Social Protection in Germany : Is there a Growing Intergenerational Inequity ?

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Auteur : SACKMANN, Reinhold, Enseignant-chercheur à l’Université Martin Luther, Halle/Saale (Allemagne)
The article focuses on institutionalized generational relations, i.e. anonymous relations, because social tensions rose in this area whereas personal generational relations got better during the last decades. It is shown that esp. in the German retirement policy decades of early retirement policy resulted non-intentionally in the mid 1990s in a major financial and legitimacy crisis that was characterised by rising generational inequity. Reforms during the last decade, in part inspired by a generational equity debate, resulted in effective measures countering the financial crisis. Generational imbalances within labor market law and more predictable reforms in pension system are still open for debate. This could be the beginning of a change of the guiding idea of social policy from security to flexicurity.