ABSTRACT
Macrotheorizing in studies of aging is quite rare. Although references to an "aging society" are frequent, they are mostly not elaborated theoretically. The "aging society" is, however, not a society composed only of home care, nursing homes, or gerontological laboratories. Nor is it just the abstract world of demographic figures and their extrapolations. The issues that are referred to with the metaphor "aging society" are part of and influenced by a historical reality, which goes through rapid changes at an increasingly interconnected macro level. The transition to an "aging society" is, at the same time, a transition to a globalizing world of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) networks and biotechnology. Such changes may, to an important degree, situate and qualify what happens at a more local or communal level. Although the presence of more older people will change the societies they live in, technical, political, and cultural developments in these societies are equally influential in shaping their lives.
