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Research on gender and later life has often taken a feminist political economy perspective, emphasising the disadvantaged position of older women in relation to pensions and access to health and social care (Arber and Ginn, 1991, 1995; Estes, 2001). This chapter extends this approach by examining diversity among older men and women according to marital status. It is important to see marital status in later life as reflecting an older woman's lifecourse, for example, in terms of how childrearing has constrained paid employment and therefore acquisition of pensions, while having children also influences an older person's potential available carers. There are many other bases of diversity in later life, such as class and ethnicity, which may crosscut and amplify gender inequalities (Calasanti and Sleven, 2001), but these are not considered here. Less attention has been paid to older men's lives (Thompson, 1994). This chapter aims to redress some of this imbalance by considering the extent to which the minority of non-partnered men in later life are disadvantaged in terms of financial and material well-being and access to carers.
Later life is a predominantly female world. In all developed societies, women live longer than men, resulting in increasingly more older women than men as age advances. The extent of this female numerical dominance varies between societies. In the countries of the former Soviet Union and central Europe, the life expectancy of women is over 10 years more than men (Mesle and Vallin, 2002), and the numerical gender differential is much greater than in the UK. In the UK, women in 2001 could expect to live 4.8 years longer than men – an expectation of life of 80.1 for women and 75.3 for men (ONS, 2003).
Grandparenting in the 21st century is at the heart of profound family and societal changes. It is of increasing social and economic significance yet many dimensions of grandparenting are still poorly understood. Contemporary Grandparenting is the first book to take a sociological approach to grandparenting across diverse country contexts and combines new theorising with up-to-date empirical findings to document the changing nature of grandparenting across global contexts.
In this highly original book, leading contributors analyse how grandparenting differs according to the nature of the welfare state and the cultural context, how family breakdown influences grandparenting, and explore men’s changing roles as grandfathers. Grandparents today face conflicting norms and expectations about their roles, but act with agency to forge new identities within the context of societal and cultural constraints.
Contemporary Grandparenting illuminates key issues relevant to students and researchers from sociology and social policy, including in the fields of family, childhood, ageing and gender studies.
This introductory chapter of Contemporary Grandparenting provides an overview of the main themes, arguments and frameworks that research on grandparents has yielded, highlighting how the book addresses lacunae in the literature and engages with new/poorly understood aspects of grandparenthood. The chapter outlines the key recent changes in the demographic, socioeconomic, family and social policy contexts that frame grandparenthood. Key concepts and frameworks (solidarity, conflict and ambivalence) that are discussed and advanced in Contemporary Grandparenting are introduced in this chapter. Research on how grandparenting practices vary by gender, lineage, age, marital status, grandchild characteristics and geographical distance is summarised. Typologies of grandparenting styles are outlined. Research that has approached family relations through focus on intergenerational transfers (of time, money, practical assistance) is briefly discussed. The strong emphasis on the middle generation that emerges from earlier literature is synopsised. The chapter concludes by arguing that the role of grandparents in 21st-century families is more multidimensional, complex and dynamic than it has been in earlier periods in history. Grandparents are a heterogeneous group, and important differences persist between cultural and welfare state contexts in how grandparenthood is constructed and enacted. The nature of grandparenting is evolving in response to external demands from families and economies, but also in accordance with grandparents’ own choices.
The final chapter provides an overview of how grandparenting is influenced by cultural norms and welfare policies, as well as global trends associated with demographic changes, migration and increases in women’s employment. The importance of examining the doing of grandparenting is emphasised, together with the value of using a relational perspective to understand the negotiated nature of grandparent - adult child - grandchild relationships and the agency of each party within these three generational relationships. Key cross cutting dimensions include the salience of gender, age (or generation), marital status, and structured inequalities associated with class and material resources. The chapter shows how themes addressed in this book represent a rich arena for future research, given the rapid pace of relevant societal changes and the fact that grandparenting is increasingly at the fulcrum of family relationships.
Grandparenting in the 21st century is at the heart of profound family and societal changes. It is of increasing social and economic significance yet many dimensions of grandparenting are still poorly understood. Contemporary Grandparenting is the first book to take a sociological approach to grandparenting across diverse country contexts and combines new theorising with up-to-date empirical findings to document the changing nature of grandparenting across global contexts. In this highly original book, leading contributors analyse how grandparenting differs according to the nature of the welfare state and the cultural context, how family breakdown influences grandparenting, and explore men’s changing roles as grandfathers. Grandparents today face conflicting norms and expectations about their roles, but act with agency to forge new identities within the context of societal and cultural constraints. Contemporary Grandparenting illuminates key issues relevant to students and researchers from sociology and social policy, including in the fields of family, childhood, ageing and gender studies.
Grandparenting in the 21st century is at the heart of profound family and societal changes. It is of increasing social and economic significance yet many dimensions of grandparenting are still poorly understood. Contemporary Grandparenting is the first book to take a sociological approach to grandparenting across diverse country contexts and combines new theorising with up-to-date empirical findings to document the changing nature of grandparenting across global contexts. In this highly original book, leading contributors analyse how grandparenting differs according to the nature of the welfare state and the cultural context, how family breakdown influences grandparenting, and explore men’s changing roles as grandfathers. Grandparents today face conflicting norms and expectations about their roles, but act with agency to forge new identities within the context of societal and cultural constraints. Contemporary Grandparenting illuminates key issues relevant to students and researchers from sociology and social policy, including in the fields of family, childhood, ageing and gender studies.
This chapter discusses how the sleep of older people is linked to issues of autonomy and active ageing. For older people living in the community, this chapter demonstrates how the strategic use of napping is related to the goal of active ageing, discusses the reluctance of older people to take prescribed sleeping medication, and examines how care-giving can adversely affect the sleep of older people. For older people living in care homes, care home routines, staffing levels at night and night-time monitoring by staff can compromise the sleep of care home residents, which has implications for their daytime functioning. This chapter argues that poor sleep is often ignored by both the medical profession and by the general public, yet is fundamental in terms of optimising health and well-being in later life, and enabling older people to achieve independent and active lives.
This chapter discusses the various aspects of health and well-being in later life that were studied by fourteen different NDA projects. The first part of this chapter examines some of the key concepts in this field, including quality of life and subjective well-being. It focuses on the barriers to healthy ageing and good quality of life in old age. These include economic barriers, physiological effects, limits to mobility, barriers to paid employment, and psychosocial barriers. The second half of the chapter looks at interventions to support well-being and healthy ageing. Drawing on the extensive testing of models by the NDA projects, the chapter focuses on six different types of intervention: financial, pharmacological, physical (exercise), environmental (blue light and OWL), community music making, and engagement with art.
