The Last Frontier: The Social Meaning of Growing OldSage Publications, 1977 - 215 pages How do the elderly manage to give meaning to their daily lives? Fontana has spent three years watching and talking to an enormous variety of old people: those who can afford to "grow old gracefully", the elderly poor who scrape by in urban ghettos, and those who age behind the walls of nursing homes. He lets them speak for themselves, and what they say is often surprising: it destroys many of our most cherished assumptions about aging. This book provides fundamental insights into ways to age with dignity and sense. -- Publisher description. |
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acceptable activities Administration on Aging adult age peers analysis assumption attribute behavior belief chapter chronological age club daugh daughter death defined definition of old dependent economic elderly example extended family feel forces friends gerontologists Goffman Gray Panthers important imputed income informants intensive interviewing interac interaction isolated label LIBRARY OF SOCIAL live Lofland maintain members of society newcomer nuclear family offspring old age old mother old person old widows old woman Older Americans Act participant observation participants perspective physical position problems relation relationship RESEARCH SAGE LIBRARY resident retirement rewards role distance self-identity self-image senior center senior citizens center setting Shanas social actors social class social definition social identity SOCIAL RESEARCH SAGE Social Security social worlds someone status stereotype stigma strategies taken-for-granted things tion widowed mothers women worlds of old young younger