We are living in a society with the constantly
growing proportion of people over 65
years of age. More rapid rate of ageing is
characteristic of the modern world. At the same
time, social implications of ageing should be
viewed in a wider context. What ageing is, the
opportunities and burden it is associated with, is
dramatically changing. Gerontology, the study of
ageing and the elderly, deals not only with the
physical process of ageing, but also with the
related social and cultural factors. There are two
contradictory processes we are concerned with.
Elderly people in modern societies are of lower
social status and endowed with less power than
in sub-modern societies, but are less prone to
accept ageing as an unavoidable process of decay
of the human body.