| Abstract: | The rapid modernization in the People's Republic of China (PRC) allows us to identify some of the principles that underlie the changes in State-managed economies and their affects on the elderly. Modernization theory predicts that traditionally high status of the elderly declines with industrialization. This theory's difficulties can be overcome by using the variables of the "state" and the political economy by developing a model of "bureaucratic politics" and the "state" which explains "how" the status of the elderly changes through the interplay of competing interests within the society and thus may "increase" or "decrease" as the society modernizes. This research is based on data collected in the PRC between 1981–1986. Since 1978 there have been three major reform efforts; each has consequences for the elderly: (1) economic, (2) bureaucratic, and (3) population. In order to achieve them, programming for elderly is occurring: (1) retirement pensions and medical care, (2) homes for the aged, and (3) special activities to use the "left over energy" of the elderly. The future importance of the elderly in China will depend on their consequences for (1) the developing economy, (2) the bureaucratic politics of the Party and the State, and (3) other agendas of the State the implicate the elderly. |
