Postmodern subjectivity and the rupture of intergenerational reciprocity: old age and indifference

Abstract

The objective of this article is twofold; on the one hand, it aims to offer an interpretation of the subjective bases on which the legitimacy of a relatively recent phenomenon rests: the intergenerational rupture and the consequent indifference towards old age. On the other hand, it proposes to determine whether the new intergenerational relationship represents a stable equilibrium. The method consists of modeling the parent-child relationship in a game theory scheme, based on two preference orderings: traditional-modern subjectivity and postmodern subjectivity. The main result is that postmodernity breaks the conditional balances of tradition-modernity and, in doing so, provokes a new type of equilibrium that maximizes the joint welfare of young people and older adults, but redistributes it inequitably: in favor of the young and to the detriment of the old.

Keywords: subjectivities, postmodernity, broken reciprocity, old age, indifference