A family can be seen as an economic reproduction unit: parents take care of their children and of the elderly, and will be in turn be taken care of by the new generation. Nowadays, with the splitting of families - in the US only 26% of households have both parents and children -, the reduction of the public social support policies and the privatization of social services, it is the very process of surplus redistribution between generations that has become more fragile. The economic process helps us understand the broader impacts such as the tension between generations, the reduction of sociability, and the growing feel ing of anguish that is stressing society. The non-productive phase of childhood and youth, as well as of the elderly, is becoming much longer. Gone is the time when a ten year old child would work with his father in the fields, or when parents passed away by the time their children reached maturity. The challenges are economic, but also social and cultural, particularly in big urban centers. The very basis of economic reproduction of society is changing.
family; social reproduction; social policies; youth; old age
