In the Federal Republic of Germany, a welfare state, the elderly profit from social security measures to a lesser extent than does the rest of the population. As of yet, the older population has had very little importance in the political arena. Many policy outcomes directly affecting the living conditions of the older population are uncontrolled side-effects of policies with quite other aims and orientations. Social security in Germany remains selective, targeted towards groups in society deemed to be in need of security provisions. It stems from an ideology of self-help, self-responsibility organized on the basis of self-organization and self-government. Health insurance and old age pensions insurance are constructed according to the interests of the working population, not the elderly. Old age policy can be taken to cover political action directed at the social production of new generations of elderly; pensioning age today lies between the ages of 57 and 58. The elderly today are no longer a negligible entity in society. New policy designs that counteract the negative side effects of aging include a positive image of old age, participation by the elderly in political activities, self-help and other activities which demonstrate the elderly's importance, and the elderly as a reservoir of voluntary work. With a willingness to see the brighter aspects of aging, a compensatory old age policy is beginning. (ABL)