Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Ageing And Modernization Theory, Marie-Helene Thomas

Asian Review

Societies are moving towards a greying-nation at the fastest rate the world has ever seen with increasing numbers of centenarians each year. Current life-expectancy rates indicate that a person can expect to live 20 to 30 more years past the age of retirement. However, the modernization theory argues that the value of older people in society is decreasing with modernity and as a society moves away from tradition and towards a youth-oriented ideology, older people are left behind and deemed to be less important. Research is demonstrating that, with modernity, the concept of filial piety in Asian countries is declining, …