Title: Old age | Britannica
Headings: Old age
Old age
Social programs
Physiological effects
Demographic and socioeconomic influences
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Content: In agrarian societies the elderly have a status of respectability. Their life experiences and knowledge are regarded as valuable, especially in preliterate societies where knowledge is orally transmitted. The range of activities in these societies allows the elderly to continue to be productive members of their communities. In industrialized nations the status of the elderly has altered as the socioeconomic conditions have changed, tending to reduce the status of the elderly as a society becomes more technologically oriented. Since physical disability is less a factor in productive capability in industrialized countries, this reduction in social status is thought to have been generated by several interrelated factors: the numbers of still able-bodied older workers outstripping the number of available employment opportunities, the decline in self-employment which allows a worker to gradually decrease activity with age, and the continual introduction of new technology requiring special training and education. Although in certain fields old age is still considered an asset, particularly in the political arena, older people are increasingly being forced into retirement before their productive years are over, causing problems in their psychological adaptations to old age. Retirement is not regarded unfavourably in all instances, but its economic limitations tend to further remove older people from the realm of influence and raise problems in the extended use of leisure time and housing. As a consequence, financial preparation for retirement has become an increased concern for individuals and society. For an essay on retirement, medical care, and other issues affecting the elderly, see John Kenneth Galbraith’s Notes on Aging, a Britannica sidebar by the distinguished economist, ambassador, and public servant.