Social Policy And The Elderly Population In Contemporary Russia: Challenges And Opportunities

Abstract

Social transformations of the recent years in Russia led to changes in the social structure of the society. Inequality of various age groups in the space of new social and economic opportunities drew special attention. Thus, “Russian party of pensioners” was created in 2003. Demographic transformations in the structure of the population, connected with its ageing, demand changes in the goals of the social policy, harmonization of the interests of various social and age groups with the prospects of the society’s development. However since the beginning of the 1990-es the consideration of the social problems of the elderly has been so politicized that even the attempts of rationalizing the context of discussion turn out to be unsuccessful. The analysis of Soviet social policy reveals that though it was usually declared as the social policy of institutional distributing type, providing the equality of all citizens, in reality it was built on the combination of different approaches. Thus, the policy in relation to the elderly was usually based on the principles of rewards for merits, when the “achievement” or “merit” of a citizen was considered as the execution of labour or military duty. The right for the social security of the Great Patriotic war veterans is the most developed as compared to the social rights of other categories of Soviet citizens. Their exclusive status corresponds with ideology principles of working achievement and meritocracy selection, which really underlied Soviet social policy. As early as in the 1990-es the system of benefits supported and developed the selective principles formed earlier. The necessity of reforming and rationalizing the social liabilities of the state, including those in the form of benefits, about which there were many debates during the last 10-15 years is faced both with the incompetence of officials and with the opposition of the society. One should also take into account that there are no economic shifts or state transformations that could change the confidence formed among the elderly population in their right to worthy pension, the responsibility for which is held by the state. It is necessary to change the situation with the elderly, but each step must be considered, well thought-out and widely discussed with various groups of the population. Even young people must understand that old age is the only social risk which nobody can avoid. It is necessary to conduct civil enlightenment of the population, though its results will not become apparent immediately. Otherwise the refusal of the state from usual social liabilities will inevitably stimulate protests of the population. One cannot build mutual rights and responsibilities only on moral categories, on the idea of a “duty”, because the society is in the state of anomie and crisis of values. The experience of various countries shows that obligatory retirement insurance is the most perfect long-term mechanism of contractual relations between generations, between the state and the population. At the same time the age of retiring on a pension established by the legislation of a country is perceived by the society as “natural”. In Russia there has still remained a low age of retiring and benefits which lower it. But age benefits have at least three reverse sides: -first of all, in the framework of such previous experience and age requirements the conflict between working people and pensioners will always be reproduced. -the second problem is connected with the low level of compensation of lost working income in today’s pension. -thirdly, in Russia as nowhere else in the world, there is a big gap between the elderly population and the population of pension age. Nowadays in the most successful countries the retirement takes place at the age of 67. But for all working people there is an opportunity of part-time work, allowing to work in adequate regime. Such regime of employment may be considered as an instrument allowing to remain in “usual” society for a longer time. Federal laws, program documents, connected with the formation of a new type of the social policy have so far a contradictory character, and the ability of well-known politicians to coordinate the interests of different groups raises deep doubts. The emphasis given to the problem in mass media publications promotes tension and forms the feeling of disaster. Only in the most recent years there appeared the works aimed not at the estimation of the losses of the population, but at the research of methods of households’ adaptation to modern conditions. At the time of late socialism it seemed that the predominance of the elderly people in the authority led to the stagnation. But nothing prevents the renovation of social order to a greater extent than unrestrained youth radicalism and attempts to jump over the obstacles of traditional culture. The most important task of reforming is the development of social interactions, ability to achieve acceptable agreements concerning moot points of the development of the society, such as the renewal of the priorities of social policy.