Changes in the Family and the Position of Older Persons in Germany

are strongly interrelated: the changes in the role and status of the old affect the structure of the family, and the changes in the family in turn affect the position of the old. Our focus will be upon the changes in the family as far as they affect the old. However, at least passing consideration should be given to some changes in the relative position of the young and the old in the society. In pre-industrial civilisations, in which the economic and social conditions remained almost unchanged from one generation to the other, experience was most important for the functioning of the society. Since experience accumulates with increasing age, older persons were accorded positions of high prestige and respect. By contrast, in modern industrial societies, characterized by rapid technological progress, experience has lost much of its value. It is adaptation that is now of ever increasing importance for the maintenance of the social system. The loss of status and respect for the old as a consequence of the decreasing value of experience is accentuated by the difficulty old people have in preserving adaptability with increasing age. Observations in Germany show that this tendency toward a loss of status of the older persons has gained momentum during the last fifty years in accordance with the acceleration of economic development; there is evidence that it