Abstract

The aging of society is one the greatest socio-political challenges of the 21st century. In the member states of the European Union one can expect a significant aging of the population. Already in 1982, in its International Plan of Action on Aging, the United Nations pointed to a shift in age structures. 1999 was celebrated as International Year of Older Persons, and 2002 saw the adoption of the Second International Plan of Action on Aging. In the same year, a Regional Implementation Strategy was also adopted and became the cornerstone for the performance of the International Plan of Action on Aging in Europe. While national implementation programmes have sought to highlight the chances and potentials of social aging, the press has chosen to focus upon an approaching generational war, a battle for distribution that the demographic shift will produce. However, research in the social sciences has shown that it is wrong to reduce the relationship between the generations to the level of demographic processes. A great deal of data points to increased solidarity between the generations in everyday life. Future lines of conflict are less likely to run between old and young, but rather along the boundary between rich and poor. In order that solidarity between the generations remains - and continues to remain - a reality, the frameworks that support communality both within and outside the family need to be reinforced or newly established. In the reports both of the United Nations and the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, we find the fundamental idea of ›cooperation between the generations‹. Many promising programmes have been established in various countries. The task for diaconal work in Europe is to communicate exemplary ideas and concepts.