Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T00:24:09.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Critical Perspectives on Ageing: New Challenges for Gerontology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Meredith Minkler
Meredith Minkler
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–7360, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Critical gerontology may be seen as evolving along two paths simultaneously, one embracing a broad political economy of ageing framework, and the second emerging from a humanistic orientation. This paper will present and highlight the special contributions of each of these pathways to the understanding of ageing and growing old. Emergent feminist perspectives on ageing, and ‘culturally relevant ways of thinking’ about ageing and diversity will then be presented as complementing and extending critical gerontology. The concept of empowerment will be seen as linking all four of these conceptual approaches, and case studies and examples will be used to illustrate the relevance of these alternative perspectives for better understanding and addressing the problems and challenges facing gerontology in the years ahead.

Keywords

Political economyhumanistic gerontologyempowermentracial/ethnic diversity.
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , July 1996 , pp. 467 - 487
Copyright
Copyright Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abel, E. 1991. Who cares for the elderly? Public policy and the experience of adult daughters. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Achenbaum, A., Jakobi, P. and Kastenbaum, R. 1993. Voices and Visions of Aging: Towards a Critical Gerontology. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 46–63.Google Scholar
Achenbaum, A. 1986. Aging of ‘the first new nation. In Pifer, A. and Bronte, L. (eds.) Our Aging Society: Paradox and Promise. W. W. Norton Co., NY, 15–32.Google Scholar
Angelou, M. 1986. And I Still Rise. Virago Press.Google Scholar
Arber, S. and Ginn, J. 1991. Gender and Later Life. Sage Publications, London.Google Scholar
Archibold, P. G. 1983. An impact of parent-caring on women. Family Relations, 32, 39–45.Google Scholar
Baars, J. 1991. The challenge of critical studies. Journal of Aging Studies, 5, 219–243.Google Scholar
Baines, C, Evans, P. and Neysmith, S. (eds) 1991. Women's Caring: Feminist Perspectives on Social Welfare. McClelland and Stewart, Inc., Toronto.Google Scholar
Becker, M. 1986. The tyranny of health promotion. Public Health Review, 14: 15–23.Google Scholar
Bernard, M. and Meade, K. (eds) 1993. Women Come of Age. Edward Arnold, London.Google Scholar
Blakemore, K. and Boneham, M. 1994. Age, Race and Ethnicity: A Comparative Approach. Open University, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Bond, J. and Coleman, P. 1993. Ageing into the twenty first century. In Bond, J., Coleman, P. and Peace, S., (eds) 1993. Ageing in Society: An Introduction to Social Gerontology. 2nd Edition. Sage Publications, London, 333–350.Google Scholar
Browne, C. 1995. Empowerment in social work practice with older women. Social Work, 40, 358–364.Google Scholar
Burton, L., Dilworth-anderson, P. and Bengtson, V. 1992. Creating culturally relevant ways of thinking about aging and diversity: Theoretical challenges for the 21st century. In Stanford, E. P. and Torres-Gil, F. M. (eds) Diversity: Mew Approaches to Ethnic Minority Aging. Baywood Publishing Co., New York, 129–140.Google Scholar
Cole, T. 1988. The specter of old age: History, politics and culture in an aging America. Tikkun, 3, 14–18 and 93–95.Google Scholar
Cole, T., van Tassel, D. and Kastenbaum, R. (eds) 1992. Handbook of Aging and the Humanities. Springer Publishing Company, New York.Google Scholar
Cole, T., Achenbaum, A., Jakobi, P and Kastenbaum, R. 1993. Voices and Visions of Aging: Towards a Critical Gerontology. Springer Publishing Company, New York.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Social Security. 1981. Growing Older, Cmnd 8173, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Dowd, J. J. and Bengtson, V. L. 1978. Aging in minority populations: An examination of the double jeopardy hypothesis. Journal of Gerontology, 33, 338–55.Google Scholar
Elshtain, J. 1995. Democracy on Trial. Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar
Estes, C. L. 1979. The aging enterprise. Jossey Bass, California.Google Scholar
Estes, C. L. 1991. The new political economy of aging: introduction and critique. In Minkler, M. and Estes, C. L. (eds.) Critical Perspectives on Aging: The Political and Moral Economy of Growing Old. Baywood Publishing Co., Amityville, New York, 19–36.Google Scholar
Estes, C. L., Swan, J. H. and Gerard, L. 1982. Dominant and competing paradigms in gerontology: Toward a political economy of ageing. Ageing and Society, 2 (Part 2): 151–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fahey, C.J. and Holstein, M. 1993. Toward a philosophy of the third age. In Cole, T. R. et al. (eds) Voices and Visions: Toward a Critical Gerontology. New York: Springer Publishing Co., 241–256.Google Scholar
Featherstone, M. and Hepworth, M. 1993. Images of ageing. In Bond, J., Coleman, P. and Peace, S. (eds) 1993. Ageing in Society: An Introduction to Social Gerontology. Sage Publications, London.Google Scholar
French, M. 1986. Beyond Power: On Women, Men And Morals. Abacus, London.Google Scholar
Gibson, R. C. 1991. The subjective retirement of Black Americans. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 46, S204–S209.Google Scholar
Goodin, R. E. 1985. Protecting the Vulnerable. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Guillemard, A. M. 1986. Old Age and the Welfare State. Sage Publishing Company, California.Google Scholar
Holstein, M. 1994. Taking next steps: Gerontological education, research, and the literary imagination. The Gerontologist, 34, 822–827.Google Scholar
Holstein, M. Personal communication, 16 06 1995.Google Scholar
Jackson, J., Kolody, B. and Wood, J. L. 1982. To be old and black: The case for double jeopardy in income and health. In Manuel, R. C. (ed.) Minority Aging. Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. J. 1991. The current status of ethnogerontology and its complementary and conflicting social and cultural concerns for American minority and ethnic elders. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society on Aging, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Johnson, M. 1993. Dependency and interdependency. In Bond, J., Coleman, P. and Peace, S. (eds) Ageing in Society. Sage Publications, London, 255–279.Google Scholar
Johnson, M. L. 1995. Interdependency and the generational compact. Ageing and Society, 15, 2.Google Scholar
Jordan, J. 1985. On Call. South End Press, Boston, MA.Google Scholar
Kart, C. S. 1987. The end of conventional gerontology. Sociology of Health and Illness, 9, 76–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kent, J. 1971. A descriptive approach to community. Unpublished report, Denver, Colorado.Google Scholar
Kitwood, T. 1990. Concern for Others: A New Psychology of Consciousness and Morality. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Kohli, M. 1987. Retirement and the moral economy. Journal of Aging Studies, 1, 125–144.Google Scholar
Kreiger, N. et al. 1995. Racism, sexism, and social class: Implications for studies of health, disease and well being. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. (Special supplement on racial differences in preterm delivery) 9 (6): 82–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labonte, R. 1993. Uniting for healthier communities. Keynote address to the 121st Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association,San Francisco, CA.Oct. 24.Google Scholar
Lessing, D. 1983. The Diary of a Good Neighbour/Jane Somers. A. A. Knopf, New York.Google Scholar
Levin, D. 1987. Pathologies Of The Modern Self. University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lloyd, P. 1991. The empowerment of elderly people. Journal of Ageing Studies, 5 (2): 25–35.Google Scholar
Los Angeles Times 1982. Safe houses now easing fears of elderly residents. 21.11.82: 1.Google Scholar
Minkler, M. 1992. Community organizing among the elderly poor in the U.S.: A case study. International Journal of Health Services, 22: 303–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Minkler, M. 1994. Challenges for health promotion in the 1990s: Social inequities, empowerment, negative consequences and the public good. American Journal of Health Promotion, 8 (6): 403–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minkler, M. (in press). Empowerment of the Elderly in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. In Amick, B. and Rudd, R. (eds) Society and Health: Case Studies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Minkler, M. and Estes, C. L. (eds.) 1991. Critical Perspectives on Aging: The Political and Moral Economy of Growing Old. Baywood Publishing Co., Amityville, New York.Google Scholar
Minkler, M. and Robertson, A. 1991. The ideology of age/race wars: Deconstructing a social problem. Ageing and Society, 11: 1–22.Google Scholar
Minkler, M. and Roe, K. M. 1993. Grandmothers as caregivers: Raising children of the crack cocaine epidemic. Sage Publications, California.Google Scholar
Moody, H. 1988. Abundance of Life: Human Development Policies for an Aging Society. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Moody, H. 1993. What is critical gerontology and why is it important? In Cole, T., Achenbaum, A., Jakobi, P. and Kastenbaum, R.Voices and Vision of Aging: Towards a Critical Gerontology. Springer Publishing Company, New York, xv–xli.Google Scholar
Myles, J. 1983. Conflict, crisis and the future of old age security. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly/Health and Society, 61, 462–472.Google Scholar
Morrison, T. 1987. Beloved. New American Library, New York.Google Scholar
Neysmith, S. 1989. Closing the gap between health policy and the home-care needs of tomorrow's elderly. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 8, 141–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ovrebo, B. and Minkler, M. 1993. The lives of older women: Perspectives from political economy and the humanities. In Cole, T., Achenbaum, A., Jakobi, P. and Kastenbaum, R.Voices and Visions of Aging: Towards a Critical Gerontology. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 289–308.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C, Bernard, M. and Strang, P. (eds) 1986. Dependency and Interdependency in Old Age: Theoretical Perspectives and Policy Alternatives. Croom Helm, London, 30–45.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C. 1991. The social construction of old age: perspectives from political economy. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 19, 27–36.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C. 1994. Modernity, post-modernity and the sociology of aging: Reformulating critical gerontology. Paper presented at the XII World of Congress of Sociology.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C. and Walker, A. 1987. The case for a critical gerontology. In De Gregorio, S. (ed.) Social Gerontology: New Directions. London: Croom Helm, 1–15.Google Scholar
Porter, D. 1995. The Path to Poverty: An Analysis of Women's Retirement Income. Older Women's League, Washington D.C.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. 1991. The politics of Alzheimer's Disease: A case study in apocalyptic demongraphy. In Minkler, M. and Estes, C. L.Critical Perspectives on Aging: The political and moral economy of growing old. Baywood Publishing Co., New York.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. W. and Kahn, R. 1987. Human aging: Usual and successful. Science, 237, 143–149.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. M. 1994. Healthy aging into the 21st century. Contemporary Gerontology, 1, 3–6.Google Scholar
Siler-Wells, G. L. 1989. Challenges of the gordian knot: Community health in Canada. In: International Symposium on Community Participation and Empowerment Strategies in Health Promotion. Bielefeld, Germany: Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Bielefeld.Google Scholar
Stoller, E. P. and Gibson, R. C. 1994. Worlds of Difference: Inequalities in the Aging Experience. Pine Forge Press, California.Google Scholar
Townsend, P. 1981. The structured dependency of the elderly: A creation of social policy in the twentieth century. Ageing and Society, 1 (6).Google Scholar
Townsend, P. 1986. Ageism and social policy. In Phillipson, C. and Walker, A. (eds) Ageing and Social Policy. Gower, London, 15–44.Google Scholar
US Bureau of the Census. 1991. Current populations reports: Marital status and living arrangements: March 1990, Series P-20 No. 450. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Verbrugge, L. 1983. Women and men: Mortality and health of older people. In Hess, B. B. and Bond, K. (eds) Aging in Society: Selected Reviews of Recent Research, Lawrence Erlbaum, New Jersey, 139–174.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 1981. Towards a political economy of old age. Ageing and Society, 1, 73–94.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 1987. Ageing and the social sciences: The North American way. Ageing and Society, 7, 235–242.Google Scholar
Walker, A. 1990. The economic ‘burden’ of ageing and the prospect of inter-generational conflict. Ageing and Society, 10, 377–396.Google Scholar
Woodward, K. 1991. Ageing and Its Discontents: Freud and Other Fictions. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.Google Scholar