Years of the research: 2012 - 2013
Country: Hungary
Language: Hungarian
Keywords:
Abstract:
The objective of the programme was to launch and establish the political science of population ageing in Hungary as well as to join the similar initiatives abroad. Population ageing has a broad coverage in demography; some tendencies have been seriously studied in economics and sociology. Remarkable achievements can be found in political sociology of youth too. The political science research on population ageing as a whole and as a process possibly resulting in changes in political behaviour is, however, missing. In Hungary, as well as in several countries in Europe and beyond, the proportion of the young is decreasing while that of the elderly is increasing, and, moreover, the large cohort of post-war baby boomers is about to retire soon. The international political science literature on the issue is also rather narrow; there are hardly any studies that examine the differing political behaviours of the different generations. This is the more surprising because the political fears usually focus on the probability of future conflicts between generations and expect answers from the politicians and political institutions. On the other hand, the European Commission declared 2012 the Year of Active Ageing and wants to keep the issue on the agenda in the foreseeable future. With the support of the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund and leaning on the international networks the participants in the project could join the international initiatives and, since the international scientific community is also at the beginning of the efforts, Hungary could play a leading role in the development.
Researchers:
Type of research: National
Aims/Objectives/Background:
The overarching question of the programme is the following: How does the political behaviour of society change under the effect of population ageing? The overarching hypothesis is: The Hungarian political actors (politicians, media and citizens) tend more and more to politicize population ageing in a way that could lead to the establishment of generational cleavage. To make the project more transparent, we separate two closely connected but still distinct clusters of research questions and hypotheses. One of them is called construction research and the other is behaviour research.
Findings/outcome/conclusion/research questions:
Only the theoretical grounding was carried out and two applications submitted. The applications failed and the project was given up.
Copyright
“The Central and Eastern European Active Ageing Network database is protected by copyright law, under international agreements and the EC Database Directive 96/9/EC. The owner of the database is the Institute of Mental Health of Semmelweis University and the University of Debrecen Faculty of Health. Reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is not permitted without the prior written authorization of the [owner].”