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Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Demography of Aging
Longevity is a triumph of humanity. It is the result mainly of declining fertility and mortality rates, and increasing survival at older ages. The global population of persons aged 60 years or over is projected to increase to one in five by 2050 according to the estimates of UNFPA and Helpage International (2012). The demographic profile of India in the UNFPA report poses great social, economic and political challenges to the central and state governments, families and non-governmental organizations.
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Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Social services for the elderly all over the world would fall into two broad categories: institutional care and community-based services.
Institutional Care Institutional care in ‘homes for the aged’ emerged as a favoured form of care of the elderly by the state, and the religious orders and voluntary organizations when the family was unable, negligent or unwilling to provide care to the older members. Institutionalization isolates the elderly from their homes and the community, and hence is an undesirable form of care of the elderly. Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Social services are organized societal approaches to the amelioration or eradication of those conditions which are viewed at any historical point of time as unacceptable and for which knowledge and skills can be applied to make them more acceptable (Beattie, Jr., 1976). The emergence of social security systems throughout the world gave impetus to social responsibility for the provision of different social services for the elderly depending on the resources available to the countries and the level of awareness as well as acceptance of the needs of older persons. The term “Social Security” was first used in the title of the United States legislation, the Social Security Act of 1935. It was used in 1941 in the wartime document known as the Atlantic Charter. The ILO adopted the term. It adopted a Convention of Minimum Standards of Social Security in 1952 which has influenced many social security measures all over the world.
Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Aging is a long term process of change for both individuals and populations. However, the concept and process of aging are surrounded by considerable controversy and suspect evidence. Human aging is a process of differentiation and individualization. Aging has two integral elements – intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic aging means those age-related processes that are internal and specific to the individual, while extrinsic aging comprises those age-related changes that are brought about by external factors related to the physical and social environment of the individual (United Nations,1982 ). Older persons, who were born at a particular historical time, and in a particular region and society, belong to a cohort sharing similar social and historical experiences, life-styles and other characteristics which differentiate them from other older persons born at different historical periods in diverse social situations. Individuals derive social meanings and develop expectations regarding themselves, their families and their society as they grow older from these processes of aging and within the context of social, historical, cultural and economic situations.
Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society (A study of 104 elderly persons aged 60 and above participating in a community care programme of CEWA)
Life satisfaction, “in the sense of a subjective feeling of well- being, depends both on external, material factors, as well as the internal dispositions of the ageing person “ (Brearley, 1978). The concept of satisfaction is, therefore, closely linked to the idea of adaptation to aging. Satisfaction in later years of life is dependent on being able to see a total pattern in life, which will not always be easy in the light of the past and present deprivations, hardships and problems that many older people experience. Life satisfaction is the outcome of self-comparison of what one desired with what one got. Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Social Work Profession in India: An Uncertain Future Introduction
Social work as a profession arose in the context of capitalism to mitigate the ills caused by it. It had its origin in the nineteenth century with the emergence of a philosophy of “scientific charity” which stated that charity should be “secular, rational and empirical as opposed to sectarian, sentimental and dogmatic” (Huff, 1997)1. Social work profession grew out of the Charity Organization Societies (COS) in England (1869) and the United States of America (1877). The COS in Britain adopted a punitive approach by using the “scientific case work method” to distinguish between the “deserving” poor to determine who would use appropriately the financial help given, and the “undeserving” poor. The practice of case work was considered the “antithesis of mass or socialistic measures” like the provision of free school meals and old age pensions (Ferguson, 2009). The first social workers in England were called hospital almoners. The Royal Free Hospital hired the first almoner in 1895. The first professional social worker to be hired in the United States was in 1905 at the Massachusetts General Hospital. |
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