The goal of this study is to explore the generational conflict by young people. The primary concern of this paper is to inquire the relations between youth's socio-demographic characteristics and their attitudes toward old age and elderly people. In this research potential social conflict between youth and old age  is investigated from Bartos and Wehr (2002)'s perspective due to it's applicability to empiric study. Data were obtained from the Dikmen Youth Centre of Ankara Municipality in Turkey.  The research sample included 47 females and 53 males young people between the ages of 15-24 who were sampled for the purpose of analyzing and comparing their attitudes and perceptions of old age. The majority of young people have not lived with their grandparents in the same house but meet regularly with them everyday or two times in a week. The paper dealt with  the conception of old-age, presence of conflict and conflict management  according to the gender of the young people. Advanced  statistical analysis revealed that being a student ,educational level of father, living in a same house and frequency of meeting with grandparents have significant impacts on youth's attitudes toward old age. It is also found that there exists the generational conflict potential resulting from the risk perception of youth. 

youth, old age, aging, inter-generational family relationship, risk, conflict

Although one of the most successful achievements of the modern times is assumed to be the fact that human live longer (Wilson, 2000)  old age is also defined as the latest field of social discrimination along with others like class, gender and ethnic based discriminations of the modern societies (Feagin and Feagin,1997:135). Furthermore in the recent days, as the human life gets longer  aging is started to be perceived as a matter of generational conflict (Turner,1998) rather than individual problem due to the it's costs for the society both financial and social. According to Broer (2001) ageing leads to substantial increase of the tax burden and an estimated welfare loss for future generations in current social security system of Netherlands. Moreover, intergenerational relationships has been elaborated by the studies of new dimensions of emotional support and care-giving, the impact of divorce and separation, changing roles within  the family, narrative maps of ageing within the social gerontology ( Shenk 2001; Scröder-Butterfill, 2004;Hyde and Gibbs 1993;Wenger and Burholt 2001, Keasberry,2001 Drew and Silverstein 2004;  Phoenix and Sparkes, 2006).

Therefore It would not be  wrong to say that studies on aging brings together questions, theoretical perspectives and methodological preferences from various disciplines from biology and medicine to psychology, economics and sociology(Hagestad,1999)  

Contrary to the former studies which is mostly focused on intra-familial cooperation between generations (Irvin, 1996), Turner (1998) accepts Bourdieu (1988)'s distinction between cultural and economic capital and formation of generational conflict. His approach assumes that there exists "distinction between individual aging as both biological and social process and generational conflict  as structural aspects of social struggles over limited resources" (Turner, 1998:299). Parson's(1962) sociological disengagement theory, which was widely used by gerontologists, was also criticized due to its failure to explain structure and stratification system of the society (Dowd, 1987).  

In recent years,  risk concept was elaborated by various studies in social sciences.   Giddens (2002) emphasised that  risk concept from perspectives of both modern society and   pre-modern society  Obviously the risk notion is inseparable from possibility and infinite ideas. . According to Giddens, in pre-modern times the relations with the society were based on traditions, relatives and local environment. The relationships of modern societies are ambiguous. The relations with the modern society are decoupled from the community, the context and expectations on how really they should be. In our days, it is the individual who is responsible for his/her own identity, either formally or informally. Everybody is expected to go along his/her own route in spite of the threats of the modern society and promises (Giddens and Pierson, 1998:xxxii). For most of the young people, recent family structure and family relations are very different than in the past and it is constantly evolving (Jessor et al., 1991).

 Although theoretical contributions of Turner and Giddens are very crucial  for this study, potential social conflict between youth and old aged people is investigated from Bartos and Wehr (2002)'s perspective due to it's applicability to empiric study.  According to them conflict exists wherever human exists: at home, in friendhood, at work and in societies. Because the human gains information about the conflict throughout his development. Therefore the methods that deal with the conflict are inherited from the family to the child. Bartos and Wehr (2002) state that the conflict has the same effects on the individual, group and organization. Even if the conflict knowledge is different from each other, they have some common properties. This is explained by the conflict theoreticians such as Bartos and Wehr (2002), Durkheim, Marx, Weber and Simmel. Bartos and Wehr (2002) first transform these theoretical assumptions to basic causal propositions and then to diagrams. They describe the possible reasons for the conflict behaviour in order to describe why the conflicts happen. There are six main reasons for conflict behaviour: incompatible goals, solidarity, organization, mobilization of conflict resources, hostility to the opponent and having effective resources. According to Bartos and Wehr (2002) the conflict behaviour can be regarded as a set of categories and process. There are two types of conflict behaviour: compulsive and non-compulsive. Non-compulsive conflict behaviour includes cooperation, rewarding and persuasion. On the other hand, compulsory conflict behaviour includes the threat of compulsion, violent compulsion and non-violent compulsion.

World Health Organization defines young people as the people whose age ranges from 15 to 24 (WHO, 1993).  Turkish population is known to be one of the youngest populations in the European Region due to the high birth rate (1.7%), but old age is also getting a problem especially in the urban areas of Turkey.  Therefore it would not be wrong to say that the research about the relationship between old people and young people is crucial one for Turkey. Furthermore, increasing number of Turkish women has started to work in the labour market and this is resulted in the decrease in the size of families. Insufficient budgets and financial difficulties along with rapid changes in the traditional values make old people hard to live together constantly with their children, which mostly have the nuclear family form. Thus, as far as living space is concerned, there also exists discrimination between young and old people.

The aim of this paper is to discussed on 'old-age' from the youth's point of view. The primary concern of this paper is to inquire the relations between youth's socio-demographic characteristics and their attitudes toward old age and elderly people.

In this study, in the first instance the existence of incompatible goals has been identified.in intergenerational relations.  Furthermore the existence of non-compulsive behaviour between the young and old people is investigated and it is also examined that whether the persuasion method has been applied.

As discussed in the "Lost Model", one of the most important assumption of this study is, as their age increase, aged' s  power and statute decreases in the society similar to the unemployed who have lost their work (Nettelton,2002) and this might result in conflict too. Besides generational conflict is a crucial fact in all societies (Turner, 1998) rather than cooperation (Irvin, 1996).

The data were collected in Dikmen Youth Center of Ankara Municipality in 2004 as part of the comprehensive youth research of Ankara University Faculty of Letters. There are five youth centres, namely Sincan, Altindağ, Eryaman, Mamak and Dikmen belong to Ankara Municipality. According to the principles of cluster sampling, Dikmen Youth Centre has chosen randomly as a cluster which represents youth between the ages of 15-24 who are the members of youth centre activities.

Taking into account the differences between gender, educational and socio-economic characteristics, participants  were selected from the list provided by Directorate of the Dikmen Youth Centre. 

Sample size was 100 young persons (47 female and 53 male) and the response rate   was 95%. During the cultural activities, respondents   voluntarily answered the questionnaires in line with the directions provided. Researchers informed participants   about the objectives of the study and what their participation would entail. Participants were assured that participation was voluntary and that their answers would remain confidential. During statistical analysis Statistical Package Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) used and findings were discussed based on parametric and non-parametric statistical test results.  

In the non-parametric (Chi-square) statistical analysis gender, living with grandmother and/or grandfather have been regarded as independent variables. The dependent variables were included in the regression analysis to describe socialization and social distance. Furthermore, the number of siblings, living with grandmother and/or grandfather as independent variables in the regression analysis was used to examine the effects of the structure and size of the family. The data in the questionnaires were entered to the data coding module of SBSS 10 software. Chi-square testing and regression analysis have been used in statistical analysis.

The findings of the study are presented under three headings: "Conception of Old Age: Is Old Age a Risk?", "Presence of Conflict" and "Management of Conflict". Under these headings, it is generally stressed how the young conceive old age, whether there is a conflict between the old and the young and how an apparent conflict is managed.

The section 'Conception of Old Age: Is Old Age a Risk?' is composed of inquiry questions prepared in the light of Anthony Gidden's risk conceptualization. The section 'Presence of Conflict' is prepared by making use of Bartos and Wehr's definition of conflict, and the section 'Management of Conflict' is prepared by making use of Susan Goldstein's scale of  Conflict  Management Inventory (www.campus-adr.org/CR_Services_Cntr/Evaluation_Tools/mod1_5.html)

In order to discuss youth's attitudes toward elderly people, first their socio-demographic characteristics are given. Most of the participants (%82) of the sample are students.  47.6% of the students are in high schools and 37.8% are in college. 80% of the young people who were given the questionnaire were members of the families having two or three children. It is noticeable that the education levels of more half of the mothers (69%) are restricted to primary and secondary school levels. 57% of fathers have an education level of secondary and high school levels. The findings show that the education levels of the fathers are higher than the mothers. 16% of the sample states that they live with their grandmothers and/or grandfathers in the same house while 71% states that they live separately. The ratio of the people, who state that they sometimes live in the same house, is 13%. This 13% ratio could be interpreted as the extension of caring the old periodically among his/her children, which is one of the solutions to caring the old in Turkey.

Conception of Old Age: Is Old Age a Risk?

According to the regression results given in Table 1, "father's education", "having alive grandparents" and  "the frequency of meeting with grandparents living in the same city", which are two of the independent variables have a statistically significant  effect on  "not being able to predict how to experience the old age". 68% of the sample state that they cannot predict how they will experience their old ages. This ratio for the ones whose fathers are illiterate is 50% while for the ones whose fathers are primary school graduates is 81.8%, for the ones whose fathers are secondary school graduates is 58.6%, for the ones whose fathers are high school graduates is 64.2% and for the ones whose fathers are college graduates is 72.2% (Chi-square= 10,507,    Df=10     p > .397).

Findings given in Table 1 revealed that "having alive grandfathers and grandmothers", which is an independent variable studied has a statistically significant effect on "not being able to predict how to experience the old age".  63% of the sample state that they fear they will suffer in their old ages. This ratio is 62.2% for the ones whose grandfathers and /or grandmothers are alive and it is 100% for the ones whose grandfathers and /or grandmothers are not alive (Chi-square= 1.603,    Df: 2      p > 0.449).

In terms of the frequency of meeting grandfathers and/or grand others living in the same city, the ratios are as follows: meeting every day 75%, meeting several times a week 60%, meeting several times a month 72.2%, meeting several times a year 60% and meeting once a year 50% (Chi-square= 4.458    Df=10,     p > .924).

The results in accordance  with interpretation of Giddens (2002), which he made upon the relation between manufactured risks and social relationships and states that the individuals feel like they cannot know what to do and where to go as the traditional ways begin to corrupt.

The anxiety of suffering in the old age of the sample has been studied. More than half of the young people (63%) state that they fear they will suffer in their old ages (Chi-square= 0,574    Df:2, p > 0.751). When gender difference is considered, the ratio does not make a big difference though girls are a bit more.

When the social security system in Turkey is considered, members of SSK(Social Security Institution for Blue Coloured Workers)  is 45.60%, members of Bağ-Kur( Social Security Institution for Independent Workers) is 22.25%, members of Emekli Sandığı (Social Security Institution for State Workers) is 20,72%  and members of is private institutions is 0.47%. The ratio of the ones who are not a member of any social security service is 10.96% (http://www.isguc.org/arc_view.php?ex=219). 

Although the ones who are not a member of any social security service is about 10% of all Turkey according to the statistics given above, more than half of the sample states that they will suffer in their old ages. For the explanations of the reasons are the problems of social security services and the risk definition of Giddens (1991;2002) that things may not go well as a part of  modern cultural experience.

The attitudes towards taking some precautions to be secure in the old age is studied according to the gender of the young people participated the inquiry. 95.75% of the females of the sample state that they agree with the necessity of taking some precautions to be secure in the old age. The ratio for the male participants is 88.7%. Considering the sample as a whole, the ratio is 92% (Chi-square=4.148,   Df= 2 ,    p > 0.126).

Today, the concept of "being in security" in the era of risk society has gained importance. It is said that the contemporary individual is under a severe or high risks, causing him/her not to feel secure completely (Castel, 2000). Almost all of the sample state that they agree with the proposition that precautions should be taken to be secure in the old age.

Presence of Conflict

According to the regression results given in Table 1, "being a student" and "the frequency of living with grandparents in the same city", which are two independent variables studied have a statistically significant effect on the attitude of "living in a country where the old are the majority". Only 7% of the sample states that they prefer to live in a country where the old are majority. The ratio is 7.5% for the ones who are students and decreases to 5% for those who are not students (Chi-square= 7.565,   Df=10,  p > .671).

The attitude of the young and the old having incompatible goals is studied, considering the sample?s living in the same house with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers.  68.8% of the young living in the same house with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers and 84.5% of the young who do not live with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers state that they totally or quite agree that young and the old have incompatible goals. 76.9% of the young who sometimes live in the same house with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers state that they totally or quite agree that young and the old have incompatible goals. Although the difference is not very high, it could be interpreted that   direct experience has positive   effects on the attitudes of youth toward elderly people (Chi-square=2.921,  Df= 4,   p > 0.571).

The attempts of the old to persuade the young to behave as they do are studied by the sample?s living in the same house with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers. 81.3% of the young living in the same house with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers and 74.6% of the young who do not live with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers agree that the old try to persuade the young to behave as they do. The ratio is 84.7% for those who sometimes live in the same house with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers (Chi-square=0.999   Df= 4 p > 0.910).

Conflict Management

The distribution of embarrassment after taking up a quarrel with the family members especially if it is heard by the others is studied considering the genders of the sample. When they are asked if they get embarrassed if the quarrel with their family members is heard, 36.1% of the girls state that they totally disagree, disagree, and quite disagree while the ratio for the boys is 41.5%. The ratio for the neutrals is only 4.3% for the girls and 13.2% for the boys. (Chi-square=8.233,  Df= 6 ,  p > 0.222).

The distribution of feeling pleased when they are asked their opinions after the quarrels with their grandparents is studied considering the genders of the young participated t he inquiry. 91.57% of the girls and 79.22% of the boys state that they will be pleased if they are asked their opinions after the quarrels with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers (Chi-square=7.476,     Df= 6,    p > 0.279)

Majority of the young people (68%) participated to the inquiry state that they cannot predict how they will experience their old ages, 63% state that they worry about suffering in the old ages, 92% state that some precautions should be taken to be secure in the old ages. It is seen that these attitudes do not differ much in terms of gender.

The findings show that the risk perception, strictly connected to the uncertainty thought, has an effect on the young?s judgments of old age. It may also be interpreted that the concept of insurance, which has developed as an extension of this thought and works for the individuals? feeling secure rather than being in secure, has been accepted by a vast majority. 69% of the sample states that they do not want to live in a country where the old are the majority. 81% agrees that the young and the old have incompatible goals, 77% agrees that the old try to persuade the young to behave as they do. This distribution does not show a difference derived from living in the same house with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers and difference of gender. That the presence of incompatible goals, which is one of the main factors of conflict, is widely accepted by the young verifies the presence of conflict between the young and the old as discussed by Turner (1998).

The reasons of conflict for the goal dissonance, which are expressed as competing sources, dissonant roles and dissonant values, may help the conflict exist for a long time without letting it out; if extra factors prevail, it may change the phase and turn the conflict into an open conflict (Bartos and Wehr, 2004:14). Not wanting to live in a country where the old are the majority may be interpreted as a hidden conflict. 52% of the young participated in the inquiry state that they feel embarrassed when the quarrels with the family members are heard. 64% of the sample feels pleased when they are asked their opinions after the quarrels with their grandfathers and/or grandmothers.  As Giddens (1998) states, there must be a higher dialogue between the people for many close relationships to continue successfully. The problems caused by a cosmopolitan culture are solved in two ways: with violence or with dialogue. The young and the old should meet often and have dialogues and they should share a more social life. The meetings of the young and the old should not be limited to visits home. Social projects should be planned in which the young and the old work together in order to change the present negative information, attitude and behaviour of the young about the old age. Moreover, the relationship between the young and the old should not be limited to relatives; multipurpose centres have to be established in which the needy old and the needy young might come together. Social relation webs should be formed for the old and there should be places for the young in all these webs. Educational activities should be organized with the help of the informative media means in order to annihilate the present negative information, attitude and behaviour about the old age within the society.

 Finally as discussed by Riley (1987) age is and should be significant in sociology and sociologists should be more considered  to make contributions to this field with keeping in mind  that aging is a matter of structure and  societies are aging as well as individuals(Turner,1998; Hagestad,1999). Studies emphasizing the close relations between biographical time and historical context which is well exemplified in Glen Elder?s work (cited in Hagestad, 1999:516) are very important and promising for the future sociological studies of aging and life course.

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