Indian thought conceives of life in four normative stages: of student, householder, forest-dweller and renouncer. A metaphysical theory related to the conception of life-stages is that of the ends or purposes of life: appropriate conduct, material well-being, physical satisfaction and liberation. The theory of the ends of life is reconstructed here in the light of contemporary philosophical discussions about the meaning of life. The first three ends are part of a world-oriented attitude; the last end, of world-transcending contemplation. Among age-neutral and age-specific ways of relating life stages and life ends, that of taking old age as the time for the renunciatory stage is important and is examined in the context of the two main theories of meaning: world-oriented and world-transcending. Old age is secondary to earlier stages in a world-oriented theory, more significant in the world-transcendent one. However, both theories, seen independently, are paradoxical. In a synthesis, the world-transcendence of renunciation in old age is paramount in Indian thought, but worldly action is significant because renunciation depends on the richness of the life renounced. This reconstruction of an ancient ideal is offered as a philosophical paradigm for transculturally relevant attitudes to life in old age.

Older people became a highly visible force in the American politics of the 1930s. The Townsend organisation mobilised one tenth of the U.S. elderly population prior to their direct representation in the polity as an interest group. This article utilises several theoretical social movement models to analyse how and why mobilisation occurred. It demonstrates that many factors, including phenomena associated with the social dimension of age, influenced the mechanisms of mobilisation and the movement's shape. Characteristics of this cohort of older people, including its size, life expectancy, spatial distribution, shared traditions, and symbolic frameworks were conducive to club formation and mobilisation. The period event of the Depression also triggered collective action, by exacerbating trends of changing old-age institutional supports. But the organisation expanded most where it channelled inducements to participants and evoked the cohorts' symbolic frameworks and ideals. Mobilisation also occurred within a political environment, the national stage of U.S. politics, where non-represented interest groups (such as elderly people) find it difficult to receive benefits.

There is a special feature of the health and welfare problems of the elderly population that sets them off from the other domestic problems of the developed countries of the world. They combine two difficult elements, complex enough when taken alone but much more so when combined. There is, on the one hand, the economic problem of finding ways to make adequate provision for the needs of the old, barely met with full adequacy in any country and full of greater threats in the future. There is also, on the other hand, the extraordinary delicacy needed to conduct serious public debate on the issues. At a time when many countries still struggle against a pervasive ageism, trying to open up new possibilities for elderly people and to foster new attitudes, it is exceedingly painful to contemplate further economic constraints, even rationing, to meet the impending economic problems.

This paper presents a discourse analysis of talk in reminiscence groups. Two main issues are addressed. First, we examine how speakers' identities are accomplished through the way they position themselves in social relationships and social practices of ‘remembered pasts’. Particular analytical attention is given to how people claim entitlements to the significance and consequences of their lived experience. Second, issues of membership are examined through the way people index their engagement in the narrative environment accomplished in reminiscence group talk. Finally, we are concerned with how these narratives contribute to a ‘reconstitution’ of understandings in common about cultural and moral orders of remembered pasts and the historical era in which the reported events, experiences and practices took place. Our analysis aims to demonstrate how reminiscence work affords a context for ‘re-membering’ where older people on their own behalf can work entitlements to voice the consequences of their experiences of life.

Different scenarios for an ageing society presume different approaches to the meaning of old age. One scenario anticipates a Prolongation of Morbidity, where quality of life concerns might permit active euthanasia or suicide as a means of saving money. Those who believe in a Compression of Morbidity opt for health promotion to delay morbidity in favour of productive ageing. Optimists look to a scenario of Lifespan Extension, where scarce health resources are not expended for incremental gains in life expectancy but rather for basic research to postpone or eliminate ageing. Finally, those who emphasize Voluntary Acceptance of Limits identify the meaning of old age with voluntary acceptance of finitude, where claims of future generations might limit longevity for any one generation. Thus, contrasting meanings such as quality of life, productive ageing, indefinite survival and voluntary limits entail very different consequences for the allocation of scarce resources across age-groups and among sub-groups of the elderly population.

Drawing on a survey of 406 British home owners in France, this study examines the origins, destinations and reasons for purchasing homes in rural France. In doing so it compares first home retired households with their pre-retirement counterparts and with second home owners who are retired. No notable differences are found in the geographical distribution or reasons for selecting home locations between these groups. However, patterns of retirement migration to France do appear to differ from intra-national long-distance migration within Britain and North America. Pointers to these differences are given and suggestions for future research are made. In addition, despite family visits and the friendship that people find in their recipient French communities, it is suggested that potential problems could arise for residents in relatively isolated rural communes. More research is needed to assess whether the positive attractions that are drawing retirement migrants from Britain to France will outweigh the negative consequences of their new home location.

This paper focuses on the feelings that institutionalised and community-dwelling spouses have in regard to their own or their spouse's living in a long-term care facility. Qualitative data were gathered from 161 married respondents. Themes associated with positive feelings included: benefit to self, benefits to spouse, reappraisal of self as caregiver, and appraisal of institutionalisation. Themes associated with negative feelings included: concern about institutionalised partner's care, tension with staff, stress associated with visiting, loss of purpose, loneliness, privacy, and tissues related to the marital relationship. Data indicate that feelings about institutionalisation must be analysed in various contexts. Implications for service delivery are discussed.

Examination of the well-being and living conditions of older widows and widowers reveals ways in which adaptation to loss of the partner in later life is influenced by gender. This article compares the results of two Dutch studies, one on men and one on women between the ages of 60 and 75, living independently and widowed three to five years earlier. The same combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used in these studies. The results indicate remarkable similarities in the well-being of the widows and widowers. Gender influences the availability of resources such as income, education and freedom from health restrictions, with widowers demonstrating clear advantages compared to widows. In the area of relational resources, widows who are well adapted have more varied sources of support, including close female friends and supportive neighbours in addition to children. Widowers benefit more from the presence of new partners or partner-like relationships; the tendency of many widowers to rely strongly on children is a disadvantage. Few significant differences were found in the relational needs acknowledged by widows and widowers; however, acknowledging the need for intimacy is differentially related to life satisfaction for widowed men and women. An unexpected finding is the effect of gender on life satisfaction, which remains when other variables have been entered into the equation in regression analysis. Several possible interpretations for this gender factor are provided; these involve the possibility of greater diversity in the ways in which women adapt to widowhood, women's special virtuosity in relationships, and a kind of flexibility that is developed in the course of women's lives which helps them adapt to major change later life, despite structural disadvantages in comparison to men.

Three weeks after the outbreak of the Scud Missile crisis residents of Tel Aviv and the outlying regions, aged 50–91 participated in a study the focus of which was the relationship between personal (cognitive) control of the aversive environmental stimuli and (1) distress in areas of mood and affect, and (2) distress in interaction with the social environment. Personal control was measured along two dimensions: perceived control of the situation and attribution of meaning to events and their outcomes. Findings revealed no significant differences between age categories in levels of cognitive control or in levels of distress. Situation control emerged as the most significant variable in explaining variation in distress scores. Attribution of meaning, though significantly related to situation control, was only a moderately significant predictor of interaction distress. The findings support the thesis that the existence of a causal link between life events and psychological equilibrium makes theoretical sense only when the cognitive structure of such events for individuals is considered.

Only a minority of adults of all age groups experience difficulty with their finances and affairs, due to the combined effect of their diminished competence and their social circumstances in placing them at risk, from themselves, or from family, friends or others (well-meaning or otherwise). If unable to manage independently or with informal assistance, formal intervention (guardianship) may be required. Neither the traditional formality of courts, nor the tests and clinical processes of medicine are well equipped to judge this in the abstract. Informal (family) models have their place but they (and other options) pose ethical difficulties. A more practical approach is that taken by Australia's multi-disciplinary panels.

This paper compares findings on the distribution of support networks in the City of Liverpool and in rural communities in North Wales. It demonstrates that while support network type is highly correlated with a wide range of demographic and social variables in both urban and rural samples, the nature of the relationships are not always comparable. The paper shows how cultural, migration and socio-economic factors interact to affect the formation of different types of support networks. As a result of a more stable elderly population, more old people in Liverpool have network types able to provide a high level of informal care and support.

Therapies to save or sustain the lives of elderly patients are sometimes used when they can bring little benefit, and sometimes denied because of age to patients who could benefit. Selection for treatment should depend on balancing probable benefits and burdens for the patient and on the patient's preferences. Burdens include those of the treatment itself, the risk of complications and of extending life of poor quality. Factors to consider when deciding are illustrated by reference to intensive care, surgery, dialysis, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and tube feeding.

The growing number of oldest old has increased the need for social services and medical care in many countries during the last decade. These needs have been met with various strategies to make more effective and efficient use of resources. In many ways these changes have been successful, but at the same time the amount of success correlates negatively to the potential for further gains. That is, when the slack in the system has been drawn in, it is doubtful whether further gains can be made with these strategies. So what can be done if the public resources are restricted and needs continue to increase? Adequate solutions will require a wide perspective encompassing all the various services needed by elderly people. Decisions made in one sector necessarily have repercussions in other service areas. It is also essential to recognize the differences between sectors; guidelines and strategies developed within the medical sector are not always applicable in the social services sector. With Sweden as an example, the organizational and administrative changes that have occurred during the last decades are presented along with arguments for extending the discussion of strategies and priorities to include all kinds of service to the elderly population.

Various studies have dealt more or less directly with qualitative questions concerning social services provided in the home. While as a result of such studies the general characteristics of home services of importance to elderly people are quite well known, this is not the case regarding the relative importance assigned to such characteristics. Personal interviews using the ‘Multiattribute Utility Technology’ (MAUT) were used. This procedure organises the attributes in a ‘tree’ structure for comparing the relative importance & ranking of different quality attributes. A random sample of 180 receivers of home-help services aged 65 to 95 and living in a rural, small town and city area were interviewed. The interviewed persons were asked to rank-order according to personal importance each grouping of quality attributes. The relative values of the different qualities were determined, using a scale with a range from 0 to 100 points. Continuity, especially Staff Continuity, was the most important quality attribute together with Suitability and Personal Relation. Availability and Influence were the least important quality attributes. The characteristics studied had largely the same relative importance for all older people, irrespective of category.

This paper discusses the policy implications for encouraging a high quality of service provision in hospital for elderly people with dementia. Contemporary policy is examined and the continuing need for long-stay beds is highlighted, particularly in Scotland. The measurement of the quality of care in nursing is reviewed and concern is expressed over whether the patients or only the audit score will benefit from any change in practice. Ways of improving both work satisfaction and the quality of care are recommended on the basis of a study of psychogeriatric wards in NHS hospitals in Scotland.

This paper is concerned with the interlinked issues of citizenship and the structured dependency of older people within Social Gerontology. It argues that implicit in much British Social Gerontology is a strategy of advancing the wellbeing of elderly people through the extension of citizenship rights. Absence of these rights leads to poverty, exclusion and ageism being commonplace experiences of large sections of the older population. This approach draws heavily on the ideas regarding social citizenship of T. H. Marshall who has influenced much mainstream social policy in Britain since 1945. Changes to the Welfare State since 1979 have seriously questioned the validity of this approach and many of these criticisms apply to the structured dependency approach. Recent work on citizenship can help us to see how the relationship between old age and citizenship has changed and how far theory in social gerontology needs to change to take account of these new circumstances.

The provisional criteria for age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) attempt to define a potentially treatable decline in mental function found in people over 50 years of age. It is suggested here that the present criteria are likely to apply to a large proportion of those over age 50 in the population. From a psychometric viewpoint the criteria have several short-comings that are detailed. Finally, the social and ethical problems of the wider use of such a diagnosis are adumbrated.

Daniel Callahan has maintained that a common understanding of the meaning of old age and the proper role of old people in society is a prerequisite for decisions on the distribution of health-care resources to the elderly. The call for such a common understanding is traced to the writings of Thomas Cole and Harry Moody. A discussion of their ideas is followed by a philosophical analysis of communitarian accounts of meaning and the good life in general. It is concluded that viable interpretations of the meaning of old age should comply with the values of liberal individualism. Meaning should be localised less at the level of global ideas and images and more at the level of local and heterogeneous practices. The practice of distributing health-care resources cannot and should not be regulated by communitarian interpretations of the value of old age. It would seem to be sufficiently infused by liberal individualist interpretations of meaning and justice.

This paper is about how the informal care givers of people recently diagnosed as suffering from dementia perceive and describe that condition. Data are drawn from semi-structured interviews with 106 such care givers (mainly adult children and spouses) carried out in a London Borough and a southern English market town. People's accounts of how they defined what was happening to their relative (his/her condition) could be divided into several categories; these are shown to be based on a number of different parameters: for example, normal versus abnormal; orderly versus unpredictable; simple versus complex; an illness versus not an illness. The reasons for the wide variety of understandings of dementia are examined; it is suggested that it may be due to general lack of information or poor communication with health service staff; to a need to choose a definition which accords with a particular kind of relationship with the dementia sufferer; to the kind of self-presentation favoured by the sufferer; or to the desire to achieve certain kinds of end within particular social contexts.