THE OLD MAN IN A PREFIGURATIVE SOCIETY

Old people constitute a numerically enormous strength of society, and at the same time it seems that their developmental and social potential is being successively wasted. It does not properly situate into the social position of old people, or into the assessment of the value of their presence in society, or into taking care of the needs of this group. Old age is most often associated at present with indolence, spite, aggressiveness and a sense of being lost in the world. It is a great loss not to see the social potential of the elderly in society. Such potential is, for example, distance to reality, time that older people can devote to another person, the ability to perceive the charm of the moment, empathy or patience. To explain the reasons for the marginalization of old people in society, it is not enough to refer to situational factors, which is quite common. In fact, the problem is much deeper in the nature of modern Western cul-ture. The mechanism of marginalization of old people with great sensitivity was described by Margaret Mead and also by Mircea Eliade. The most amazing thing, however, is that the author did it at a time when the world of the Internet and electronic media was not yet available to the average person. The article is devoted to explaining the cultural mechanisms of excluding old people, as well as contemporary trends aimed at preventing their exclusion.