Valuing older people : : A humanist approach to ageing / / ed. by Ricca Edmondson, Hans-Joachim von Kondratowitz.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Bristol University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2013-1995
• MitwirkendeR: Andreß, Hans-Jürgen,; Baines, Sue,; Clarke, Amanda,; Coleman, Peter G.,; Cooney, Adeline,; Daatland, Svein Olav,; Derkx, Peter,; Dillon, Michele,; Edmondson, Ricca,; Fairhurst, Eileen,; Frommert, Dina,; Gallagher, Carmel,; Hazan, Haim,; Heien, Thorsten,; Hofäcker, Dirk,; Jolanki, Outi,; K., Kalyani,; Kondratowitz, Hans-Joachim von,; Manheimer, Ronald J.,; Murphy, Kathy,; Nichol, James,; Phillips, Judith,; Warren, Lorna,; Wohlrab-Sahr, Monika,
• HerausgeberIn: Edmondson, Ricca,; von Kondratowitz, Hans-Joachim,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol : : Policy Press, , [2009]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Series: Ageing and the Lifecourse
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (312 p.)

How can we understand older people as real human beings, value their wisdom, and appreciate that their norms and purposes both matter in themselves and are affected by those of others? Using a life-course approach, Valuing older people argues that the complexity and potential creativity of later life demand a humanistic vision of older people and ageing. It acknowledges the diversity of experiences of older age and presents a range of contexts and methodologies through which they can be understood. Ageing is a process of creating meaning carried out by older people, and is significant for those around them. This book, therefore, considers the impact of social norms and political and economic structures on older people's capacities to age in creative ways. What real obstacles are there to older people's construction of meaningful lives? What is being achieved when they feel they are ageing well? This collection, aimed at students, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers, offers a lively and constructive response to contemporary challenges involving ageing and how to understand it.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Contents -- List of tables and figures -- Notes on contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Religion, spirituality, cultural resources and creating meaning -- Religious belonging and spiritual questioning: a Western European perspective on ageing and religion -- Spirituality: a means for achieving integration in personal and community spheres in an ageing Singapore -- Integrating the sacred in creative ageing -- Atheist convictions, Christian beliefs or ‘keeping things open’? Patterns of world views among three generations in East German families -- Beyond dialogue: entering the fourth space in old age -- Norms, values and gerontology -- The long road to a moralisation of old age -- How to balance generations: solidarity dilemmas in a European perspective -- Pension systems and the challenge of population ageing: what does the public think? -- Ethos of care and environment in long-stay care settings: impacts on residents’ lives -- Engineering substantially prolonged human lifespans: biotechnological enhancement and ethics -- Ageing and wisdom? Conflicts and contested developments -- Wisdom: a humanist approach to valuing older people -- Social practices, moral frameworks and religious values in the lives of older people -- ‘Woo-hoo, what a ride!’ Older people, life stories and active ageing -- Does eldership mean anything in the contemporary West? -- Talk about old age, health and morality -- Afterwords -- Exploring positive images of ageing: the production of calendars -- Gateways to humanistic gerontology -- Index