Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:59:13.701Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aging in Canada: The Challenge to Political Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Henry J. Pratt
Henry J. Pratt
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The political science discipline has been decidedly under-represented in the emergence of Canadian social gerontology over the past two decades. This is rather surprising, considering that political and governmental institutions—always a primary focus of political science attention—have played a critical role in allocating social values toward elderly persons, and that relatively large sums of public money are spent on aging programs. The discipline's relative absence in gerontological studies is explainable partly in terms of forces long at work within political science, and partly on the basis of ones external to it—all of which for some years combined to discourage work on this topic. Very recently, however, the negative influences have weakened to some degree, while new factors of a positive character have entered the picture. As a result, it is possible to offer a guardedly optimistic estimate of the potential for political science to become more involved and more committed than heretofore.

Résumé

Au cours des deux dernières décennies, la présence des sciences politiques au sein des études naissantes en gérontologie a été peu marquée au Canada. Ce phénomène a de quoi surprendre étant donné l'importance du rôle joué par les institutions politiques et gouvernementales—toujours priviliégiées par les spécialistes en sciences politiques—dans l'assignation des valeurs sociales concernant les personnes âgées, ainsi que celle des deniers publics consacrés aux programmes sur le vieillissement. La relative absence des sciences politiques en gérontologie s'explique en partie par certains facteurs internes depuis longtemps en jeu ainsi que par divers facteurs externes, facteurs dont la combinaison a eu pour effet jusqu'à maintenant de détourner l'intérêt de la question. Depuis très récemment, cependant, l'influence des facteurs négatifs s'est mise à diminuer tandis que celle des facteurs positifs commence à se faire sentir. Il est donc permis de se montrer optimiste quant à la possibilité de voir les sciences politiques s'intéresser davantage aux études gérontologiques.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , June 1984 , pp. 55 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1984

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

Bardach, E. (1977). The implementation game. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Beardsley, P.L. (1977). A critique of post-behavioralism. Political Theory, 5, 97–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryden, K. (1974). Old age pensions and policy-making in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.Google Scholar
Cairns, A.C. (1974). Alternative styles in the study of Canadian politics. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 7, 101–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, A., Converse, P., Miller, W., & Stokes, D. (1960). The American voter. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Chappell, N. (1980). Social policy for the elderly. In Marshall, V.W. (Ed.), Aging in Canada: Social perspectives (pp. 35–42). Don Mills, Ont: Fitzhenry & Whiteside.Google Scholar
Clarke, H.D., LeDuc, L., Jenson, J., & Pammett, J. (1979). Political choice in Canada. Toronto: McGraw-Ryerson.Google Scholar
Derthick, M. (1972). New towns in town. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.Google Scholar
Dolbeare, K. (1970). Public policy analysis and the coming struggle for the soul of post-behavioralism. In Green, P. & Levinson, S. (Eds.), Power and community: Dissenting essays in political science (pp. 85–111). New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Kernaghan, K. (1982). Politics, administration, and Canada's aging population. Canadian Public Policy, 8, 69–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kernaghan, K. (1983). Coordination in Canadian governments: A case study of aging policy. Toronto: Institute of Public Administration of Canada.Google Scholar
Lambert, R. (1976). Voting, election interest, and age: National findings for English and French Canadians. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 9, 293–307.Google Scholar
Lammers, W.C., & Nyomarky, J. (1980). The disappearing senior leaders: Cabinet member age structures in western nations, 1868–1978. Research on Aging, 2, 329–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, V.M. (Ed.). (1980). Aging in Canada: Social perspectives. Don Mills, Ont.: Fitzhenry & Whiteside.Google Scholar
Pratt, H.J. (1979). Politics of aging: Political science and the study of gerontology. Research on Aging, 1, 155–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratt, H.J. (1983). Political implications of aging. Interdisciplinary Topics in Gerontology, 17, 143–150.Google Scholar
Pressman, J.L., & Wildavsky, A. (1973). Implementation: How great expectations in Washington are dashed in Oakland. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Regenstreif, P. (1965). The Diefenbaker interlude: Parties and voting in Canada. Don Mills, Ont.: Longmans Canada.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (1983, September 19). Statistics Canada Daily, p. 4.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (1984, January). Section 3: 1. Income and expenditure accounts: Table 1.7. Government revenue, expenditure, and surplus or deficit, by level of government (millions of dollars). Canadian Statistical Review, p. 23.Google Scholar
Yelaja, S.A. (1978). The elderly in social policy. In Yelaja, S.A. (Ed.), Canadian social policy (pp. 147–165). Waterloo, Ont: Wilfred Laurier University Press.Google Scholar