Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T17:09:13.547Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Elders: A New Generation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Sidney Jones
Affiliation:
Adviser in Gerontology, Department of Extra-Mural Studies, University of London.

Abstract

Drawing upon evidence from Britain, this paper advances the proposition that new generations of older people are experiencing a healthier, materially better off and more satisfying old age. It is argued that both popular and scientific images of later life are out-dated and unduly negative. In advancing this analysis, attention is given to key areas of personal experience and social life: education, leisure and holidays, retirement, voluntary activity, spirituality, economic status, health and political involvement. A re-construction of the societal position of older people is indicated.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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

NOTES

1 Hemming, R. and Kay, J. ‘The future of occupational pension provision in Britain’, in Fogarty, M. (ed.), Retirement Policy: The Next Fifty Years, London, Heinemann, 1982Google Scholar, and in the same volume Ermisch, J., ‘Resources of the elderly: impact of present commitments and established trends’.Google Scholar

2 Sohngen, M.The experience of old age as depicted in contemporary novels. Gerontologist, 17, 1 02, 7078, 1977.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

3 Loughman, C.Novels of senescence’, in Gerontologist, 17 (1977), 1, 7984, 1977.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Halsey, A. H., Sheehan, J. and Vaizey, J. ‘Schools’, in Halsey, A. H. (ed.), Trends in British Society Since 1900. Macmillan, London, 1972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 Social Trends, no. 12, H.M.S.O., 1982, chart 7.1.Google Scholar

7 Ibid. chart 7.4.

8 Maclure, S.One Hundred Years of London Education, 1870–1970. Allen Lane, London, 1970, p. 104.Google Scholar

9 For an account of the relation of nutrition to skeletal development (and thus to height) see Primary Education (the Hadow Report), H.M.S.O., 1928, appendix III.Google Scholar

10 Rutter, M. and Madge, N.Cycles of Disadvantage. Heinemann, 1976, pp. 5051.Google Scholar

11 Hole, W. V. and Pountney, M. T.Trends in Population, Housing and Occupancy Rates, 1861–1961. H.M.S.O., 1971.Google Scholar

12 Social Trends, no. 2. H.M.S.O., 1971, table 21.Google Scholar

13 Laslett, P.The World We Have Lost. Methuen, London, 1965, p. 207.Google Scholar

14 Social Trends, no. 2, H.M.S.O., 1971, table 21.Google Scholar

15 Ibid. no. 5, H.M.S.O., 1974, table 52.

16 Ibid. no. 12, H.M.S.O., 1982, table 4.4.

17 Bell, D.The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. A Venture in Social Forecasting. Heinemann, London, 1974.Google Scholar

18 Brown, C. J. F. and Sheriff, T. D., ‘De-industrialisation. Background paper’, in Blackaby, F. (ed.), De-Industrialisation. Heinemann, London, 1979, p. 235.Google Scholar

19 Social Trends, no. 12, H.M.S.O., 1982, table 4.7.Google Scholar

20 Ibid. no. 14, H.M.S.O., 1984, table 11.3.

21 Ibid. no. 10, H.M.S.O., 1980, table 12.3.

22 Ibid. no. 10, H.M.S.O., 1980, table 11.3.

23 Ibid. no. 10, H.M.S.O., 1980, tables 11.3 and 12.3.

24 Fogarty, M. ‘The work option’, in Fogarty, M. (ed.), Retirement Policy: The Next Fifty Years (op. cit).Google Scholar

25 Levinson, D., with Darrow, C. N., Klein, E. B., Levinson, M. H. and McKee, B.The Seasons of a Man's Life. Ballantine, New York, 1978, p. 220.Google Scholar

26 For most muscle groups, maximal strength is achieved between the ages of 25 and 30. By the age of 60 the total loss approximates to 10–20 per cent of the maximum. See de Vries, Herbert A.. ‘Physiology of exercise and aging’, in Woodruff, D. and Birren, J. (eds.), Aging: Scientific Perspectives and Social Issues. Van Nostrand, New York, 1975.Google Scholar

27 Fromm, Erich. To Have or To Be? Abacus, London, 1979.Google Scholar

28 Middlesex Polytechnic. Personal communication, 1985.

29 Council for National Academic Awards. Personal communication, 1985.

30 Universities' Central Council on Admissions. Personal communication, 1985.

31 Morrison, Val. Analysis of Applicants for Undergraduate Study with the Open University in 1985. Open University, Institute of Educational Technology, Milton Keynes, 1985. Duplicated.Google Scholar

32 Clennell, S. (ed.). Older Students in the Open University. Older Students Research Group. Open University, Milton Keynes, 1984.Google Scholar

33 Husen, T.The influence of schooling upon IQ’. Theoria, 17 (1951), 6168CrossRefGoogle Scholar. His and another study conducted in Swedish cities produced similar results, obtained between the ages of 10 and 20.

34 See ‘The age of reason’, Times Educational Supplement, no. 3623, 6 12 1985Google Scholar, and ‘It's never too late to make a dream come true’, Getting On Newsletter, Central Independent Television, no. 3, 1985.Google Scholar

35 Baltes, P. and Schaie, K. W.Aging and IQ, – the myth of the twilight years. Psychology Today, 03 1974.Google Scholar

36 Botwinnick, J. ‘Intellectual abilities’, in Birren, J. E. and Schaie, K. W. (eds.), Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1977.Google Scholar

37 Rabbitt, P. ‘Changes in problem-solving ability in old age’, in Birren, J. E. and Schaie, K. W. (eds.), op. cit.Google Scholar

38 Lehman, H. C.Age and Achievement. Princeton University Press, 1953.Google Scholar

39 Bruner, J. S., The Relevance of Education. Allen and Unwin, London, 1972Google Scholar. He emphasises the importance of dialogue between the more experienced and the less in providing entry to the culture (pp. 106–107).

40 Whitaker, S.Extra-mural students: a survey. Adult Education, 57 (1984), 220 and 222.Google Scholar

41 Midwinter, E.Age is Opportunity: Education and Older People. Centre for Policy on Ageing, London, 1982, p. 22.Google Scholar

42 Midwinter, E., op. cit. p. 23.Google Scholar

43 Social Trends, no. 12, H.M.S.O., 1982, table 1.2.Google Scholar

44 Midwinter, E. Centre for Policy on Ageing. Personal communication (at 11 1985, actual number was 112).Google Scholar

45 Bell, C.Civilisation. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1938 (first published in 1928), p. 105.Google Scholar

46 Bell, C.op. cit. p. 128.Google Scholar

47 See note 34.

48 Berger, P.Facing Up to Modernity. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1979, p. 111.Google Scholar

49 Currie, R. and Gilbert, A. ‘Religion’, in Halsey, A. H. (ed.), Trends in British Society since 1900Google Scholar

50 Social Trends, no. 12, H.M.S.O., 1982, table 11.8.Google Scholar

51 Currie, R. and Gilbert, A., in Halsey, A. H. (ed.), op. cit. p. 444.Google Scholar

52 Social Trends, no. 12, H.M.S.O., 1982, table 11.7.Google Scholar

53 Berger, P. ‘Religion in a revolutionary society’ (1975), reprinted in P. Berger, op.cit.Google Scholar

54 Gaine, P. ‘Ageing and the spirit’, in Hobman, D. (ed.), The Social Challenge of Ageing. Croom Helm, London, 1978.Google Scholar

55 Tournier, P.Learning to Grow Old. SCM Press, London, 1972, pp. 155 ff.Google Scholar

56 Social Trends, no. 12, H.M.S.O., 1982, table 11.8.Google Scholar

57 Fromm, E., op. cit.Google Scholar

58 Gutman, D. ‘The Cross Cultural Perspective: notes toward a comparative psychology of aging’ in Birren, J. E. and Shaie, K. W. (eds.) Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1977.Google Scholar

59 Ibid. no. 15, H.M.S.O., 1985, table 11.5.

60 Ibid. no. 14, H.M.S.O., 1984, tables 11.4 and 11.6.

61 Ibid. no. 9, H.M.S.O., 1979, table 15.7.

62 Lambert, J., Laslett, P. and Clay, H.The Image of the Elderly on TV. U3A, Cambridge, 1984.Google Scholar

63 Pressey, S. L., ‘In gerontology 57 years – and 85’, in Zarit, S. (ed.), Readings in Aging and Death, Harper and Row, New York, 1977Google Scholar. He refers to longitudinal studies he has made.

64 Rose, R.Electoral Behaviour. Dursion, Free Press Macmillian, New York, 1974.Google Scholar

65 See Midwinter, E., The Wage of Retirement Centre for Policy on Ageing, London, 1985Google Scholar, on the case for changing the concept of the retirement pension.

66 In this connection see Midwinter, E., op. cit., and his ‘The exclusion of elderly people from everyday life’, Administration 32 (1984), 1536Google Scholar. These argue cogently the case for proper financial support as the basis for a civilised life-style.

67 Johnson, M. L., ‘The implications of greater activity in later life’ in Fogarty, M. (ed.), Retirement Policy: The Next Fifty Years, Heinemann, London 1983.Google Scholar

68 Careful study of the process by which women's opportunities have been enlarged by cogent argument addressed to women as well as men, by research, and by local and central government action, would yield many lessons for the elders. The establishment of the Equal Opportunities Commission is a noteworthy step.

69 See Jones, S., ‘Learning and meta-learning with special reference to education for the elders’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of London, 1983Google Scholar. This assembles some of the evidence of the physical, social, and psychological benefits derived from the changes in self-concept which are based on opportunities to experience a sense of achievement, of competence, and of recognition. Gladys Elder has given a moving account of what it meant to her to be treated as a person on her individual merits rather than as an ‘O.A.P.’, in The Alienated. Growing Old Today, Writers and Readers Publishing Co-operative, London, 1977.Google Scholar