Growing old, being old. Conceptions (inner and outer viewpoint) behind the notions old, elderly
Tünde Turai, Museum of Ethnography, Hungary
Along the 20th century the position of the elderly was altered due to a very complex structural change regarding the economic, social and cultural life in Romania. These events of the macro-level had major effects on the micro-level. Collectivization, industrialization, the restructuring of the occupational sphere, urbanization and modernization brought about a massive geographic and social mobility, respectively changes in mentality and life-style.
Focusing on the rural regions we can mention that the transfigurations within the hierarchy of the village, but especially the ones that occurred with respect to the institution of the family put an end to the former foundations and frameworks, bringing other ones in lieu of them.
My ethnological research focuses on the Transylvanian village of Bozies, where the process of growing old was enormous: in 1900 7,7 % were aged 60 or above, in 1999 this number increased to 35,6%. As a consequence the social relationships – including both hierarchy and aspects of content – and thereupon the social attitudes have been redefined.
The dominant position of the smallholders of Bozies had depended not on (bodily power, state of health or other) individual qualities exposed to deterioration, but on their economic potential, nay on their well-codified and strongly canonized social position within the framework of norms of the local community. Nowadays the situation of the elderly is utterly different. After lossing a considerable part of their economic, social, cultural and moral capital, they have to face the alteration of the contents of the words aging, third generation, being old. My paper is especially dedicated to these notions, to the analysis of the principles that govern the transfer from the second generation to the third one and to a detailed exposition of the internal division of the age bracket.
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