14 - cultural attitudes Flashcards
Typically, Western cultures are labeled as ___ societies.
Ageist:
→ undervalue older adult populations
→ primarily youth dominated; younger people are seen as the embodiment of what the society values
True or false: Long-term care facilities and retirement homes are very positive environments for older adults.
False: Older adults are often put in long-term care facilities or retirement homes
→ COVID brought to light all the negative stuff that goes on in these homes due to lack of oversight
→ if older adults were more valued than they are, a lot of these care facilities would have had more oversight, and older adults would’ve gotten the care they needed
How are physical signs of aging looked at?
- Physical signs of aging are looked at with distaste
→ even older adults think they’re losing their value to society, this ties into their worth
→ if you’re no longer seen as an active member to society, you’re seen as a burden
Eastern cultures are labeled as…
- Eastern cultures are labeled as accepting aging and older adults
→ place them on a pedestal of wisdom and respect
→ Older adults are often cared for by younger generations (typically at home, many of them living with their children or some young relative)
→ Physical changes are often regarded as a life well lived
→ grey hair, wrinkles and other signs of aging are often seen as marks of wisdom, a life well-lived and things to be respected
What is the truth behind the Eastern vs Western appreciation of older adults debate?
- There is limited empirical evidence to support the Western vs. Eastern view
- Attitudes toward older adults ultimately lie with individuals, but are shaped by culture, history, social structure, and demographics
- Three main competing theories have emerged as potential explanations for these conflicting findings and , more importantly, our views on aging
- the country values may not overlap with individual values
- a lot of older eastern traditions have decreased in value with time
- the data no longer supports generalities of western and eastern views
Name the three main competing theories that have emerged as potential explanations for the conflicting findings on Eastern-Western.
1) Value orientation
2) Competing over resources
3) Economic political structure
Explain what the “value orientation” argument states about eastern-western debate.
- Societies hold older adults in high regard because of strong collectivist traditions
- “Traditional” societies place a greater emphasis on reverence for older adults and the importance of learning cultural history through oral telling and retelling
- This view conflates the primary religion of a place with other aspects of its social nature
→ a lot of undertone of religion overlap, which lead to our previous preconception on how ageism differs from eastern and western; but even in western societies, religion is very important and the importance of tradition is also emphasized (all over the world)
→ so one of the issues of overlap might not be religion, but more so secularization - This view states that the secularization of society is leading a decline in the traditional bonds
→ happens a lot more in typical western societies
→ typically correlates well with individualism, where personal freedom and self-commitment take power over community and family; this might make us shift away from caregiving of older relatives
→ we see some of the trends that allow for secularization, where there is a shift in structure, in western AND eastern societies
→ less tie to strong social anchors (churches, mosques, etc.,) so the motivation to take care of older adults fades away
→ often accompanied by urbanization, where younger generations will then move away, leaving older adults alone and far away from family life (western AND eastern) - As older adults transition out of the workforce, they are seen less valuable to the economy and pushed aside
What are the problems with the “value orientation” theory on eastern-western?
- Does not consider variation among Asian countries
→ not all asian countries have the same positive view of older adults - Some studies show that Western cultures have positive views for older adults
→ cultural individualism seen in western cultures have more positive views than collectivist values - *religion is no longer the pillar in one vs. the other; AND there are certain eastern countries that fall into secularization
Explain what the “competition over resources” argument states about eastern-western debate.
- Older adults receive more resource allotment than their “fair share” = intergenerational inequality
→ younger people may grow to resent older people who may have “more of the fair share”
→ Older adults are thus viewed negatively because they are dependent on others
→ p.ex: burdening the health care system, the labour market, etc.
→ meta-analysis have shown that these negative attitudes towards older adults are correlated with the rate of population aging
→ experimental designs have found that older workers receive the lowest level of training resources compared to when they were younger
What are the problems with the “competition over resources” argument?
- Many inconclusive results
→ because countries that have good health and social services (for entire population) still have negative aging views
→ so competition over resources is not a viable hypothesis because it doesn’t hold up across the board when many researches are done
Explain what the “economic political structure” argument states about eastern-western debate.
- Higher levels of economic development and industrialization are associated with more negative attitudes towards older adults
→ modernization erodes the role and status of older adults; their value of knowledge keepers has decrease - Democratic systems give a lot of power to older adults for voting and try to improve social programs for older adults
→ when social programs are given to one group, we tend to think that they’re removed from another group
→ citizens were less likely to support cuts to pension systems in countries with higher rates of poverty
→ but in countries with robust pension systems (Canada), people were less likely to support increases to these systems
→ these pension systems are typically not good enough to care for the elderly
What are the problems with the “economic political structure” argument about eastern-western?
- Richer countries should thus have more pro-aging attitudes because there are more resources that can go around
→ however this is not always the case, so there are problems with this model as well
True or false: Richer countries appear more likely to see older adults as a burden than poor countries.
False: Poorer countries appear more likely to see older adults as a burden than rich countries
→ there’s been a shift in narrative in how we look at older adults
What do south and east asian countries state regarding whether or not they see older adults as burdens or as “getting more than their fair share”?
- South and East Asian countries state older adults are not a burden but believe they get more than their fair share
→ 6 of the 10 top countries that believe this are in east and south asia
→ while they state that they hold their elderly to high regard and respect, they may resent the distribution of resources at the same time
What can be noted about latin american and eastern european countries regarding seeing older adults as burdens or as “getting more than their fair share”?
- 10 lowest countries are primarily composed of latin american and eastern european countries, which have strong history of socialism
→ Higher socialism = less resentment towards older adults getting social aids
