ABSTRACT
One of the key assumptions of modernization theory with respect to aging is that ‘the role and status of the aged varies systematically with the degree of modernization of society and that modernization tends to decrease the relative status of the aged and to undermine their security within the social system’ (Cowgill, 1972:13, my emphasis). This global tendency needs to be modified in a pluralistic direction to take into account each society’s modernization trajectory, as Kiefer (1990) argues with reference to Japan.
