Book Reviews: Images of Aging: Cultural Representations of Later Life, Inequality and Old Age, Disciplining Old Age: The Formation of Gerontological Knowledge, Children, Health and the Social Order, Family Connections: An Introduction to Family Studies, Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women, Marx, Durkheim, Weber: Formations of Modern Social Thought, Understanding Classical Sociology: Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Sociological Theory. What Went Wrong? Diagnosis and Remedies, Culture, Modernity and Revolution. Essays in Honour of Zygmunt Bauman, between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy, Culture and the Public Sphere, Challenging Codes: Collective Action in the Information Age, Sociology, Environmentalism, Globalization: Reinventing the Globe, The New Age Movement, The Problem of Nature: Environment, Culture and European Expansion, The Meaning of Race, Race, History and Culture in Western Society

1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-360
Author(s):  
Chris Phillipson ◽  
Mike Hepworth ◽  
Pia Haudrup Christensen ◽  
Nickie Charles ◽  
Jeannette Edwards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
European Expansion ◽  
Images Of Aging ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Theory Of Law

Images of Aging in the Psychotherapeutic Context

GeroPsych ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva-Marie Kessler ◽  
Catherine E. Bowen
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Aging Process ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Process ◽  
Images Of Aging ◽  
Client Communication

Both psychotherapists and their clients have mental representations of old age and the aging process. In this conceptual review, we draw on available research from gerontology, social and developmental psychology, and communication science to consider how these “images of aging” may affect the psychotherapeutic process with older clients. On the basis of selected empirical findings we hypothesize that such images may affect the pathways to psychotherapy in later life, therapist-client communication, client performance on diagnostic tests as well as how therapists select and apply a therapeutic method. We posit that interventions to help both older clients and therapists to reflect on their own images of aging may increase the likelihood of successful treatment. We conclude by making suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals The Entrepreneur in “Transformation Cinema”: Representing the Economic Changes of the 1990s in Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia

2021 ◽  
pp. 088832542098015
Author(s):  
Veronika Pehe
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Working People ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Economic Expectations

This article analyses how economic change after 1989 was perceived and rooted in society through cultural representations, specifically in the film production of Poland and Czechoslovakia (and later the Czech Republic and Slovakia). The starting premise of this investigation is that popular commercial films, alongside the media and discourse of politicians and other key actors of the systemic transformation, also informed ideas about the free market circulating in the public sphere. Filmmakers, faced with the new realities brought about initially by the gradual liberalization of the economy in the late 1980s and later the systemic change of the economic transformation in both countries, immediately turned to capturing and fictionalizing the changes surrounding them. They presented audiences with role models of what it means to be a capitalist, but also tales of warning. This article investigates the “transformation cinema” of the 1990s, focusing on the figure of the entrepreneur and private enterprise. It examines how filmmakers searched for a visual language to critique or affirm the new social order, but also continued to work with inherited modes from the late socialist era. The article asserts that while the economic expectations conveyed through cinema focused largely on structuring the imagination of a new middle class in Poland, Czech(oslovak) cinema adopted a more sceptical outlook, suggesting that the promises of the free market were not available to “ordinary” working people.

Images of Aging, Cultural Representations of Later Life

1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 457
Author(s):  
Neena L. Chappell ◽  
Mike Featherstone ◽  
Andrew Wernick
Keyword(s):  
Later Life ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Images Of Aging

Perceived Stress Predicts Subsequent Self-Reported Problems With Vision and Hearing: Longitudinal Findings From the German Ageing Survey

2021 ◽  
pp. 016402752110273
Author(s):  
Markus Wettstein ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Vera Heyl
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Middle Adulthood ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Demographic Indicators ◽  
German Ageing Survey

Although stress is a risk factor for various diseases in later life, its role for sensory abilities in the second half of life has rarely been empirically addressed. We examined if perceived stress at baseline predicts self-reported difficulties with vision and hearing 3 years later. We also explored whether chronological age is a moderator of associations between stress and sensory difficulties. Our sample was derived from the German Ageing Survey and consisted of n = 5,085 individuals aged 40–95 years ( M = 64.01 years, SD = 10.84 years). Controlling for baseline self-reported sensory functioning, socio-demographic indicators, self-rated health and chronic diseases, greater perceived stress at baseline predicted greater self-reported difficulties with vision and hearing 3 years later. The effect of stress did not vary by age. Our findings suggest that, from middle adulthood to advanced old age, stress is a risk factor for increases in self-perceived problems with vision and hearing.

scholarly journals Understanding diversity in later life through images of old age

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Enßle ◽  
Ilse Helbrecht
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Conceptual Debate ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Images Of Old Age

Abstract This article aims to enhance the conceptual debate on diversity in old age by exploring the interplay of diversity in later life and images of old age. We argue that the analysis of images of old age on the micro-level is a fruitful methodology in order to unravel the meaning of diversity in later life. Drawing on findings from qualitative research in Berlin, we explore how new and diverse imaginations, experiences and lifestyles of old age emerge. The conceptual focus on images of old age enables us to investigate further what diversity in later life comprises and how it simultaneously fosters the genesis of new images of old age. The manifold new images we found in our research suggest that prevalent societal discourses about old age on the macro-level are rather deceptive and represent mostly stereotypes such as ‘active agers’ or ‘frail and dependent elders’. We offer three explanations why alternative images of old age are currently barely present in public discourse: (a) the actors transmitting images of age; (b) the institutionalisation of the images; and (c) the challenge to communicate complexity. We conclude by suggesting that images of old age are a promising starting point to explore and make visible both the diversity of social groups within the older generation as well as the heterogeneity of older individuals.

Luhmann’s ›Other‹ Book on Law: Observations on the Reception of Niklas Luhmann’s A Sociological Theory of Law

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Hanna
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Sociology Of Law ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Theory Of Law ◽  
Anglophone World ◽  
Relative Accessibility

AbstractEven though Niklas Luhmann’s general sociology of law has made a substantial impact upon socio-legal scholarship in the Anglophone world in recent years, his first book on the subject to be translated into English has received relatively little attention. The paper presents this as something of an anomaly by highlighting both the relative accessibility of the book and the way in which it has proved foundational for systems theoretical accounts of law in world society. In tracing the book's reception in both Britain and North America, the paper identifies the general problems of timing and communication the book faced. But it also considers whether the relatively humanist undertones of the book's focus on the development of law from the interaction of individuals proves unsettling to the now relatively more accepted concept of law as autopoiesis. The paper concludes, however, that it is this which should recommend the book to a contemporary audience, as offering a more nuanced understanding of Luhmann’s sociology of law and the potential contained therein.

An Interpretation of Max Weber's Theory of Law: Metaphysics, Economics, and the Iron Cage of Constitutional Law

1991 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. 205-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
Iron Cage ◽  
Weberian Theory ◽  
Substantive Rationality ◽  
Formal Rationality ◽  
Theory Of Law ◽  
Constitutional Jurisprudence

Among legal scholars, Anthony T. Kronman and David M. Trubek have provided the leading interpretations of Weber's theory of law. Kronman and Trubek agree on two important points: Weber's theory is fundamentally contradictory, and Weber's theory relates primarily to private law subjects such as contracts. This article contests both of these points. Building on a foundation of Weber's neo-Kantian metaphysics and his sociological categories of economic action, this article shows that Weber's theory of law is not fundamentally inconsistent; rather it explores the inconsistencies that are inherent within Western society itself, including its legal systems. Furthermore, Weber's insights can be applied to modern constitutional jurisprudence. Weberian theory reveals that modern constitutional law is riddled with irreconcilable tensions between process and substance—between formal and substantive rationality. In the context of racial discrimination cases involving equal protection and the Fifteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court's acceptance of John Hart Ely's theory of representation-reinforcement demonstrates the Court's resolute pursuit of formal rationality, which insures that the substantive values and needs of minorities will remain unsatisfied.

Preventing social isolation in later life: findings and insights from a pilot Queensland intervention study

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1167-1189 ◽  
Author(s):  
HELEN BARTLETT ◽  
JENI WARBURTON ◽  
CHI-WAI LUI ◽  
LINDA PEACH ◽  
MATTHEW CARROLL
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Community Based Interventions ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Rigorous Evaluation ◽  
Psychological Measures ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Government Project

ABSTRACTThe isolation of older people is recognised as a major social problem in contemporary Western society. While the risk factors and social or health outcomes of isolation and loneliness in later life are well documented, evidence regarding the effectiveness of programmes aimed at reducing social isolation in older people remains inconclusive. This paper reports on the challenges of attempting to undertake a rigorous evaluation of three demonstration pilot projects targeting older people at risk of social isolation, conducted within different social settings in Queensland, Australia. The demonstration projects were part of the Queensland Cross-Government Project to Reduce Social Isolation in Older People (CGPRSIOP) led by the Office for Seniors within the Queensland Department of Communities. In the absence of good evaluation of programmes aimed at social isolation, this government-run programme incorporated validated psychological measures to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. While use of these measures suggested some promising results, the focus of this paper is on the methodological and practical challenges associated with utilising evaluation measures in community-based interventions. The detailed consideration of the methodological issues involved in this programme highlights some key lessons and offers new insights into evaluating interventions for reducing social isolation.

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