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12 - Cross-cultural differences in ageing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Sandra Torres
Edited by
Ian Stuart-Hamilton
Sandra Torres
Affiliation:
University of Uppsala
Ian Stuart-Hamilton
Affiliation:
University of Glamorgan
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Summary

OVERVIEW

This chapter is conceived as an introduction to the study of cross-cultural differences in ageing and old age. As such it summarizes some of the major trends observed in the three areas of gerontological enquiry that focus on the study of culture and ethnicity's impact on the way in which ageing is experienced and understood: anthropo-gerontology, cross-cultural gerontology and ethno-gerontology. The chapter summarizes some of the work done on the impact that culture has on the way in which the construct of successful ageing is understood and presents some of the challenges that the globalization of international migration is expected to have in the way in which gerontologists study culture and ethnicity.

Introduction

This chapter examines the impact that ethnicity and culture have on the manner in which ageing and old age are experienced and understood. It draws upon the disciplines of anthropo-gerontology, cross-cultural gerontology and ethno-gerontology, and some of the key concepts used in these will be defined in the opening section of this chapter. These introductions will be followed by a critical consideration of one of social gerontology's most debated constructs; namely, successful ageing. This will be done to demonstrate what the fields in question have contributed to this debate. The chapter will end with a discussion of the challenges to research, policy and practice that are posed by globalization, the hybridization of cultures that this phenomenon poses, the contemporary increase in international migration flows and transnational communities, and the implications that all of these trends have for the study of culture/ethnicity, migration, inequality and ‘the periphery’ since these are all themes with which cross-cultural and ethno-gerontologists are concerned.

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An Introduction to Gerontology , pp. 340 - 362
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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