The dominant paradigm in social gerontology both in the west and in the underdeveloped countries has been descriptive and prescriptive rather than analytical. It has tended to treat the plight of the elderly people as ineluctable and arising from chronological age; and the social context of their fate has never been the focus of analysis. The purpose of this article is to provide an alternative theoretical perspective towards understanding the social problems of the elderly people in the underdeveloped countries. To this end, a socio-historical perspective is suggested. It is hereby argued that the undermining by colonialism of the erstwhile kinship relations which used to be the bedrock of the security system in the olden times, and the imposition of the new commodity relations in their place--have wrought unprecedented upheaval in the social fabric of these societies. Hence, the plight of the elderly people need to be understood within the context of the deleterious effects of these new relations.
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