Problems of The Aged – A Sociological Analysis

‘Old age’ or ‘the aged’ or ‘Population Ageing’, ‘elderly’ are the terms quite popular for academic usages to denote a bio-sociological process under which human grows older. However, a person’s usefulness and images in the society diminishes because of his or her age. India has entered into an era of ageing society with demographic transition which has resulted in the continuous increase of the population of the elderly. Graying population, i.e. increasing the population of elderly is one of the most ‘significant characteristics’ of the 20th Century and the first quarter of the 21st Century known as the “age of ageing”.The increasing number of aged has given rise to the dilution of traditional support system in India. In olden days, the aged were greatly respected for their wisdom and kept with a great care in the family fold. However, with rapid urbanization, modernization and changes in social structure, the traditional joint family system is gradually giving way to the nuclear family. As a result, an alarming threat to smooth and comfortable lives of the aged has cropped up. They are gradually becoming appendage and burden on the family. There is a breakdown of the family system structurally and functionally and the support base forthe elderly is eroding. Material views are replacing family values. The concern for others, a significant feature of Indian society is decaying. With this changing socio-structural setting, the abuse and exclusion of elderly is rampant and widespread across the country. This paper attempts to discuss the abuse and exclusion of the elderly in India.