Aiding and Aging: The Coming Crisis in Support for the Elderly by Kin and State

(Hardback)

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Citizens of all societies age both as biological beings and as members of households in the open community. Through joining a series of essays and survey analyses, John Mogey has constructed a book that examines the way aging affects those who are growing older as well as the institutions of their society. To study the relationships between aiding the elderly and the aging process, two very different societies--the United States and Hungary--were chosen for comparison. In both societies, support for the elderly comes from formal institutional programs as well as informal family arrangements, and it seems equally true in both cases that the elderly get most of their support through kinship assistance. Throughout the book, the focus remains on the need to encourage the persistence of the kinship system, and the necessity of public programs to actively support the maintenance of households. The volume is structured in three distinct sections: Households, Amity, and Lifestyle; Individuals, Kinship, and Networks; and Kinship, Lifestyle, and Policy. In each section, essays concentrate on the usual operations within communities that have elderly people in them, drawing data from the United States, Hungary (including information from a unique empirical study in Budapest), and six other countries. The essays also address the variety of demands that the kinship system places on public programs. Aiding and aging are common structural problems in all modern societies, and although each society will develop different policy solutions, all will use elements from the structures described in this collection. The book will be an important resource for courses in social work, social gerontology, and sociology, as well as an important addition to university and public libraries.

Reviews

The authors summarize social support literature through the mid-1980's and integrate findings with their own research, composed mainly of surveys of East York (Canada) families. Comparison of the function of social support across cultures and among several countries (U.S., Hungary, Australia, Italy, Canada, and Ireland) is helpful in gaining and international perspective on the differing effects of social support. Five basic dimensions of social support are defined empirically and the authors use a social network approach to explain the effects of kin relationships within broader sets of informal ties. The discussion is primarily analytical, e.g., 'Do family relationships reduce the risk of poor health'...-The Brown University Family Therapy Letter
"The authors summarize social support literature through the mid-1980's and integrate findings with their own research, composed mainly of surveys of East York (Canada) families. Comparison of the function of social support across cultures and among several countries (U.S., Hungary, Australia, Italy, Canada, and Ireland) is helpful in gaining and international perspective on the differing effects of social support. Five basic dimensions of social support are defined empirically and the authors use a social network approach to explain the effects of kin relationships within broader sets of informal ties. The discussion is primarily analytical, e.g., 'Do family relationships reduce the risk of poor health'..."-The Brown University Family Therapy Letter

Author Bio

JOHN MOGEY is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at Arizona State University. He is the author and editor of numerous books on sociology and aging including Social Change in Urban America and A Social History of American Family Sociology, 1865-1940.