Between Solidarity and Subsidiarity: Elder Care, Legal Responsibility, And Work–Life Balance in An Aging Hungary

Abstract

Hungary is facing an increasingly acute eldercare challenge driven by rapid demographic aging, persistent socioeconomic vulnerability, and shifting legal responsibilities. This article examines the contemporary 'duty to care' through a socio-legal lens, focusing on the interaction between law, social policy, solidarity, and work–life balance. Using qualitative and normative legal analysis combined with interpretative policy review, the study analyses Hungarian constitutional and statutory frameworks alongside demographic data and social service trends. The findings reveal a structural contradiction: while care needs are expanding, public support mechanisms – pensions, care allowances, and community-based services –remain inadequate in real terms, and responsibility is increasingly shifted onto families. These rebalancing places disproportionate pressure on informal caregivers and intensifies conflicts between employment and caregiving obligations. The article argues that without a strengthened, operationalized concept of solidarity – embedded in legal guarantees, integrated care services, and supportive employment policies – the current framework risks deepening social exclusion, gender inequality, and intergenerational injustice in an aging Hungarian society.