Short Title

"GENERATIONAL CONFLICTS" RESEARCH STRAND

Full Title

Generational Treasholds and Conflicts in the Political Field

Brief Description

People in different age cohorts diverge in their socialization patterns, lifestyle preferences and interests. Generational differences have framed to a great extent the public battles and conflicts of political actors in Hungary and elsewhere. However, the above antinomies may be channelled into the conflict-ridden field of democratic politics in various ways. This research strand aims to reveal how generational conflicts can be politically articulated in a way that respects the very nature and extent of generational differences and maintains the possibility of democratic solution.

Research Period

Since the beginning of 2012

Research Type

Individual project

Research Monitoring Body

The Programme Committee of the Ageing Research Programme

Project Supervisor

Balázs Kiss

Project Manager

Balázs Kiss

Researchers

Márton Bene      

Contact

Balázs Kiss (kiss.balazs@tk.mta.hu)

Research Summary

According to the often-heard opinion, the inevitable reform of pension and health systems will be hindered by the aged, who participate in large numbers on elections and impose their will on politics. In this view, we are living in a “pensioner democracy”, where democratic politics falls hostage of the older generations who defend their privileges, resist reforms and doom the welfare state to a continuous erosion. A “war of generations” is hardly evitable.
The above vision is right to suggest that today's political system faces huge difficulties in properly handling the issues of sustainability. Welfare state reform seems equally inevitable an undoable. However, this deadlock does not have to escalate in aggressive generational “wars”. The potential outcomes of generational conflicts depend greatly on the way in which these conflicts are channeled into the institutions of political will formation. Generational conflicts may escalate in aggression, they may trigger a long-term paralysis, but they may also suscitate a sustainable reform. Politics may respond to these conflicts by simply asserting the interests of the most privileged social groups, but it may also foster a new social contract about a sustainable future.
The challenges of an ageing society can only be handled if the system of democratic politics works out solutions that take into account the interests of all social groups and that can be implemented with the – however reluctant – support of interested parts. Consequently, the key question of our research strand will be the following: under what conditions are citizens able to get to mutually acceptable solutions to their generational conflicts? How can interested citizens work out equitable agreements or compromises, and how this deliberative process can be channelled into the sphere of politics?