A Sociological Evaluation of Elderliness Problems in the Modernization Process

Abstract

The modernization that emerged in the West is an important process of social change. This process of change has initiated multidimensional and radical changes in different areas of social life. In this process of change, the phenomenon of elderliness has been at the center of change with the family. In particular, the interrelationship and increasing intensity of social change elements such as industrialization and urbanization have left deep effects on traditional family life in the modernization process. These effects have led families to adopt new lifestyles. Although social changes reveal many problems in all areas of life, it is usually the family where they are visible. With modernization, the dissolution of traditional family ties and the prominence of individuality have changed many values related to elderliness. The dimension of the relationships established by the elderly individuals with their families and surroundings in the traditional society has changed with the transition to the modern period, and they have lost some of their active roles in the traditional period. Therefore, the lifestyle of elderly individuals in the traditional period has weakened with the transition to the modern period. This situation brought up some of the problems experienced by the elderly regarding their families and their social environments. Although the modern period points to a process in which individuality is radicalized, traditional bonds of solidarity are dissolved, and crises of belonging and identity escalate socio-psychological tensions in human life, it is a fact that its effects are more intense than this. The vulnerability of elderly individuals to these intense effects has almost surpassed other members of the society. In this article, a comparison of the sociocultural situation of elderly individuals in the traditional period and the modern period through their family and their surroundings has been made, and the factors that make elderly individuals different from the traditional society in the modernization period have been discussed. First of all, the importance given to the elderly in the traditional society was emphasized in the research, and then the processes that made elderliness a problem with the effect of modernization were opened to discussion. While dealing with the phenomenon of elderliness in the study, a compilation of the data we obtained from the literature sources was made.