Tom Daly

Older Men, Social Integration and Organisational Activities

This article investigates the influence of partnership status on older mens involvement in social organisations, drawing on qualitative research. Men are found to be highly resistant to participation in organisations that cater primarily for the needs of older people. Older divorced and never-married men are more susceptible to social isolation and poor health than married men. This could be ameliorated by membership of such establishments, yet their resistance is the greatest. Policy implications focus on identifying and responding to appropriate provision of organisational and communal activities for ageing men, particularly those who spend their later years without a partner.

Financial planning for social care in later life: the 'shadow' of fourth age dependency

ABSTRACT As policy makers in the United Kingdom and many other countries grapple with financing the needs of an ageing population, financial planning for social care in later life is high on political agendas. We draw on qualitative research with older couples in the United Kingdom about their intimate money practices to analyse the day-to-day meanings attributed to money, saving and consumption in the context of financial planning for later life and death. We find that expenditure on funerals and home adaptations is discussed, negotiated and planned, as is ‘downsizing’ to release capital from the home for financing day-to-day expenses and leisure expenses. These outcomes are within easy contemplation and indeed money practice of older couples. In contrast, end-of-life planning for domiciliary or residential care was virtually non-existent across all socio-economic groups, and couples employed a range of techniques to avoid making these discussions ‘real’. Costs (while well known) are seen as astronomical, details are scarce, intensive domiciliary care is never discussed, and death is seen as preferable to residential care. We theorise antipathy to care planning as a product of social and psychological construction of the ‘fourth age’ as a period of abjection, and therefore ‘wasted’ expenditure. Exhortations by policy makers for individuals to consider care costs will be ineffective without recognition of the cultural transformation of later life.

Book Review: Adventures in Social Research: Data Analysis Using SPSS for Windows 95/98Adventures in Social Research: Data Analysis Using SPSS for Windows 95/98BabbieEarl, HalleyFred and ZainoJeannePine Forge Press: Thousand Oaks, CA2000 0761986766 (pb) £27.00 (pb) 480

Review of: Babbie, Earl; Fred Halley; Jeanne Zaino (2000) Adventures in Social Research: Data Analysis Using SPSS for Windows 95/98. Pine Forge Press: Thousand Oaks, CA.