Rejuvenation
Unterjüngung is a neologism that is used in the political German demographic debate against the concept of aging .
Reasons for the intended change of perspective
The aging of the individual is a natural process. The aging of a society or population occurs only to a very small extent as a result of the increase in life expectancy . Low birth rates are gaining influence, especially in advanced industrialized countries .
From the point of view of economics , it is less the existence of older people that is problematized, but the feared lack of regenerative service providers as human capital for the exchange of transfer payments due to the lack of children .
Background discussions
The popularity of the term aging, the amounts in Germany strongly with the issue of pensions dealt demographics returned. Other countries that change their pensions e.g. B. have built on fund models are not faced in the same way with the problem of stabilizing a financial intergenerational contract . But even in Germany the view grows that the basic problems rather the lack of renewable contributors by unemployment and low retirement age and lack of rejuvenation are, and not only the existence of older people.
A second, more sociological-psychological approach refers to the consequences of the cultural madness of youth . Since being young for a long time is an ideal and old age is taboo in Germany , the concept of aging reflects more of an unconscious fear of the individual. The concept of youthfulness, on the other hand, aims specifically at children and therefore at attachment and responsibility and is therefore less popular.
literature
- Herwig Birg : The demographic turning point: the population decline in Germany and Europe . Munich: Beck 2001, ISBN 3-406-47552-3
- Frank Schirrmacher : The Methuselah plot , Munich: Blessing 2004, ISBN 3-89667-225-8
- Meinhard Miegel : The turn of the epoch. Will the West Win the Future? , Propylaea 2005, ISBN 3-549-07177-9
See also
- Demography , demographic change in Germany
- Population development , population decline , population growth
- Intergenerational contract
- Childlessness , procreation strike , childbirth strike
Web links
- Article in From Politics and Contemporary History on the conceptual debate
- Refusal of the demographic order (Telepolis)
- Demographic development - no cause for drama (PDF) Article by Gerd Bosbach , January 2004 (183 kB)