The cultural construction old age as a biological phenomenon: Science and anti-ageing technologies

This paper links ageism to the anti-ageing culture embedded in biological science. It presents two simple ideal types of the relationship of culture and science and uses these to examine evidence of how antipathy to ageing is manifested within bio-gerontology and other scientific and quasi-scientific endeavours. Drawing on a tradition of linguistic anthropology the history and language of two concepts used within the biology of ageing – senescence and apoptosis – are traced. The paper concludes that anti-ageing concepts are embedded in bio-gerontology and need to be combated but that the progressive nature of biological knowledge also provides an opportunity to change received ageist constructions.     

The old lady from Ipanema: changing notions of old age in Brazil

This article identifies the main categories, notions, and values associated with aging in articles published in urban Brazilian print media 1967–2002, and uses these categories to trace several historical changes regarding what constitutes “successful” aging in Brazil. The historical changes include the transition of aging from a divine to more worldly concern; from a male to predominantly female preoccupation; from ‘old age’ to ‘third age.’ These transitions are intertwined with new moral hierarchies, and are linked to the medicalization of old age in the late twentieth century.     

Minding the gap: The construction of old age and oldness amongst peers

While ‘oldness’ is a state of being that people in Western cultures agree exists, and ‘old age’ is a category which is readily used in daily discourse and upon which decisions are made in daily life, what old age is and who is old nevertheless remain problematic categories. Social scientists have acknowledged such complexity and sought ways of framing old age that are flexible enough to take the heterogeneity of ageing into account. What has not been considered as closely however are intragenerational dynamics in the construction of old age. Based on ethnographic research on the experiences of ageing and selfhood in the north of England, and using a processual and interactive approach to self-making, I explore here criteria that older people employ to monitor and adjudicate on the manifestation of oldness in their peers, as well as the distinctions they make between ‘normal’ ageing and ‘real’ old age.     

The confrontation clause and the child victim of sexual abuse

Courtroom proceedings for child sexual abuse often represent a morass of conflicting rights and counterproductive justice. Within this article, conflicting rights of adults and children regarding courtroom testimony are explored with an interest in assessing the effects of testifying for children and addressing the process of making children's testimonies less traumatic and more credible.     

Vulnerability in old age: The issue of dependency in American society

The American focus on the importance of self-sufficiency and independence stands in contrast to the economic trends of recent decades that have led to an increased number of adults standing outside the productive core of economic activity. This “burden of dependency” has been manufactured by public policies designed to reconstitute the labor force and redistribute the burden of unemployment largely through the growth in retirement. Recently the success of income maintenance programs developed to improve the financial accessibility of retirement for older workers has begun to undercut the legitimacy of their status as dependents. This article examines that role of dependency, and argues that the social processes that produce dependency among our elders are not substantively different from the processes that affect younger age groups. Consequently the questions of distributive justice that are involved in the dependency of the elderly are questions that relate to members of all age groups who occupy positions of disadvantage in the economic structure.     

The denial of slavery in contemporary American sociology

Theory and Society - American sociology has largely neglected enslavement as a topic of study, despite slavery’s being one of the most foundational, pervasive, and far-reaching social...     

“In the good old days”: Insidious nostalgia and the constitution of old age identity

In this paper older people are studied through qualitative in-depth interviews regarding the constitution of identity. This is based on their participation in specific projects where they take part in schoolwork. The point of departure is that these more or less organised projects provide older people with a physical as well as a social space in which such a constitution can take place. Specific attention is not only directed toward the productive use of nostalgia, but also at the rhetorical use of already established subject positions drawn from the fields of production and reproduction, and from discourses on productive ageing and participation. The intersection of these discourses was not only found to be normative and excluding, but also liberating and a necessity.     

Ageing and exercise: building body capital in old age

Background

Research that provides better understanding of the motivational processes in older age to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle is sought after. We apply theoretical approaches to cultural capital, active and healthy aging health to shed light on the women’s experiences in maintaining physical capabilities through an active lifestyle, and thereby facilitating their own inclusion in society. Thus, the aim of this paper is to explore why older home dwelling women over the age of 70 years or more spend time in physical exercise and their experiences about the importance of participating in group exercise for their daily life.This paper reports on a qualitative study based on interviews with 16 older women aged 70 years or more and regularly attending group exercise classes in the community at an established workout center. The data were analyzed the data using an inductive content analysis approach.

Results

Three overreaching and interrelated themes emerged from the interviews: “Building body capital for independence”, “Building body capital to maintain vitality and being in control” and “Building resources for social interaction”. The findings suggest that group exercise is important for building body capital. The group exercise helped the women in building bodily ability to manage everyday life, maintain vitality, being in control, pursue social interaction and live independently. These body resources were important for these older women’s experience of the manageability and meaningfulness of daily life.

Conclusion

This study has provided insights into older women’s understanding and experiences of the challenges of everyday life within a theoretical framework of cultural capital and health. The women acquired cultural health capital, and more specifically body capital, by participating in the group exercise classes. The women’s investment in body capital through regular physical activity created resources which facilitated social participation. Therefore professionals need to be aware of this when performing group exercise.

     

Lessons from history: Surviving old age during The Great Depression in the United States

This paper focuses on 30 couples who received a pension and other services from two private trusts in Detroit, Michigan beginning in 1929 or 1930. Results of the qualitative analysis of case files, which contain notes recorded chronologically for 17 of the couples and then surviving spouses, provide a portrait of older couples' lives prior to a partner's death, circumstances surrounding the death, and changes in the social support systems of widows and widowers until their deaths. Close examination of the experiences of these couples is a reminder of how old age and widowhood were experienced prior to the enactment of public pensions and health insurance in the United States.     

The rural arena: The diversity of protest in rural England

In the past 15–20 years, the rural areas of England have been used by a wide diversity of groups as the stage for their protest activities. Some have argued that this is due the rise of a rural social movement; this paper contends that rural areas have become both available and advantageous as the locale of protest through a range of interlocking factors. Firstly, that the rise of the network society has repositioned the societal importance of rural areas. Secondly, that the governance of rural areas has changed, allowing the social stake of rurality to be more widely contested. Thirdly, that opportunities to protest have shifted in favour of rural spaces, in terms of technology and policing. Through a discussion of recent changes in rural England and three case studies, The Land is Ours, Farmers for Action and the Organic Food and Farming Movement, this paper examines these changes and what they mean for the future of rural England.     

A Foucauldian analysis of old age and the power of social welfare

It is argued that the question of social welfare is a key, if often overlooked, component in the construction of power relations and identities in later life that can take its place next to debates on bioethics and consumer lifestyle. Foucault's (1977) claim, that identities are kept in place through the deployment of integrated systems of power and knowledge and a routine operation of surveillance and assessment, is critically examined in this context. Trends in social welfare in the United Kingdom are used as a case example that sheds light on wider contemporary issues associated with old age. Finally, implications for the creation of particular narratives about later life are discussed and grounded through Foucault's (1988) notion of "technologies of self."     

Narratives of aging in intimate partner violence: The double lens of violence and old age

PurposeWith the increase in life expectancy, couples living in intimate partner violence are aging together. The aim of this article is to explore the constructions of aging in intimate partner violence as narratives of couplehood or narratives of old age.Design and methodsThirty individual in-depth interviews with 15 older Israeli couples were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a narrative approach.ResultsThree main domains emerged from the data: health issue narratives, loneliness narratives and relationships with adult offspring narratives. Each of the narratives that emerged from the data analysis consists of a narrative of old age constructing IPV and a narrative of IPV constructing old age.ImplicationsConflictual couplehood dynamics, such as intimate partner violence in old age, is not one-dimensional, but is diverse and complex and this should be taken into consideration.     

Suffering and generativity: Repairing threats to self in old age

Suffering is a powerful experience that can be difficult to articulate. Suffering differs from pain alone and includes an individual's awareness of a threat to self through death, loss of identity, or uncertainty of the meaningfulness of one's life. In response to this threat, generative acts, especially creative expressions imbued with the self, may act as a means to repair the self in crisis. The case of Mr. A, an 85-year old man in good health, illustrates how various artistic pieces he created – a wooden dog and several poems – helps him to restore a “fading” self. For Mr. A. the idea of “fading away” or becoming weaker and less useful until eventually disappearing is a major source of personal suffering. Through his art, he creates unique, interactive and tangible entities that can outlive his physical body and help him reclaim or repair threats to selfhood.     

An alternative to farmer age as an indicator of life-cycle stage: The case for a farm family age index

In studies of farming, the age of the principal decision-maker (PDM) has been associated with numerous farm structural and managerial features and has been widely accepted as a good indicator of the influence of life-cycle factors on decision-making. As such, it has become an important aspect of many quantitative studies of agricultural change. However, contemporary studies of family farming demonstrate that the concept of a single PDM in family farms is becoming an anachronism as alternative enterprises, pluriactivity and the scale of family farms force more diffuse management/operating systems. This raises questions concerning whether the age of the PDM can still be taken as representative of farm structure, strategy or life-cycle stage? Using a study conducted in the Grampian Mountains region of Scotland in 2003 this note investigates the impact of using an alternative index—compiled by averaging the age of family members working on the farm. It suggests that PDM age is a relatively poor indicator of farm structural and managerial features compared to a family age index and calls for researchers to think about alternative approaches to measuring ‘age’ as an indicator.     

The role of age in the relationship between work social characteristics and job attitudes

Despite the amount of research on the link between work social characteristics and job attitudes, there is a lack of work on moderators of this relationship. In the present study, we examine the role of age as a moderating effect of this relationship using life-span development theory. The aim of this paper is to study the moderator effect of age in the relationship between two work social characteristics (interaction outside the organization and interdependence) and job attitudes (i.e., general job satisfaction and work engagement). Participants were 258 workers from private organizations. Data were collected at two time points (2 to 4 weeks between T₁ and T₂). Results showed that the relationship between interdependence and work engagement was stronger for older workers than for younger workers. In addition, the relationship between interaction outside the organization and general job satisfaction was stronger for younger than for older workers. Because increased engagement and satisfaction in an age-diverse workforce is important, organizations may benefit by challenging older workers with interdependent tasks, and younger workers with interaction with stakeholders outside the organization.     

Financial literacy and anxiety about life in old age: evidence from the USA

This study examines whether financial literacy can help to reduce anxiety about life in old age. We hypothesized that financially literate people are more able to earn income and accumulate assets, leading them to have a less anxious life in old age. On the other hand, less financially literate people rely more on social security to secure themselves in the old age as they are not able to accumulate sufficient assets. By using US survey data, we provide evidence that assets significantly reduce anxiety about life in old age only for people who are more financially literate. For less financially literate people, social security plays an important role in reducing anxiety about life in old age. Besides these, having a child and doing regular exercise also reduced anxiety for all respondents but marital status reduced anxiety in respondents over 40 years of age. The results of our study are robust to measurement of financial literacy and endogeneity problems.     

The prevalence and severity of varicocele in adult population over the age of forty years old: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and severity of varicocele in adult population over the age of 40. We also measured testicular size, consistency, and total testosterone levels with an aim to observe the effect of varicocele on testis as men age.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-four patients with varicocele, 241 patients without varicocele who admitted to our clinic were enrolled in the study. We stratified participants by four age groups (40–49, 50–59, 60–69, >70?yr). Patients were grouped according to varicocele grade and laterality. The morning testosterone level was drawn. The subgroups were compared with each other.

Results: Overall, varicocele prevalence was 48%. Of the patients, 104 had unilateral, 120 had bilateral varicocele. Of the patients with varicocele, 62 (13.30%) were found as grade 3, 99 (21.10%) were grade 2, and 63 (13.60%) were grade 1. The percentages of smaller testes in grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3 varicocele group were 20.60, 79.80, and 88.70 and a significant association was detected. Age stratification of the data revealed the smaller and soft testis prevalence as well as higher grade varicocele prevalance increased in older age groups.

Conclusions: Varicocele presence is associated with lower testicular size, softer testicular consistency, and lower testosterone levels, especially in older patients with bilateral and high-grade varicocele.