In Their Own Words: Elders' Reactions to Vision Loss

Understanding how persons over 70 years of age cope with the stresses of living is of central interest to gerontologists, service providers and policy makers. Their family life has been studied as an indicator of quality of life. Frequently there has been an implicit assumption that the family is, or should be, a sufficient informal resource system. In 1987-88, 520 elderly persons living in Vancouver were interviewed in their homes regarding their general and dental health and support systems. Information was obtained on interaction with family, friends, neighbors and formal caregivers. To determine respondents' appraisal of her/his social resources, they were asked to whom respondents' would turn if she had problems. To establish reciprocity, they were asked who would turn to them for help with the same problems. Significant differences by gender and marital status are found as to whom one perceives to be available to meet personal care, instrumental and emotional needs. Expected reciprocity is low except for instrumental needs with neighbors and emotional needs with friends.     

治理:社区建设的新视野

文章先简要介绍治理理论提出的历史、治理理论的涵义及主要论点、治理与统治概念的区别,然后由治理理论推导出社区治理的概念及其涵义,通过对国内社区治理相关研究成果的梳理和实践经验的总结,得出“由社会控制到社区治理的转变是社区建设的需要和必然”的结论,从而为我国十一五规划提出的“建设社会主义和谐社会”、“加强社会建设和完善社会管理体系”目标的实现提供新的理论视野。     

Social Policy: Now and Then

This article explores the way aspects of our approach to social policy in the UK have changed over the last 40 years – one academic lifetime and also, coincidentally, the lifetime of this journal – and the significance of six particular changes. More social problems have come to be seen as having a supra-national dimension: the scale and ramifications of problems are much better appreciated; the accepted territory of social policy has greatly widened; the state has lost people's confidence; we have come to see organizational and management issues as much more important; and the health of the economy has come to be regarded as a greater priority than the development of systems of social welfare.     

Mental Health Problems and Behavioral Disruptions in Nursing Homes:

This paper describes a study that examines knowledge of mental health problems and management of behavioral disruptions by social workers in nursing homes. Since a significant number of nursing home patients have mental health problems (estimates range from 50 to 80 percent) which present behavioral disruptions, this knowledge is critical. Results indicate that social workers are not prepared to provide needed services because they do not have adequate knowledge about the management of behavioral disruptions or the identification of mental health problems of nursing home patients. Recommendations are that social workers employed in nursing homes should have gerontological training and that national policy changes are needed to develop guidelines for qualifications of nursing home social workers. Nursing homes are not meeting the needs of older adults with mental health problems when social workers do not have the knowledge needed to provide nursing home services.     

“今”与“新”——论李大钊的时间意识

人类创造历史的前提是对于历史的自觉，这种自觉首先表现为科学、进步的时间意识。在李大钊的时间意识里，时间是一维的、向前的，人是时间的主体，人在时间的创造构成了历史和人生；“时间”“历史”“人生”是三位一体的；“今”和“新”是核心价值元素。李大钊时间观的理论创新性主要表现为，率先提供了现代哲学诠释的“大视域”，并将学术研究与民族独立、社会革命结合起来，从而超越了纯学术，为历史变革提供了批判武器。     

旧领域与新视野:从风俗论看明清社会史研究

资本主义萌芽问题讨论带动了明清社会风俗的研究,其中尤以16世纪以后社会风气的探讨充分,引出了一系列有关明清社会史的话题,20世纪80年代以后相关的研究成果层出不穷。明清风俗以及相关问题的研究可从如下六个方面把握,即作为方法的明清风俗论,以奢侈问题为中心的明清消费研究,全球化与明清风俗论,风俗特性与明清地域研究,职业观与明清风俗论,移风易俗与明清社会变迁。未来的研究,似应在使用新概念、挖掘新史料、处理跨世纪上用力。     

“把革命带回来”:社会学新视野的拓展

本文在韦伯和陈寅恪等人的启发下,提出了关于中国革命的社会学研究的问题意识、分析框架和基本方法,试图将“革命”这个社会学的经典母题重新带回到中国社会学界,以此拓展社会学研究的新视野。这种新的研究路数尝试围绕阶级路线、民主集中制和群众路线等重点,在借鉴实证史学资料收集法的基础上,运用“社会学的想象力”和事件社会学的方式来深入理解中国共产党在革命时期建立起来的独特的政治文化及其所产生的复杂而深远的历史效果。     

The Family and Aging:

No abstract available for this article.     

A New Neighborhood Every Fall: Aging in Place in a College Town

Older adults who live in residential neighborhoods adjacent to college and university campuses have a unique experience that makes them vulnerable to marginalization and displacement. As these neighborhoods become increasingly dominated by college students living in rental properties, older adults find themselves in the minority in a neighborhood where they have lived for many years. In addition, these neighborhoods are attractive to universities, city governments, and private companies for their development potential, which can result in gentrification. A year-long ethnographic study of a campus-adjacent neighborhood in a small US college town that is home to a medium-sized public university sheds light on the relationships between members of 5 stakeholder groups that have a vested interest in the neighborhood. The study highlights the need for additional research on different types of neighborhoods and their effects on aging in place in addition to outlining social work interventions in campus-adjacent neighborhoods that are designed to enhance these intergenerational spaces.     

The Forgotten: Dementia and the Aging LGBT Community

Although research documenting the experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered (LGBT) aging in general is gaining traction, and literature on dementia continues to proliferate, few articles attend to how dementia affects members of the aging LGBT community. This article reviews the current state of knowledge on the experience of dementia for LGBT older adults, and suggests areas for further research. In addition, it aims to promote social work’s engagement with related disciplines and global dementia care. The article’s ultimate goal is to encourage development of care practices tailored to the experiences, expectations and needs of older LGBT individuals affected by dementia.     

Power Dynamics in the Aging Family:

The power reversal experienced by families of dependent elders may prove more important and difficult to negotiate than widely recognized transition such as divorce and retirement. Elders who must depend on their children for assistance fall from a position of power, independence and relatively high status to a dependent, inferior status in relation to their children. Family power traditions define the types of compliance that are expected of dependent numbers and the prerogatives accorded those with more power. Knowledge olf these and power dynamics will enable the social worker to conceptualize and intervene in problems of intergenerational conflict.     

Editorial: Loss and renewal

The authors review the literature that calls for the incorporation of relational theory into social work practice. Two strands of relational theory are important to developing a relational social work perspective: the psychoanalytic and the feminist. Based on a feminist understanding of relationality, Dorothy Smith has provided an alternative sociological perspective that can inform social work practice on the macro level, which she has termed institutional ethnography. In looking at ways that relational theory can inform macro practice in social work we can begin to formulate a more general relational perspective—beyond the clinical—in social work.     

Successful Aging in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging: Applying the MacArthur Model Cross–Nationally

Wide variation in the experience of aging is increasingly recognized and models for identifying groups based on how "successfully" individuals are aging have taken many forms. This study used the criteria developed in the MacArthur studies on successful aging to identify subgroups with higher, intermediate, or lower levels of function, and to compare them across a range of other domains. Data were drawn from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ALSA) in Adelaide, Australia, which is a population–based, bio–psycho–social study of a cohort of 1947 adults aged 70 years or more. Six waves have been conducted, between 1992 and 2000. At waves 1 and 3, an extensive personal interview and self–complete questionnaires were administered and objective physical and psychological functioning assessed. Eight–year mortality was also examined. Results showed risk and protective effects of successful aging for physical functioning and performance, lifestyle, cognition, affect, and personality. The findings confirm that people age with differing degrees of success and those aging most successfully not only live longer, but also experience a better quality of life. The MacArthur model proved useful for this cross–national comparison of determinants and outcomes of "successful" aging.