Harold Cox

Roles for Aged Individuals in Post-Industrial Societies

Cowgill and Holmes in their book, Aging and Modernization predicted an inverse relationship between industrialization and status accorded older persons. They argued that the more industrialized a country becomes the lower the status accorded older persons. A more careful examination of historical and anthropological work suggests that if we look at the status of the old over the course of history and make projections into the future an S curve is a more realistic pattern. The pattern projected would be one in which the old were accorded a low status in early nomadic tribes, a high status in settled agricultural communities, a low status in industrialized society and ultimately will receive a somewhat higher status in the post-industrial period.

The Motivation and Political Alienation of Older Americans

Utilizing a sample of older Americans this paper focused on the relationship between their personal motivation (whether internally or externally oriented) and their feeling of political incapability, political discontentment and anomie. The individual was defined as internally oriented to the degree that he felt there was a direct causal chain between his actions and given social outcomes, and externally oriented to the degree that he thought that luck, chance or fate determined these outcomes. Following Olsens example, political incapability was defined as a feeling that the social system is preventing one from reaching desired goals, political discontentment was defined in terms of the political world not being worth ones participation, and anomie was defined as estrangement from ones social world [1]. External orientation was found to be significantly related to feelings of political incapability, political discontentment, and anomie among older Americans. The data tended to indicate that early personal orientation toward problem solving led to generalized expectations which provide long range motivational and behavioral patterns for individuals which follow them throughout life.

Symbolic interaction and retirement adjustment: an empirical assessment.

Using a variety of indicators of retirement adjustment most studies have focused on two variables as the critical ones: the kind of work the individual was involved in prior to retirement with its concomitant style of life or the individuals pre-retirement attitudes. Focusing on the latter variable and using a symbolic interaction perspective, it was hypothesized that the individuals significant others are crucial to both the development of his pre-retirement attitudes and his post-retirement adjustment. The data upheld both the predicted relationships, and further suggest that the social world of older people is comprised of both primary groups and proximate others. The Lowenthal and Haven concept of confidants as a major factor in the adjustment of older people, though valuable, too narrowly defines their social world. The broader concept of significant others comprised of both confidants and proximate others seems more realistic.

Paraprofessional and Professional Training in Gerontology.

The process of professionalization of an occupation includes as a critical step the establishment of a training school and of educational programs for new recruits in the field. In this study, in which gerontology is considered an emerging field, the results of a survey of educational training programs in Indiana are summarized and compared with the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education survey of programs throughout the United States. These surveys indicate considerable disparity in courses and programs among universities across the nation. The basic question raised by these findings is whether a single model of a sound educational program for each level of training and each occupation in the field will be forthcoming.

Mourning Population: Some Considerations of Historically Comparable Assassinations.

Abstract The publics reaction to the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations are compared and contrasted. The immediate psychological reaction of the public following both assassinations was crying, loss of appetite, inability to sleep, nausea, nervousness, and sometimes anger. The group reaction was similar to that of expressive crowds in which there is a desire to be with someone and in these cases to share the emotions of grief and bereavement. Both assassinations were followed by a search for witches in which the U.S. public felt that a master plot or conspiracy had led to the death of the presidents. The death of a powerful public figure in both assassinations created considerable anxiety in a public forced to recognize how thin the thread is that ties each of us to life.