Intergenerational Relations and Cooperation

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to analyze intergenerational relations and cooperation in Slovenia and suggest activities that could bring together different generations. The paper discusses issues of intergenerational cooperation, which contributes substantially to solidarity, tolerance and quality of interpersonal relations, both, from a wider social viewpoint as well as from a narrower family viewpoint. Thus, ageing of people has become a characteristic feature of demographic development in world. Developments in society such as geographic mobility, divorce, and nuclear families have led to increasing gap between old and young and minimized opportunities for children to interact with grandparents or other older people (Kupetz, 1993). As Bernard and Phillips (2000) explain the situation of older people is becoming increasingly important element in social policy debates and urgent need for an integrated social policy which addresses broad needs of ageing society. With a low birth rate and prolongation of life, classic inter-generational relationships in Slovenia are quickly changing, therefore it is demanded from policymakers, that in cooperation with experts and civil society, they re-define them. The prevalence of older generation is increasing more and more. Older people often encounter problems like loneliness, depression, loss of motor and functional abilities; they are also prone to various illnesses. For elderly, loneliness especially can represent a common problem which makes them past rich lives empty and unworthy. On other hand, fast technological development, changes in way of living, also changes their habits which are linked to different periods of a person’s development. For this reason it comes to differences between generations and they are noticeable especially among younger and older generation. The younger generation grows with technology which often leads to addiction and lack of genuine contacts with people, especially with other generations (Ramovs, 2003). Changes in economic systems, way of life itself and development in technology also leads to changes in habits, values, goals of generation, etc., which subsequently creates differences between older and younger generation in different periods. Every generation is, due to environmental effects, marked by events in a specific period of time that influence its behavior and values. These events are amongst others wars, crisis, moves, prolonged life span, change of lifestyle, fast technological development, globalization, etc. Periodically, classification in USA and Slovenia differs because of different political and economic system.