Older People in Modern Society

Anthea Tinker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317886129
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

Older People in Modern Society is an established classic text in its field and through subsequent editions its reputation and that of its author has grown. In this fourth and renamed edition, Anthea Tinker synthesises and discusses a wide range of literature about older people, drawing from fields such as medicine, sociology and social policy and using primary source material to illustrate the text. She also introduces a number of topics that have attained greater importance since publication of the third edition in 1992, for example, continuing care and the abuse of older people.

PART ONE

The Background

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

This book is intended for students of social policy and administration (now usually referred to by the generic term social policy) and gerontology and for all who are concerned about older people. It is hoped that students on gerontology, social science, medical and nursing courses will find it a useful textbook. Professionals such as social workers, town planners, the medical and allied professions, together with those working for voluntary bodies all share an interest in this relatively new subject.

Social policy is a hybrid subject which owes its origins to the other social sciences. Because it is a synthesis – an interdisciplinary way of studying certain social institutions, problems and processes in society – it can draw on the theory of other disciplines, such as economics, politics and sociology. This brings advantages in looking at a subject from different perspectives. The corollary, however, is the need continually to decide in what depth to consider each aspect. In this book, for example, decisions had continually to be made about how far to explore such issues as the social implications of the family, the medical aspects of health, the architectural aspects of design and the political theories of decision making. Bringing together these aspects, even though not always in great depth, and relating them is the function and the fascination of social policy.

This book also reflects the current state of social policy in another way. The study of the subject has gone on in parallel with the growth of the welfare state, through the expansion and extension of the statutory and voluntary social services. Probably as a result of this, social policy has tended to concentrate on two major facets: a study of social pathology, and an evaluation of provision by the statutory and voluntary services. Until relatively recently policy makers and researchers have paid much less attention to alternative systems of providing care. However, not only does the market (e.g. private health care insurance) have a considerable role to play, but the involvement of family and neighbourly help was, until recently, largely ignored. In the last 25 years more attention has been given to examining the wider possibilities of the supply of social services. Researchers have looked beyond the conventional suppliers of services (statutory and voluntary bodies) to the more ill-defined area of what is provided by family, friends and neighbours.

Like social policy, gerontology – the study of ageing – is a relatively new academic discipline. It is less developed in this country than in the United States, but is beginning to expand. This is partly because there are now more older people in the population than in the middle of the century. Among other reasons are the interest of the commercial sector in the growing number of older people with substantial assets, the involvement of old people themselves and media interest (Tinker 1990). Professionals are increasingly finding that older people form one of the main client groups. Within gerontology, geriatric medicine is well established but has tended to concentrate, as does most medical practice, on the problems which older people have. Research in both the clinical and biological aspects of ageing is more advanced than social gerontology. The latter is described as ‘the study of the ways in which social and cultural factors enter into the ageing process’ (Hendricks and Hendricks 1986: 15). Although social gerontology has been slower to develop, social policy analysts, sociologists, demographers, psychologists, geographers, economists and other social scientists are now displaying more interest and undertaking research.

Older people are particularly interesting to study. Not only are they one of the largest of what are labelled ‘special groups’, but they are also the group to which in due course most of us will belong. Unlike deviant groups such as offenders, older people represent a cross-section of ordinary people whose sole common denominator is their age. Because they are such a large group, and because most people will in time reach old age, it is a matter of self-interest to consider their role in, and contribution to, society as well as their problems and needs.

This book attempts to present some of the evidence about older people in society, neither assuming that they necessarily have the same characteristics as younger age groups, nor assuming that they present no problems. There are widely contrasting images of this group. ‘Senior citizen’ or ‘silly old woman’? Consumers of large amounts of social services, or the proud minority who prefer to suffer cold or poverty and not ask for help? A golden age, or one which is ‘sans everything’? This book is intended to bring together existing evidence about older people and how they live. It is not written from a particular political or other stance and its aim is to give the facts and summarise both research and the views of others. For those who have extended essays or a thesis to prepare it gives ample references and points to other sources of information.

The outline of the book is as follows. Part one provides background material. First a picture is presented of older people giving basic data about who they are. This brings out some of the reasons why they represent one of the most important challenges to social policy. Alongside this demographic background there is a discussion about how society sees ageing. Then follows a review of the literature which shows that what has been written falls into a number of different categories.

Part two seeks to outline the major general developments in policy, first with a broad brush and then in detail for individual services, with a concentration on statutory provision. This is followed by evidence about informal networks of care.

In Part three an assessment is made of the position and status of older people in society. First there is a discussion about the contribution of older people both to their own welfare and to that of others. Then there is an examination of some of the general problems. These include different views of need, variations in services, the evaluation of services, the meaning of community care, economic constraints and issues to do with a mixed economy of welfare. Finally, the topic is considered in perspective. Similarities and differences with other groups, priority for resources, the stresses and compensations for older people in modern society and the implications for professionals are discussed.

Part four comprises the documents which relate to the text.

CHAPTER 2

A profile of older people

Introduction

One of the concerns of social policy is with particular groups. It is important, therefore, that they should be defined with some accuracy. Levels of disability can be measured. Offenders can be categorised by type of crime and by kind of sentence. Ethnic minorities can be divided into groups by country of birth, country of parents’ birth and by the colour of their skin.

In contrast, older people are the whole of a generation who have survived to a certain age. Our Future Selves is the apt title of one book (Roberts 1970). They are not a deviant group or one small special section of the population. They are ordinary people who happen to have reached a particular age. This cannot be emphasised too much, particularly to professionals who are, as a result of their training and experience at work, concerned primarily with the abnormal.

Problems of definition

One definition is those over retirement age, which is usually measured by the age at which a person is eligible for a state pension. In the United Kingdom (UK) this is currently 65 for a man and 60 for a woman; but under recent legislation for equalisation between men and women it will become 65 for both (see also Chapter 5). The European Commission (EC) uses 60 and the United States of America (USA) Bureau of the Census 55. On terminology, a survey of the o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Editor’s preface
• Author’s preface to the fourth edition
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Part One The Background
• Part Two Needs and How They Are Met
• Part Three Assessment
• Part Four Documents
• Bibliography
• Index