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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Gerontological autism
— terms of accountability in the cultural study of the category of the Fourth Age | | Author(s) | Haim Hazan |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 31, part 7, October 2011 |
| Pages | pp 1125-1140 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Family relationships ; Age groups [elderly] ; Octogenarians ; Nonagenarians ; Young people ; Attitudes to the old of general public ; Theory. |
| Annotation | This article aims to pose an intellectual challenge to both students and researchers of old age. It suggests that older people are a testimony to the failure to generate a language by which to comprehend cultural phenomena, which has the effect of nullifying any meaningful discourse between researchers and older subjects. The arguments are based on an analysis of the unique position of the very old as an `unconstructable other', as they appear in the relevant discourse relating to older people. The article suggests that cultural standing of that category is set in a symbolic and existential space that prevents communication with its inhabitants. The social processes that lead to this state of absent translation and a deadlock of interpretation are analysed by using examples a longitudinal study of the very old in Israel. In ending, an alternative way of understanding the ageing population is proposed. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-111031004 A |
| Classmark | DS:SJ: BB: BBM: BBR: SB: TOB: 4D |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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