Intergenerational Dependencies: Challenges for Theory, Research and Policy

This paper examines recent developments in the theory of intergenerational solidarity and dependency, drawing on a review of key sociological studies and policy documents.  Despite the rejection of the generational conflict hypothesis in the sociology of ageing, prominent public authors such as Fishman (2010) continue to give popular support to the perspective of demographic determinism and apocalyptic demography.  As well as helping to refute such views, attention to the theory of intergenerational dependencies it is argued, has the capacity to reinvigorate research on the sociology of ageing and to provide new research perspectives on policy in the epoch of longevity.