Tony Warnes and Judith Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861348906
- eISBN:
- 9781447302001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861348906.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
This chapter reviews progress in critical gerontology from a British perspective. Drawing on an examination of the first 25 years of the journal Ageing and Society, together with a case study of the ...
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This chapter reviews progress in critical gerontology from a British perspective. Drawing on an examination of the first 25 years of the journal Ageing and Society, together with a case study of the interaction between the members and officials of the Welsh Assembly and gerontological advisers, the chapter clarifies who the variety of interest groups now are in the gerontological enterprise; how gerontology has grown and expanded; and what the strengths and weaknesses of current research are. A number of important challenges for gerontology and gerontologists include the paucity of theoretical development in gerontology; the persistent tension for gerontologists about whether to commit to gerontology or to their base discipline or research field; and the often difficult relationship between research and policy formulation and the dominance of biomedical and problem-oriented perspectives.Less
This chapter reviews progress in critical gerontology from a British perspective. Drawing on an examination of the first 25 years of the journal Ageing and Society, together with a case study of the interaction between the members and officials of the Welsh Assembly and gerontological advisers, the chapter clarifies who the variety of interest groups now are in the gerontological enterprise; how gerontology has grown and expanded; and what the strengths and weaknesses of current research are. A number of important challenges for gerontology and gerontologists include the paucity of theoretical development in gerontology; the persistent tension for gerontologists about whether to commit to gerontology or to their base discipline or research field; and the often difficult relationship between research and policy formulation and the dominance of biomedical and problem-oriented perspectives.
Chris Phillipson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847427151
- eISBN:
- 9781447302353
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847427151.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
This chapter assesses Peter's role as the founder in the UK of the sociology of ageing and his influence on the development of critical gerontology. It notes that the article published in the first ...
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This chapter assesses Peter's role as the founder in the UK of the sociology of ageing and his influence on the development of critical gerontology. It notes that the article published in the first issue of Ageing and Society in 1981 represented a systematic attempt to provide a new theoretical framework for the study of ageing. It notes that Peter sought to shift the debate from individual approaches to the social processes that led to the structured dependency of people in later life. It then goes on to consider three major issues for structured dependency theory and critical gerontology more generally: the transformation of retirement; the impact of privatisation and deregulation; and finally, the influence of globalisation. It makes a powerful case for a break with the past and for research and policy on older people to be central to wider debates within social policy, sociology and political science, in the overall.Less
This chapter assesses Peter's role as the founder in the UK of the sociology of ageing and his influence on the development of critical gerontology. It notes that the article published in the first issue of Ageing and Society in 1981 represented a systematic attempt to provide a new theoretical framework for the study of ageing. It notes that Peter sought to shift the debate from individual approaches to the social processes that led to the structured dependency of people in later life. It then goes on to consider three major issues for structured dependency theory and critical gerontology more generally: the transformation of retirement; the impact of privatisation and deregulation; and finally, the influence of globalisation. It makes a powerful case for a break with the past and for research and policy on older people to be central to wider debates within social policy, sociology and political science, in the overall.
Miriam Bernard and Thomas Scharf
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861348906
- eISBN:
- 9781447302001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861348906.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
It is an interest in ageing with explicit critical gerontological focus that provides a unique set of understandings about ageing and later life in the 21st century. This chapter describes critical ...
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It is an interest in ageing with explicit critical gerontological focus that provides a unique set of understandings about ageing and later life in the 21st century. This chapter describes critical perspectives on ageing societies. Close scholarly analysis of policies affecting the lives of older people offer challenges to gerontologists and ageing individuals. In addition to the life course orientation, other themes thread their way throughout this book. This chapter notes three particular themes and sets of commitments that stand out in all these explorations. First, all the contributors in the book are committed to illuminating and extending the critical gerontological approach conceptually, methodologically and practically. Second, they are all committed to the importance of research and to the full and proper involvement and participation of older people. Third, they demonstrate an engagement with the ‘passionate scholarship’ which, at heart, aims to bring about change.Less
It is an interest in ageing with explicit critical gerontological focus that provides a unique set of understandings about ageing and later life in the 21st century. This chapter describes critical perspectives on ageing societies. Close scholarly analysis of policies affecting the lives of older people offer challenges to gerontologists and ageing individuals. In addition to the life course orientation, other themes thread their way throughout this book. This chapter notes three particular themes and sets of commitments that stand out in all these explorations. First, all the contributors in the book are committed to illuminating and extending the critical gerontological approach conceptually, methodologically and practically. Second, they are all committed to the importance of research and to the full and proper involvement and participation of older people. Third, they demonstrate an engagement with the ‘passionate scholarship’ which, at heart, aims to bring about change.
Ruth E. Ray
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861348906
- eISBN:
- 9781447302001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861348906.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
Drawing on ethnographic studies with older adults, as well as the work of feminists from different disciplines, this chapter presents a compelling argument for the need for ‘age research’ to include ...
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Drawing on ethnographic studies with older adults, as well as the work of feminists from different disciplines, this chapter presents a compelling argument for the need for ‘age research’ to include the researcher him/herself as a subject of observation, analysis and critique. Couched firmly within a critical gerontology perspective and the ‘passionate scholarship’ endorsed in this book, this chapter discusses the relationship between personal and social transformation and describes ethnographic methods that gerontological scholars might use to reflect on their position as researchers, their relationship to older adults, the ethics of their research practices, and the value of their studies beyond academe.Less
Drawing on ethnographic studies with older adults, as well as the work of feminists from different disciplines, this chapter presents a compelling argument for the need for ‘age research’ to include the researcher him/herself as a subject of observation, analysis and critique. Couched firmly within a critical gerontology perspective and the ‘passionate scholarship’ endorsed in this book, this chapter discusses the relationship between personal and social transformation and describes ethnographic methods that gerontological scholars might use to reflect on their position as researchers, their relationship to older adults, the ethics of their research practices, and the value of their studies beyond academe.
Jan Baars and Chris Phillipson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781447300908
- eISBN:
- 9781447307822
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447300908.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
This chapter introduces the issue that will be discussed in the chapters of the volume: the interrelationship between critical and humanistic gerontology. The volume prepares the common ground for ...
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This chapter introduces the issue that will be discussed in the chapters of the volume: the interrelationship between critical and humanistic gerontology. The volume prepares the common ground for these two paradigms that have developed separately with each drawing on their own traditional resources. The purpose of this volume is to explore the extent to which they presuppose and complement each other: as structural analysis and articulations of interpersonal meanings in old age.Less
This chapter introduces the issue that will be discussed in the chapters of the volume: the interrelationship between critical and humanistic gerontology. The volume prepares the common ground for these two paradigms that have developed separately with each drawing on their own traditional resources. The purpose of this volume is to explore the extent to which they presuppose and complement each other: as structural analysis and articulations of interpersonal meanings in old age.
Jan Baars, Joseph Dohmen, Amanda Grenier, and Chris Phillipson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781447300908
- eISBN:
- 9781447307822
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447300908.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
The volume discusses the interrelationship between critical and humanistic gerontology. It prepares the common ground for these two paradigms that have developed separately with each drawing on their ...
More
The volume discusses the interrelationship between critical and humanistic gerontology. It prepares the common ground for these two paradigms that have developed separately with each drawing on their own traditional resources. The purpose of this volume is to explore the extent to which they presuppose and complement each other: as structural analysis and articulations of interpersonal meanings in later life. This general theme is explored with a changing focus on specific themes, such as globalization, the post-traditional society, autonomy and interdependence; interpersonal meanings in ageing, agency and the fourth age; dementia, spirituality and self development; autonomy and social isolation; social work with older people and participatory action research. The volume is completed by a critical commentary on some of its main themes.Less
The volume discusses the interrelationship between critical and humanistic gerontology. It prepares the common ground for these two paradigms that have developed separately with each drawing on their own traditional resources. The purpose of this volume is to explore the extent to which they presuppose and complement each other: as structural analysis and articulations of interpersonal meanings in later life. This general theme is explored with a changing focus on specific themes, such as globalization, the post-traditional society, autonomy and interdependence; interpersonal meanings in ageing, agency and the fourth age; dementia, spirituality and self development; autonomy and social isolation; social work with older people and participatory action research. The volume is completed by a critical commentary on some of its main themes.
Marvin Formosa and Paul Higgs
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781447300588
- eISBN:
- 9781447310945
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447300588.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
Social class in Later Life: Power, Identity and Lifestyle advances contemporary debates on class dynamics in later life. Focusing attention on various spheres of class analysis, it provides the most ...
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Social class in Later Life: Power, Identity and Lifestyle advances contemporary debates on class dynamics in later life. Focusing attention on various spheres of class analysis, it provides the most up-to-date collection of emerging research relevant to the relationship between class, culture, and ageing. The book develops an empirical understanding of the interface between social class and later life, with chapters presenting data which demonstrate an inverse relationship between class background and various forms of capital. Social Class in Later Life addresses the paradox that, while many retirees have benefited from the structures and stability of a first modernity, their current circumstances are much more contingent on what Beck calls the ‘side effect principle’, where decisions that affect their situations and opportunities are often the consequences of structures placed well outside their individual agency. Indeed, the coming of late capitalism did not result in the end of traditional forms of inequalities, but only a growth of new inequalities alongside the continuation of traditional social divisions. Chapters highlight how lifelong class dynamics have major implications for ageing policies, and that rather than calling for the class concept to be written off as an artefact of a superseded form of social organisation, it is more sensible that sociologists and gerontologists alike perceive it as a social category in need of considerable re-articulation.Less
Social class in Later Life: Power, Identity and Lifestyle advances contemporary debates on class dynamics in later life. Focusing attention on various spheres of class analysis, it provides the most up-to-date collection of emerging research relevant to the relationship between class, culture, and ageing. The book develops an empirical understanding of the interface between social class and later life, with chapters presenting data which demonstrate an inverse relationship between class background and various forms of capital. Social Class in Later Life addresses the paradox that, while many retirees have benefited from the structures and stability of a first modernity, their current circumstances are much more contingent on what Beck calls the ‘side effect principle’, where decisions that affect their situations and opportunities are often the consequences of structures placed well outside their individual agency. Indeed, the coming of late capitalism did not result in the end of traditional forms of inequalities, but only a growth of new inequalities alongside the continuation of traditional social divisions. Chapters highlight how lifelong class dynamics have major implications for ageing policies, and that rather than calling for the class concept to be written off as an artefact of a superseded form of social organisation, it is more sensible that sociologists and gerontologists alike perceive it as a social category in need of considerable re-articulation.
Marvin Formosa and Paul Higgs
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781447300588
- eISBN:
- 9781447310945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447300588.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
Social class is a critical factor influencing how people experience later life, and, in particular, the quality of lives they lead. Nevertheless, the sociology of class is firmly located in, and ...
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Social class is a critical factor influencing how people experience later life, and, in particular, the quality of lives they lead. Nevertheless, the sociology of class is firmly located in, and around, the younger and adult ‘territories’ of the life course. Although lip-service is frequently paid to ‘age’ as one of a number of bases of stratification, older people remain excluded from sociological studies of class. When necessary, the class position of older persons is commonly located through their final occupations before retirement. Whilst this strategy may have been valid in the past when most individuals died either before or soon after statutory retirement age, nowadays it is surely limiting to assume that the class career terminates with the onset of retirement, considering that the latter normally signals the start a phase of life characterised by increasing levels of leisure participation and identity reframing. There is no doubt that the expansion of critical gerontology to encompass globalisation, the de-institutionalisation of the life course, and the emergence of a consumer-driven are all highly welcome. Yet, the significance of class in retirement is still a topic that needs addressing.Less
Social class is a critical factor influencing how people experience later life, and, in particular, the quality of lives they lead. Nevertheless, the sociology of class is firmly located in, and around, the younger and adult ‘territories’ of the life course. Although lip-service is frequently paid to ‘age’ as one of a number of bases of stratification, older people remain excluded from sociological studies of class. When necessary, the class position of older persons is commonly located through their final occupations before retirement. Whilst this strategy may have been valid in the past when most individuals died either before or soon after statutory retirement age, nowadays it is surely limiting to assume that the class career terminates with the onset of retirement, considering that the latter normally signals the start a phase of life characterised by increasing levels of leisure participation and identity reframing. There is no doubt that the expansion of critical gerontology to encompass globalisation, the de-institutionalisation of the life course, and the emergence of a consumer-driven are all highly welcome. Yet, the significance of class in retirement is still a topic that needs addressing.
Stephen Katz
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447335917
- eISBN:
- 9781447335955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447335917.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
This chapter introduces the book and the historical background of and current relationship between ageing and everyday studies. It reviews relevant literature leading up to the explanation of the ...
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This chapter introduces the book and the historical background of and current relationship between ageing and everyday studies. It reviews relevant literature leading up to the explanation of the book’s organization on materialities and embodiments and outlines how the book’s chapters address and innovate research in the authors’ respective areas. The introduction claims everyday ageing, with its roots in sociology, is today an expansive interdisciplinary field that includes cultural studies, the Humanities, media and cinema, spatial and consumer fields, and health and technology areas, which in their combination emphasize the extent to which experience and identity for older people are represented, mediated and activated in local contexts.Less
This chapter introduces the book and the historical background of and current relationship between ageing and everyday studies. It reviews relevant literature leading up to the explanation of the book’s organization on materialities and embodiments and outlines how the book’s chapters address and innovate research in the authors’ respective areas. The introduction claims everyday ageing, with its roots in sociology, is today an expansive interdisciplinary field that includes cultural studies, the Humanities, media and cinema, spatial and consumer fields, and health and technology areas, which in their combination emphasize the extent to which experience and identity for older people are represented, mediated and activated in local contexts.
Stephen Katz (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447335917
- eISBN:
- 9781447335955
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447335917.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
This book is a timely collection of interdisciplinary and critical chapters about the fields of ageing studies and the sociology of everyday life as broadly conceived to explore the meaningful ...
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This book is a timely collection of interdisciplinary and critical chapters about the fields of ageing studies and the sociology of everyday life as broadly conceived to explore the meaningful connections between subjective lives and social worlds in later life. The scope of the writing expands beyond traditional approaches in these fields to engage with cross-cultural, feminist, spatial, ethnographic, technological, cinematic, new media and arts research. Readers will find the detailed attention to everyday experiences, places, biographies, images, routines, intimacies and temporalities illuminating, while appreciating the wider critiques of ageism and exclusion that inform each chapter. The book also contributes to the growing international area of ‘critical gerontology’ by comprising two parts on ‘materialities’ and ‘embodiments’, foci that emphasize the material and embodied contexts that shape the experiences of ageing. The chapters on ‘materialities’ investigate things, possessions, homes, technologies, environments, and their representations, while the complementary chapters on ‘embodiments’ examine living spaces, clothing, care practices, mobility, touch, gender and sexuality, and health and lifestyle regimes. Overall, in both its parts the book contests the dominant cultural narratives of vulnerability, frailty and disability that dominate ageing societies today and offers in their place the resourceful potential of local and lived spheres of agency, citizenship, humanity and capability.Less
This book is a timely collection of interdisciplinary and critical chapters about the fields of ageing studies and the sociology of everyday life as broadly conceived to explore the meaningful connections between subjective lives and social worlds in later life. The scope of the writing expands beyond traditional approaches in these fields to engage with cross-cultural, feminist, spatial, ethnographic, technological, cinematic, new media and arts research. Readers will find the detailed attention to everyday experiences, places, biographies, images, routines, intimacies and temporalities illuminating, while appreciating the wider critiques of ageism and exclusion that inform each chapter. The book also contributes to the growing international area of ‘critical gerontology’ by comprising two parts on ‘materialities’ and ‘embodiments’, foci that emphasize the material and embodied contexts that shape the experiences of ageing. The chapters on ‘materialities’ investigate things, possessions, homes, technologies, environments, and their representations, while the complementary chapters on ‘embodiments’ examine living spaces, clothing, care practices, mobility, touch, gender and sexuality, and health and lifestyle regimes. Overall, in both its parts the book contests the dominant cultural narratives of vulnerability, frailty and disability that dominate ageing societies today and offers in their place the resourceful potential of local and lived spheres of agency, citizenship, humanity and capability.
Suzanne Cahill
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781447331377
- eISBN:
- 9781447331391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447331377.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
This chapter provides an introduction to the topic of human rights and dementia. It briefly traces the history of the human rights movement and discusses the significance of the UN Declaration on ...
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This chapter provides an introduction to the topic of human rights and dementia. It briefly traces the history of the human rights movement and discusses the significance of the UN Declaration on Human Rights (1948) and how the latter has helped shape other human rights treaties including the UN Convention on the rights of people with disabilities. The latter is a tool which will be used as a compass for analysis throughout the book. The chapter differentiates between human rights and human needs. It critically reviews negative and positive rights in the context of people living with dementia and describes the three generation of rights all people possess by virtue of being human. It argues for the application of a rights based framework to be used by practitioners in dementia care and points to the usefulness of using a social justice /rights based lens to interrogate dementia, extend the contemporary debate and ultimately attempt to improve quality of life and quality of care for all those living with dementia. The main aim of the book, the critical perspectives informing it and some of its distinctive features are highlighted.Less
This chapter provides an introduction to the topic of human rights and dementia. It briefly traces the history of the human rights movement and discusses the significance of the UN Declaration on Human Rights (1948) and how the latter has helped shape other human rights treaties including the UN Convention on the rights of people with disabilities. The latter is a tool which will be used as a compass for analysis throughout the book. The chapter differentiates between human rights and human needs. It critically reviews negative and positive rights in the context of people living with dementia and describes the three generation of rights all people possess by virtue of being human. It argues for the application of a rights based framework to be used by practitioners in dementia care and points to the usefulness of using a social justice /rights based lens to interrogate dementia, extend the contemporary debate and ultimately attempt to improve quality of life and quality of care for all those living with dementia. The main aim of the book, the critical perspectives informing it and some of its distinctive features are highlighted.
Harry R. Moody
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861348906
- eISBN:
- 9781447302001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861348906.003.0009
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
Picking up the issues raised about critical gerontology in general, this chapter explores these issues from a North American vantage point: highlighting how anxiety about population ageing arises ...
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Picking up the issues raised about critical gerontology in general, this chapter explores these issues from a North American vantage point: highlighting how anxiety about population ageing arises most prominently at times when the fate of future generations appears to be at risk. It draws on historical, environmental and philosophical arguments to show how a focus on justice between generations is ‘an idea that will not go away’ and how it can illuminate the policy choices faced by ageing societies during the 21st century. The wide-ranging historical review concludes by proposing a greater attention to the ‘late freedom’ of old age as a model for generativity and concern for the welfare of future generations around the world.Less
Picking up the issues raised about critical gerontology in general, this chapter explores these issues from a North American vantage point: highlighting how anxiety about population ageing arises most prominently at times when the fate of future generations appears to be at risk. It draws on historical, environmental and philosophical arguments to show how a focus on justice between generations is ‘an idea that will not go away’ and how it can illuminate the policy choices faced by ageing societies during the 21st century. The wide-ranging historical review concludes by proposing a greater attention to the ‘late freedom’ of old age as a model for generativity and concern for the welfare of future generations around the world.
Kim Sawchuk
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447335917
- eISBN:
- 9781447335955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447335917.003.0012
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
This chapter reviews the contributions of the book’s research to critical ageing studies, along with identifying key questions for further research.
This chapter reviews the contributions of the book’s research to critical ageing studies, along with identifying key questions for further research.
Paul Higgs and Marvin Formosa
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781447300588
- eISBN:
- 9781447310945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447300588.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
The view that social class in old age was an epiphenomenon of earlier points in the life course has become less tenable as an explanation of class relationships in the retired population. The ...
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The view that social class in old age was an epiphenomenon of earlier points in the life course has become less tenable as an explanation of class relationships in the retired population. The connections between consumption, lifestyle and class identity that have made simple inferences of class membership more difficult to assert are multiplied in later life. It could be argued that the nature of post-working life lifestyles and consumption are more defining of the statuses of retired people than their class identities. Although participation in leisure may be more structured by previous opportunities which reflect more closely occupational class, it is still difficult to see how this constitutes a separate dimension of class rather than resources and dispositions. Much more significant to the discussion of class is that retirement from paid employment has become increasingly contingent in terms of when (or how) it occurs and how it is to be financed. This is not to argue that retirement is free of the influences of the past but rather to accept that notions of early retirement have impacted on when post-working life begins and how much participation in the cultural arena of the third age is possible.Less
The view that social class in old age was an epiphenomenon of earlier points in the life course has become less tenable as an explanation of class relationships in the retired population. The connections between consumption, lifestyle and class identity that have made simple inferences of class membership more difficult to assert are multiplied in later life. It could be argued that the nature of post-working life lifestyles and consumption are more defining of the statuses of retired people than their class identities. Although participation in leisure may be more structured by previous opportunities which reflect more closely occupational class, it is still difficult to see how this constitutes a separate dimension of class rather than resources and dispositions. Much more significant to the discussion of class is that retirement from paid employment has become increasingly contingent in terms of when (or how) it occurs and how it is to be financed. This is not to argue that retirement is free of the influences of the past but rather to accept that notions of early retirement have impacted on when post-working life begins and how much participation in the cultural arena of the third age is possible.
