http://magazines.russ.ru/oz/2005/3/2005_3_30-pr.html

Otechestvennye zapiski 2005, ?3

SUMMARY


Aging of population is currently one of the most acute issues in the world,
and it affects all developed countries. This process seems irreversible, and
brings in its wake global consequences that impact many aspects of human
society. At the same time, the demographic situation in Russia and our
attitude to old age have a number of peculiarities. We have invited
demographers, sociologists, economists, psychologists and culture experts to
share their thoughts on this theme.

The transition to post-industrial society is accompanied by the emergence of
a system of values and norms that place an individual at the center of the
family’s care and attention. In the new ethnic and cultural context, old age
becomes analogous to youth — the age of joy and knowledge. In Russia,
however, as the article Old Age as Institution by Alexey Levinson
demonstrates, attitudes towards old age are still determined by archaic
views (the elderly as bearers of the tribe’s wisdom should pass their
knowledge on to the young, and then pass away) which exist side by side with
the modern-day concept of the inalienable, though limited, right of every
individual to life. Both these concepts have been symbolically merged in the
notion of a retirement pension.

In his article The Quiet Revolution, Mikhail Denisenko investigates uneven
population aging throughout the world and arrives at the conclusion that
this inevitable process will lead to new complications in the geopolitical
situation — half a century from now, a sparsely populated and wealthy “old”
North will be confronted by a populous and poor “young” Africa. Moreover,
demographic aging will inevitably force the aging countries to review their
social contracts and, above all else, to overhaul the distributive pension
system, since its shortcomings, in the population aging environment, can no
longer be offset by the traditional redistribution of resources within
family groups.

Exploring the awareness of a sample of Russians in 1994 about nine events
that occurred within the past 60 years, Howard Schuman, Ph.D. and Amy D.
Corning in the article Collective Knowledge of Public Events: The Soviet Era
from the Great Purge to Glasnost consider three competing hypotheses about
how knowledge relates to age: a) adolescence and early adulthood constitute
a critical age for acquiring knowledge of public events; b) the unique
content of an event creates age relations; and c) knowledge is influenced
primarily by a “period effect” that can extend learning over almost the
entire age range of a population experiencing an event. The authors also
hypothesize that “years of education” have two different meanings in
relation to knowledge: one about the socialization that promotes
state-approved images of the past, and the other about the development of a
cognitive sophistication that challenges such images. Partial support for
each hypothesis is reported, and the relation of collective knowledge to
collective memory is also considered.

The article In Praise of Old Age by Anatoly Vishnevsky challenges the myth
that population aging is a major factor in the demographic crisis
experienced by all countries with a low birth rate. The author contends that
this should be regarded not as a transient crisis, but rather as a regular
evolutionary process, inextricable from other major changes which constitute
the essence of a demographic transition leading to the creation of an
entirely new “time-table” for a generation’s life. The attendant shift of
the working years towards older ages offers an opportunity to extend the
years of education — a period, crucial for the creation of modern human
capital.

OZ presents a synopsis of the book Another Country: Navigating the Emotional
Terrain of Our Elders by Mary Pipher. This fictionalized research study,
characterized by a self-confessed subjectivity, is based on the author’s
personal experience as a practicing psychiatrist. The book is designed
primarily for American post-war baby boomers, i.e. her contemporaries.
Appealing to today’s 40-50 year olds to make a greater effort in seeking
understanding with their elderly parents, the book offers much valuable
practical guidance to help foster better relations between generations.
Utilizing a system of structural indicators (the elderly age group share in
the overall population, aging index, demographic burden), Gayane Safarova in
her article The Aging of Russia’s Population: Demographic Aspects
scrutinizes the process of population aging in Russia. The article
demonstrates an uneven aging pattern among different regions of Russia,
compares Russia’s aging indicators to those of economically developed
countries and, based on the analysis of mortality rates in different age
groups, investigates life expectancy for the elderly. Also discussed is the
impact of population aging on the development of a social policy.

The Outlook for Natality in Russia: Second Demographic Transition by Sergey
Zakharov looks at the process of a demographic and family transformation,
which has been taking place in Russia in the past few decades, against the
backdrop of similar, albeit more profound, processes affecting all developed
European countries. The outcome of these changes has been that the social
control over demographic and family behavior is gradually shifting from the
institutional/collective to the individual level: control over the
individual, exercised by the state, church, and rural communities, has been
gradually giving way to self-control, thereby greatly expanding an
individual’s freedom of choice in everything that concerns his or her
private life.

At what age do Russians begin to regard themselves as elderly? Is this
related to retirement on pension? What can present-day Russian pensioners
afford, how do their life-style and interests alter? What in general
characterizes aging and old age in modern-day Russia? In the article The
Social, Material and Emotional Climate of Old Age in Russia, Lyudmila
Presnyakova attempts to provide answers to these and other questions by
probing the findings of the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) polls conducted
in 2004-2005.

The article Social Services for the Elderly, and Community Development:
Western Experience and Russian Practice by Irina Grigorieva considers the
difficulties surrounding a transition, currently taking place in developed
countries, from state-funded social security and commercial insurance
schemes to a system of community-based care for the elderly. In Russia, this
changeover is hampered by local cultural stereotypes and an absence of
generally applicable practices of conflict resolution.

Although it has been proven beyond doubt that the elderly have a development
potential, our society is clinging to its fear of aging. In her article The
Spawn of Misconceptions: The Elderly and Old Age, Olga Krasnova contends
that this is a result of negative age-related stereotypes that form gut
level attitudes towards old age, play a crucial role in institutionalizing
ageism and even influence scientific views about older age. Stereotyped
notions of older age are reproduced both in social policy, and in
kitchen-sink and mass culture, thereby adversely affecting the personal
values and self-esteem of elderly people. Overcoming the stereotypes is an
important factor in improving the quality of life in old age.

The issues of several generations living under the same roof are discussed
by Elena Vovk in her article Old Folks in the Family: Peculiarities of
Intergenerational Relations. It seems that the commonly held image of an
idyllic old age, with grandma and grandpa nurturing the grandchildren, is
fast becoming outdated. And it is by no means clear whether it is the old or
the young who have benefited most from this. “Communication between
generations within the family should be intensive enough — yet interspersed
to a degree,” the author believes.

The current issue of OZ contains a synopsis of the book As Parents Age: A
Psychological and Practical Guide by American psychotherapist Joseph A.
Ilardo, Ph.D. The book is written in the form of a manual for adult children
whose parents are either approaching or have attained old age. Aging is a
multifaceted process, but people mostly focus on the medical aspects of old
age, whereas in fact, for family members, the aging of their parents is a
problem far more complex than just the issues of sickness. The book is based
on the author’s many years of practice and offers guidance that is not
medical, but rather psychological and social in nature. How should adult
children cope with feelings of frustration and guilt, how to overcome
alienation setting in between family members of different generations, what
to do if elderly parents develop psychiatric conditions, how to cope with
the grief caused by their death — this roughly is the range of issues
discussed in the book.

Evgeny Gontmakher, Doctor of Economics, Director, Russian Center for Social
Studies and Innovation analyzes the state of affairs brought about by the
monetization of benefits. He details the history of introducing the benefits
in Russia in 1991-1993, as well as subsequent attempts to carry through the
monetization in one form or the other. Monetization is discussed from the
political perspective in the context of general budgetary issues.
The article How to Raise Pension Age in Russia by Oksana Sinyavskaya looks
at the issue of changing the legal and actual pension age levels. Probing
into the arguments for and against an increase in retirement age, the author
concludes that this move, while unavoidable in the future, is
demographically viable only in the case of women. One should begin by
raising the actual age when pensions can be claimed, which in Russia is much
lower than the legal pension age. In order to do this, one should reform the
system of early pensions while increasing the legal pension age for women to
60 years. Advance planning of this reform will allow for necessary
adjustments to be introduced to the employment policy.

Tatiana Maleva and Oksana Sinyavskaya in the article Pension Reform in
Russia: Concerning the Political Economy of Populism analyze the reasons
behind a major review of the basic tenets of the Russian pension sphere and
an overhaul of its institutions, while examining attempts to find an
effective model for a pension system. Looking at the history of world
discussion on the issue, the authors consider possible options for the state
pension strategy and weigh the impact that significant socio-economic
events, such as the “monetization of benefits”, may have on the pension
sphere. A lot of focus is also given to the initial results of the reforms
and to the discussion of what lies in store for the Russian pension system.

The article A Review of Foreign Pension Systems by Anna Gryzlova and Evgeny
Yanenko examines the most efficient and stable pension systems in western
countries (Sweden, Great Britain, France), and demonstrates the tendencies
of pension system development in countries where living
standards are comparable to those of Russia (Kazakhstan, Ukraine).

Valery Gartung, Member of State Duma, Chairman of the Russian Party of
Pensioners asserts that money for the pensions can be found right now; inter
alia, pensions can be increased by tapping the Stabilization Fund. The money
is a tool, it should be spent on improving the life of the most needy groups
in society.

Attitudes to old age are sensitive to socio-cultural context; they should be
viewed as a changing and shifting phenomenon. In his article Historical
Attitudes Towards Old Age, Anton Smolkin analyzes the socio-cultural
dynamics of attitudes towards old age in a broad historical context and
offers his own interpretation of the social basis for shifting attitudes
towards old age in a historical perspective.

Alexander Panchenko in the article The Image of Old Age in Russian Peasant
Culture, maintains that traditional peasant culture treats old age as an
indispensable period of preparation for death, associating it, on the one
hand, with social and physical inadequacy, and on the other hand, with
special knowledge and skills of religious and magical nature.

In her essay Old Age Has Happened: A Model and Anti-Model of Indian Old Age,
Irina Glushkova takes a diachronic look at the Indian cultural model of
aging and old age, making use of extensive material ranging from
mythological texts and folklore to modern drama and social and ethnologic
research conducted in various parts of the Indian subcontinent. Along with
the “perfect scheme” which determines the traditional status of old age, the
author describes its numerous transgressions in a “nonperfect life” (using,
inter alia, the example of political gerontocracy in India’s higher echelons
of power) and discovers the emergence of an antimodel which in many ways
runs contrary to established conceptions of the cultural norms of Indian
society.

The article About «Chinese Ceremonies», the Cult of Ancestors and Old Age in
China by Ilya Smirnov takes an in-depth look at old age veneration in
traditional China, describing its archaic roots (the cult of ancestors) and
the Confucian principle of filial piety (xiao). As illustrations, the author
cites numerous legends about filially pious children, as well as verses by
Chinese poets deliberating on the theme of old age.

Gamid Bulatov in the article Attitudes towards the Elderly and Longevity in
the Caucasus takes as his basis the comparative psychosocial research on
elderly and long-lived people, conducted in the late 1970s and early 1980s
in Kostroma Region and the Caucasus, and demonstrates that unlike their
Kostroma counterparts, the Caucasus elderly live in a family environment,
surrounded by the respect of the community. They are therefore almost
completely spared the feeling of uncertainty and anxiety engendered by the
fear of social status erosion related to aging. The process of growing old
and the attendant possible physical frailties produce no adverse effect on
the psyche of the Caucasus elderly, and this seems to have a direct bearing
on the phenomenon of longevity.

THE COUNTRY OF OZ

Sergey Dubinin, former Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia offers his
views on events that took place in Russia in the 90s. He analyzes the
outcome of those turbulent closing years of a revolution that lasted a whole
century, and attempts to draw lessons that would help avoid a lapse into yet
another revolutionary situation.

In his article TV in the Mechanism of Terror, the well-known sociologist
Daniil Dondurey shares his thoughts on the theme of “terror and the media”.
In the post-industrial media society, television is not only a provider of
information, but can also be a major tool in the mechanism of terror — a
weapon of mass psychological destruction. The author analyzes Russian
television’s reporting of events in Beslan, compares it to that of the
western media, and offers his own recommendations on ways to prepare TV for
future coverage of events related to possible terrorist attacks.

Gennady Aksyonov in the article The Word and Deed of the Church provides a
critical reappraisal of the official — and most widely held — version of
Russian history. The main object of the author’s demythifying criticism is
the exaggerated and idealized role of the Orthodox church. In the author’s
opinion, the Russian Church has not succeeded in any of its proclaimed
exulted missions of morally improving the people; on the contrary, the
Church itself was constantly engaged in the very sins of greed and lust for
power that it outwardly condemned. The Catholic Church, however, though by
no means depicted by the author in a radiant light, has, in his opinion,
developed in a much more organic and constructive way, and, more
importantly, has been more in keeping with the Christian tenets it preached.

Vera Milchina publishes the 1838 correspondence between Chief of Gendarmes
A. H. Benkendorf and the Kiev Governor-General D. G. Bibikov, revealing an
unknown page in “police semiotics”. Count Benkendorf recommended to his
subordinates a peculiar method designed to counteract the wearing of French
(Jeune France) beards and imperials, which at the time were a sign of
liberal ideas. The plan was to obligate the lower ranks of the police to
grow such beards.