The Social Situation of The Elderly People and the Relationship Between Old Age in the Ukrainian Society With the Eyes of the Youth

Abstract

The article presents the problem of the social situation of elderly people in Ukrainian society. The Ukrainian nation, like other European nations, is aging. According to demographic indicators, the number of elderly people exceeds the number of young people. This circumstance raises a number of problems with echoes in all spheres of Ukrainian society. Currently, attention is focused on gerontological issues in the context of awareness of the status of the elderly as a special social problem. The analysis of the results of sociological research of the attitudes of young people to their own old age and the elderly in the modern Ukrainian society is given. The existence of negative age stereotypes or a set of negative attitudes of young people regarding the difficulties associated with age (loneliness, poverty, low social mobility, insolvency and the need for care and support of the state) have been identified. It has also been established that despite the existence of negative stereotypes of old age, they are widespread, are latent, veiled, spread and operate, first of all, outside the family and are not manifested in aggressive forms, but in practice, the exclusion of elderly people from socially prestigious spheres of consumption and management.