Aging in East and West


Book Description

Widely recognized experts present the first comparative analysis of recent developments among six Eastern and Western nations concerning population aging and its consequences. Chapters focus on demographic trends, sociocultural contexts, and policy implications. Nations selected as case studies include: the Peopleís Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The editors and contributors call attention to the varied trajectories and effects of population aging in culturally diverse societies that are often at different stages or on different paths of economic development. Such analyses bring into sharper focus those conditions that are unique, or similar, and emphasize the ways in which cultural stereotypes of aging and the elderly complicate our understanding of the effects of world-wide population aging.




Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa


Book Description

In sub-Saharan Africa, older people make up a relatively small fraction of the total population and are supported primarily by family and other kinship networks. They have traditionally been viewed as repositories of information and wisdom, and are critical pillars of the community but as the HIV/AIDS pandemic destroys family systems, the elderly increasingly have to deal with the loss of their own support while absorbing the additional responsibilities of caring for their orphaned grandchildren. Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa explores ways to promote U.S. research interests and to augment the sub-Saharan governments' capacity to address the many challenges posed by population aging. Five major themes are explored in the book such as the need for a basic definition of "older person," the need for national governments to invest more in basic research and the coordination of data collection across countries, and the need for improved dialogue between local researchers and policy makers. This book makes three major recommendations: 1) the development of a research agenda 2) enhancing research opportunity and implementation and 3) the translation of research findings.




Successful Aging


Book Description

This book brings together state-of-the-art research on successful aging in Asian populations and highlights how the factors that contribute to successful aging differ from those in the West. It examines the differences between the Asian and Western contexts in which the aging process unfolds, including cultural values, lifestyles, physical environments and family structures. In addition, it examines the question of how to add quality to longer years of life. Specifically, it looks at ways to promote health, preserve cognition, maximize functioning with social support and maintain emotional well-being despite inevitable declines and losses. Compared to other parts of the world, Asia will age more quickly as a result of the rapid socioeconomic developments leading to rising longevity and historically low fertility rates in some countries. These demographic forces in vast populations such as China are expected to make Asia the main driver of global aging in the coming decades. As a result, researchers, professionals, policymakers, as well as the commercial sector, in both East and West, are increasingly interested in gaining a deeper understanding of aging in Asia.




An Aging World


Book Description

Provides statistical information on the worldwide population of people 65 years old or older.




Contemporary Perspectives on Ageism


Book Description

This open access book provides a comprehensive perspective on the concept of ageism, its origins, the manifestation and consequences of ageism, as well as ways to respond to and research ageism. The book represents a collaborative effort of researchers from over 20 countries and a variety of disciplines, including, psychology, sociology, gerontology, geriatrics, pharmacology, law, geography, design, engineering, policy and media studies. The contributors have collaborated to produce a truly stimulating and educating book on ageism which brings a clear overview of the state of the art in the field. The book serves as a catalyst to generate research, policy and public interest in the field of ageism and to reconstruct the image of old age and will be of interest to researchers and students in gerontology and geriatrics.




Beyond Filial Piety


Book Description

Known for a tradition of Confucian filial piety, East Asian societies have some of the oldest and most rapidly aging populations on earth. Today these societies are experiencing unprecedented social challenges to the filial tradition of adult children caring for aging parents at home. Marshalling mixed methods data, this volume explores the complexities of aging and caregiving in contemporary East Asia. Questioning romantic visions of a senior’s paradise, chapters examine emerging cultural meanings of and social responses to population aging, including caregiving both for and by the elderly. Themes include traditional ideals versus contemporary realities, the role of the state, patterns of familial and non-familial care, social stratification, and intersections of caregiving and death. Drawing on ethnographic, demographic, policy, archival, and media data, the authors trace both common patterns and diverging trends across China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and Korea.




The Cultural Context of Aging


Book Description

From the laughing clubs of India and robotic granny minders of Japan to the "Flexsecurity" system of Denmark and the elderscapes of Florida, experts in this collection bring readers cutting-edge and future-focused approaches to our aging population worldwide. In this fourth edition of an award-winning text on the consequences of global aging, a team of expert anthropologists and other social scientists presents the issues and possible solutions as our population over age 60 rises to double that of the year 2000. Chapters describe how the consequences of global aging will influence life in the 21st century in relation to biological limits on the human life span, cultural construction of the life cycle, generational exchange and kinship, makeup of households and community, and attitudes toward disability and death. This completely revised edition includes 20 new chapters covering China, Japan, Denmark, India, West and East Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, indigenous Amazonia, rural Italy, and the ethnic landscape of the United States. A popular feature is an integrated set of web book chapters listed in the contents, discussed in chapter introductions, and available on the book's web site.




Western Visions of the Far East in a Transpacific Age, 1522–1657


Book Description

Bringing to bear the latest developments across various areas of research and disciplines, this collection provides a broad perspective on how Western Europe made sense of a complex, multi-faceted, and by and large Sino-centered East and Southeast Asia. The volume covers the transpacific period--after Magellan's opening of the transpacific route to the Far East and before the eventual dominance of the region by the British and the Dutch. In contrast to the period of the Enlightenment, during which Orientalist discourses arose, this initial period of encounters and conquest is characterized by an enormous curiosity and a desire to seize--not only materially but intellectually--the lands and peoples of East Asia. The essays investigate European visions of the Far East--particularly of China and Japan--and examine how and why particular representations of Asians and their cultural practices were constructed, revised, and adapted. Collectively, the essays show that images of the Far East were filtered by worldviews that ranged from being, on the one hand, universalistic and relatively equitable towards cultures to the other extreme, unilaterally Eurocentric.




Aging in China


Book Description

China, which is fast on its way to becoming the most powerful economic force in the world, has four unique characteristics that distinguish it from other countries in Asia: (1) The proportion of aging population is growing faster than that of Japan (the country previously recognized as having the fastest rate) and much faster than nations in western Europe. (2) An early arrival of an aging population before modernization has fully taken place, with social policy implications. It is certain that China will face a severely aged population before it has sufficient time and resources to establish an adequate social security and service system for older people. (3) There will be fluctuations in the total dependency ratio. The Chinese government estimates are that the country will reach a higher dependent burden earlier in the twenty-first century than was previously forecast. (4) The government’s fertility policy (single child per family) and its implementation has a strong influence on the aging process. Fewer children are being born, but with more elderly people a conflict arises between the objectives to limit population increase and yet maintain a balanced age structure (Peng and Guo 2001). The intersection of these fourfold factors means that the increased aging population is giving rise to serious concerns among Chinese social policy makers. There is a chronic lack of good resource materials that attempt to make sense of social policy in its relationship to examining the problems and possibilities of human aging grounded in an analysis of economic of social policy in China and impact on rural and urban spaces. Such analysis of China will be covered by conceptual, theoretical, and empirical approaches. The book will also discuss substantive topics of housing, community care, family care, pensions, and mental health. The book brings together a truly world class array of researchers to provide discussions of critical implications of aging social policy and the economic impact in China.




World Report on Ageing and Health


Book Description

The WHO World report on ageing and health is not for the book shelf it is a living breathing testament to all older people who have fought for their voice to be heard at all levels of government across disciplines and sectors. - Mr Bjarne Hastrup President International Federation on Ageing and CEO DaneAge This report outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. This will require a transformation of health systems away from disease based curative models and towards the provision of older-person-centred and integrated care. It will require the development sometimes from nothing of comprehensive systems of long term care. It will require a coordinated response from many other sectors and multiple levels of government. And it will need to draw on better ways of measuring and monitoring the health and functioning of older populations. These actions are likely to be a sound investment in society's future. A future that gives older people the freedom to live lives that previous generations might never have imagined. The World report on ageing and health responds to these challenges by recommending equally profound changes in the way health policies for ageing populations are formulated and services are provided. As the foundation for its recommendations the report looks at what the latest evidence has to say about the ageing process noting that many common perceptions and assumptions about older people are based on outdated stereotypes. The report's recommendations are anchored in the evidence comprehensive and forward-looking yet eminently practical. Throughout examples of experiences from different countries are used to illustrate how specific problems can be addressed through innovation solutions. Topics explored range from strategies to deliver comprehensive and person-centred services to older populations to policies that enable older people to live in comfort and safety to ways to correct the problems and injustices inherent in current systems for long-term care.