract in ‘post-modern’ society; it reaffirms the need for personal and social solidarity as the foundation for trust and reciprocity between generations.

Keywords

Generational contractinterdependencysolidarityfamily reciprocitypolitical economy
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 243 - 265
Copyright
Copyright Cambridge University Press 1995

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