Continuities in Providing for Old Age: Cross‐national and Cross‐cultural Comparisons
Drawing on a purposive sample of 25 interviews supplemented by secondary source material, this comparative study explores the options available to elderly immigrants in two quite similar countries to achieve social security in their old age. The focus is the culturally determined perspectives and practices of aging Italian-born and Indian-born immigrants in the context of public and private sector social welfare policies and provisions in Australia and Canada. Government transfers, occupational superannuation, tax-deductible personal savings, housing, and formal and informal supports are discussed. What is important to the sense of social security of the older people and how well-off or disadvantaged they seem to be are among the questions raised. The design affords an opportunity to test the complex combination of cross-national and cross-cultural comparison. In the certainty that the income deficiencies of today's elderly immigrants cannot be remedied easily or quickly enough to benefit those affected, intervention strategies can be aimed at expanding ethno-specific community supports and quality residential care; such a direction is supported by assessment of service availability in relation to estimates of aging among particular foreign-born immigrant groups. Suggestions are made for future research at the levels of theory and application. Copyright 1993 by The Policy Studies Organization.
Cultural Considerations in the Delivery of Homecare Services: "Beyond 2 kitchens and a disability/ più di due cucine e disabilità "
This study explored the experiences, interpretations and cultural beliefs of older Italian immigrants who were receiving culturally specific formal homecare services through an assisted living facility in Ontario, to examine how their identity and life history influenced their experiences of receiving care. The current study builds on the existing body of knowledge about Canada's older Italian immigrants, in particular their caregiving traditions and current need for formal care. This research study employed phenomenology to explore the subjective experiences of Canadian Italian older immigrants who were receiving formal homecare services to capture the personal meanings and interpretations of their immigration experiences, as they related to their need for formal homecare services. Interviews were conducted with 25 older Italian immigrants over the age of 75 that were receiving culturally specific homecare services. The participants shared their immigration stories, fears, work history, healthcare challenges and descriptions of arrival, family, losses, and life in Canada. The Life Course Framework was selected to guide this research study, to represent the process of aging and human development that
Ideological Quietism? Ideology and Party Politics in Britain
Ideology and political parties are frequently depicted as disparate entities, with scholars citing a range of exogenous and endogenous changes to demonstrate the decreasing relevance of ideology to party politics. This article moves away from such accounts by looking at the role of actors, and specifically party leaders, in contributing to perceptions of ideological decline. Through an examination of the rhetoric of Labour and Conservative Party leaders in Britain between 1946 and 1997, this article contends that politicians have engaged in, what is termed here, ‘ideological quietism’. In this sense, parties have not abandoned ideology but have made rhetorical shifts indicative of ideological decline.