Session 6: Ageing in Context

1st Global Conference

Friday 3rd July – Saturday 5th July 2009
Mansfield College, Oxford

One of the most prominent characteristics of the present Portuguese society is the growth trend of its senior population. Having been used to living for decades with high rates of birth and mortality, Portugal is presently facing a reality that, although common to most European countries, is starting to come to terms with the relevant social impact that this is causing. It is based on this assumption that we propose to reflect on some of the predominant traits of the ageing experience in Portugal, identifying areas of psychosocial analysis and intervention. The evaluation of and intervention with elderly populations implies a consideration of material, social, bio-behavioural, psychological, emotional and health measures, frequently establishing links between one (or more) of these measures and the quality of life. The big question is to understand how and which of the psychological, social and other aspects that make the quality of life of the older people vary. Only after answering this question can we, therefore, define standards of quality of life for the elderly, hence deriving policies for preventive and optimized interventions of successful ageing.

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Ageing relates all of us in many different ways. It has been culturally embedded at the centre of Indian Society. We are familiar with the traditional wisdom attributed to the Aged and the folk conviction that old age is the apotheosis of all that is virtuous in life. The conventional representations of old age as the most fulfilling stage of life have been popular and have been propagated repeatedly. A certain meaning is thus attributed to the old age that keeps changing with the changes in the social structure where it is located. Interestingly ethno-history of Old Age and of the Aged as a socially constituted entity does not emanate easily from our enquiries into India’s past gerontology. Where we succeed generally is in having only a broader and sparse conception of ageing as a social process. Perhaps the related data is not easily amenable to the processes and tools of enquiry accessible usually to history/sociology disciplines. One needs to go “beyond” the contours of academic disciplines to access and comprehend social practices associated with ageing as a distinct stage in one’s life-span.

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The proposed lecture focuses on middle-aged immigrants (ages 45-65) from various cultures and aims to gain understanding into their experiences at a junction of two transitional social positions – immigration and middle-age.
The study allows a combination of different cultural interpretations towards the middle age, and explores the common experiences of the middle age in different cultures through a dialog with a new host culture.
The study applies the qualitative inquiry, uses phenomenological – interpretational perspective and in-depth interviews. The respondents are 40 immigrants from the former Soviet Union, the USA, Argentina and France who immigrated to Israel in the last ten years while they were 45-65 years old. The respondents are sampled through adapted sampling method.
The study’s results show a deep need of the immigrants to be needed – at work, in the family and in the new society. Immigration in middle-age is typically a stressful life-event associated with multiple losses and difficulties. One of the main problems for many of the middle aged immigrants is a downward mobility caused by their immigrant status but also by a low employment and age status. This may cause a downward mobility within their families as well, versus the younger generation, who typically integrate faster into the new society. For many of the interviewees, immigration is connected to the loss of their youth; some of them feel like they have become “old” since their professional and personal knowledge became irrelevant in the new society.
Nevertheless, the results indicate that middle aged immigrants feel a necessity to accept the changes and losses, try looking on the positive aspects of their situation and to think of their future with optimism.