ROLES FOR AGED INDIVIDUALS IN POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES

Cowgill and Holmes in their book, Aging and Modernization predicted an inverse relationship between industrialization and status accorded older persons. They argued that the more industrialized a country becomes the lower the status accorded older persons. A more careful examination of historical and anthropological work suggests that if we look at the status of the old over the course of history and make projections into the future an S curve is a more realistic pattern. The pattern projected would be one in which the old were accorded a low status in early nomadic tribes, a high status in settled agricultural communities, a low status in industrialized society and ultimately will receive a somewhat higher status in the post-industrial period.