Centre for Policy on Ageing
 

 

The gift of generations
 — Japanese and American perspectives on aging and the social contract
Author(s)Akiko Hashimoto
PublisherCambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996
Pages226 pp
SourceCambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU.
KeywordsOlder people ; Social characteristics [elderly] ; Demography ; Needs [elderly] ; Rights [elderly] ; Family care ; Social policy ; Social economics ; Japan ; United States of America ; Comparison.
AnnotationNations worldwide are facing the challenge of how to best provide for the needs of their ageing populations while at the same time considering the financial and material constraints. This book investigates the different cultural meanings of giving and deserving help in two ageing societies, the United States (US) and Japan. Drawing on fieldwork from two communities - Odawa City, Japan, and West Haven City, Connecticut, US, the author explores the question of the social contract in contemporary societies. The first two chapters introduce the main themes of the study (deservedness, vulnerability, and responsibility), and describes the two communities studied. In the third chapter, the different social designations of rights and responsibilities in the public domain are explored, by examining the relationship between the individual, the family and the state as expressed in Japanese and US social policies. The next three chapters analyse the helping practices in the private domain, focusing on the different patterns of interaction in the giver-receiver relationship, and the viewpoints of older people themselves. The book concludes with a discussion about the social assignments of rights, responsibilities, credits and debts. (AKM).
Accession NumberCPA-980908214 B
ClassmarkB: F: S8: IK: IKR: P6:SJ: TM2: W4: 7DT: 7T: 48

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