We will live in a changed world by the middle of this century. Across the globe, by 2050, one in every five people will be aged over 60 with a life expectancy of 76 years. There will be as many older people as children under age 14 and, in many countries, older people will outnumber the young. This age shift will be particularly dramatic in developing countries, where over 70% of older people now live and where there are often no systems of social security and immense shortages of affordable or available health care. In this changing world we have to ensure that barriers between generations are not allowed to develop or the strong links between them will fade. The share of youth in the world’s total population is gradually shrinking, and youth development will increasingly be viewed for the potential benefits it can bring to other generations. Despite its changing structure, the family remains the first social institution where generations meet and interact.
Albania is the youngest of the Balkans countries, with nearly half the population under 25 and a ‘bulge’ of middle-aged persons (the baby-boomers of the 1960s). Although traditional values place a high value on older people and families, older people consulted report that they are increasingly considered a burden by younger generations. The situation of older people varies considerably between rural and urban areas. In urban areas, older people lack social networks and experience widespread loneliness; in rural areas older people highlight particular problems relating to poverty and a lack of access to services, particularly health care, specifically older woman. (“Poverty has the face of Older Woman is not a slogan, is a reality –Senior Public Health Specialist & Executive Director of Albanian Society for All Ages (ASAG) –Mira Pirdeni”).The most popular plan is the public “pay-as-you-go” model where coverage is usually universal. Under this model, the government mandates, finances, manages, and insures public pensions.
This raises questions about the responsibilities of individuals within the family and the capacities of welfare systems to meet old-age pension and health-care needs. The interdependence between younger and older people will increase in the future. Youth development will become a more urgent prerequisite for meeting the growing care demands of older people and a condition for the development of society as a whole. Related members of different generations continue to live with one another in the family context. However, family structures are undergoing profound changes. There has been a shift from extended to nuclear families and an increase in one-person households. The age at first marriage has risen to the mid- to late twenties in many areas, often owing to extended educational careers and delayed entry into the labour market, particularly for young women. There is also a trend towards later childbearing and having fewer children.
“What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community
want for all its children.” As such, adoption becomes just one moment of a much longer process of supported family development that weaves the adoptive family into a larger inter-generational community.
Imagine that today we are sitting on the planet Mars, and tomorrow we are to descend to Earth. We have no idea whether we will land on the top of the social pile or at the bottom; we might end up in Manhattan, Beijing, or the Sudan. In such circumstances, we might well prefer social arrangements that would be acceptable regardless of where we find ourselves. Of necessity, such arrangements would be equitable and just.
The social contract is seen as a form of compact or agreement, actual or hypothetical, between those who rule and those who are ruled. In the inter-generational model, the agreement forms between the older and younger generations. Like any contract entered into by two parties, it attempts to define the rights and duties of each in a reciprocal agreement.
Historians may look at obligations that the old and young had toward each other in the past and how that has changed over time. Anthropologists may choose to compare inter-generational relationships across different societies in search of a universal notion of justice. Philosophers might focus on whether the generosity and selfishness in one person’s life can be compared with the generosity and selfishness in another person’s life at different stages of their personal development. Economists may want to explore the allocation of public goods to persons of different ages, and ask whether any given concept of justice can be achieved economically. And, while sociologists may focus on how families allocate the burdens of caring for their old and young, political scientists may examine how these burdens are addressed in formulating, implementing, and evaluating public policy.
Today we find the demand to care for older people codified in modern law. In several countries, notably Japan, Singapore, and Israel, secular laws enable elderly parents to sue their children if they do not care for them. Many European countries have legislation whereby adult children are taxed to pay for the care their parents need. To realize this vision in a countrywide context, individuals and policymakers in Albania must re-evaluate attitudes toward age and place a new focus on the life course as a flexible, responsive process that leads to National Policies and Law Enforcement Framework.
Increased attention should be given to the socio-economic impact of ageing societies. A two-pronged approach may be adopted to address this issue at the most fundamental level: first, human development efforts should focus on different stages of the life course through age-adjusted policies and programmes that encourage workplace flexibility, lifelong learning and healthy lifestyles, with particular attention given to transitional periods such as youth to adulthood, family formation, and middle age to later years; and second, steps should be taken to strengthen the social environment at the family, neighbourhood and community levels.
Inter-generational initiatives are one way to ensure the generations communication in “world of inter-generational digital divide”. The development of the true community includes all its representative parts, and reciprocal giving and receiving of support and care are essential features of a community, whether local, regional, national or international. The establishment of organizations such as the Centre for Inter-generational Practice in the UK is also important as we can all learn from others and we can each share and exchange knowledge.
Inter-generational programs work two ways since young people can often teach older people a thing or two, especially in the world of technology. Older people often can better understand “youth culture” and thereby help to ensure that the worldwide refrain “my family doesn’t understand me” is uttered a little less by young people. Younger people can also find out that older people are not as different from them as they thought after all.
Assuming that the inter-generational contract is of value to society, we must now ask
whether it can persist. Can all of the forms in which it has existed realistically be
expected to continue? When the family is changing so dramatically, can the traditional
form of the inter-generational contract remain unchanged? Will the society take advantage to reorganize the legislative pillar of “inter-generation contract”?
The inter-generational contract is not an issue solely for the old and young. It concerns
each and every one of us. It concerns the life stage in which we find ourselves today and
our role in and expectations of tomorrow.
The European Union Challenge for Albania and Albanians highlights above all, welfare society conditions, which under mutual understanding is the subscription of the Inter-generational Contract.
To conclude, consider this thought from Lesser Brown, a U.S. environmentalist:
“We do not inherit the planet from our grandparents, but borrow it from our children.”
« return.