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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Moral discourse and public policy in aging
— framing problems, seeking solutions, and `public ethics' | | Author(s) | Phillip G Clark |
| Journal title | Canadian Journal on Aging, vol 12, no 4, Winter 1993 |
| Pages | pp 485-508 |
| Keywords | Ageing process ; Social policy ; Social ethics ; Comparison ; Canada ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Humanistic approaches are essential in exploring the major policy-related dimensions of gerontology and geriatrics. This paper outlines how the approach of `public ethics' - the examination of the principal values underlying and guiding the public policy process - can further our understanding of the policy response to ageing. To highlight this analysis, examples are drawn from a comparative examination of Canada and the US. The following elements are examined: social values, particularly individualism vs collectivism; how social problems are defined and solutions sought; and the social construction of the `crisis' of ageing, including its expression in age-group polarisation and the rationing of health resources. Finally, the nature of public debate and moral discourse as process governing the development of public policy is explored, and implications for understanding the importance of values in developing new policies is considered. The policy process - how it responds to the challenges of an ageing population - reveals much about the underlying integrity and cohesiveness of a society and the degree of humanity at the core of major social institutions and social policies. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-970821220 A |
| Classmark | BG: TM2: TQ: 48: 7S: 7T |
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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