Social Policy and Social Justice in Aging Society: Inter-Generational Analysis

Aging of the population is a challenge for the health care system, as the proportion of older people in need of medical care increases over time. According to a number of researchers in this field, the process of rapid population aging in Eastern Europe significantly affects the pension system, as the share of those who need to pay a pension increases sharply and the share of those who make contributions to the pension fund decreases. Moreover, the requirements for the health care system and social support are increasing as the aging process develops. According to the opinion of the majority of experts in the field of the study of conflicts, in the 21st century conflicts between different classes were replaced by conflicts between generations. Current conflicts are different from all previous conflicts, since they involve more than 2 generations of citizens. This discourse on inequality and on the intergenerational conflict pushes us to reflect on the future of the social policy of the state in the sphere of social protection of the population in the conditions of general population aging. In most modern states, the older generation is the main recipient of social transfer support programs, while at the same time spending on education, raising children, even when taking into account the possibility of getting support from the state, usually falls on the shoulders of their parents. As a result, different age groups receive unequal social support from the state, which can be perceived as some sort of injustice in the social sphere. Thus, it can be assumed that unequal distribution of resources in the sphere of social protection, and the very nature of the social policy of the state in which the main beneficiaries of transfer programs are the elderly create the risks for conflicts between different generations and between different groups of the population. Whether this is so or not, we will try to consider this issue in the framework of this paper.