Ageing in Society, 3rd Edition

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Ageing in Society European Perspectives on Gerontology

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Praise for the book Ageing in Society brings forth exciting new questions, fresh perspectives, and a necessary critical approach to key issues – this is indeed an authoritative introduction. The book will inform students in ways that so many texts in the area, satisfied with comfortable bromides, do not. Jaber Gubrium, Editor of Journal of Aging Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia This completely revised third edition of Ageing in Society presents one of the most comprehensive pictures of ageing today. The book offers the reader cogent discussions of the most up to date perspectives and evidence available. The contributors are all leading experts in their fields – comprising a range of important disciplines as they apply to ageing. Ageing in Society is a cutting edge text on one of the most important subjects facing the modern world – a must for all students of ageing. Mike Bury, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of London The third edition of the comprehensive textbook Ageing in Society extends its scope to include continental Europe, allowing broader as well as deeper insights into recent trends in gerontology. Gerontologists and practitioners are urged not to stop reading before they have reached the insightful last chapter ‘Ageing into the future’! Professor Dorly Deeg, Editor-in-Chief of European Journal of Ageing, VU University Medical Centre

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Ageing in Society European Perspectives on Gerontology 3rd edition

edited by John Bond Sheila Peace Freya Dittmann-Kohli Gerben J. Westerhof

SAGE Publications London

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Los Angeles

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New Delhi

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8 Work and retirement Harald Künemund and Franz Kolland

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9 Personal relationships in later life Janet Askham, Dieter Ferring and Giovanni Lamura

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7 Social protection: incomes, poverty and the reform of pension systems Gerhard Naegele and Alan Walker 6 Health and dependency in later life John Bond and Gregorio Rodriguez Cabrero

Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd, Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press Ltd, Trowbridge, Wiltshire Printed on paper from sustainable resources Library of Congress Control Number: 2006929608

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ISBN 978-1-4129-0019-5 ISBN 978-1-4129-0020-1 (pbk) A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

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2 The biology of ageing Rudi G. J. Westendorp and Thomas B. L. Kirkwood

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3 Psychological ageing Alfons Marcoen, Peter G. Coleman and Ann O’Hanlon

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4 Social theory and social ageing Chris Phillipson and Jan Baars

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5 Researching ageing Christina Victor, Gerben J. Westerhof and John Bond

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1 The ageing world Sheila Peace, Freya Dittmann-Kohli, Gerben J. Westerhof and John Bond List of boxes List of figures List of tables List of contributors Acknowledgements

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Contents

SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd 33 Pekin Street #02-01 Far East Square Singapore 048763 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 India SAGE Publications Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320

Although human ageing has many dimensions, at its heart it is a biological process that we share with a very broad range of animal species. If we are to understand ageing we must therefore comprehend at least the broad principles of its biology, since these provide the fundamental matrix upon which social and other factors are based. There is a particular importance in addressing the biology of ageing now, at a time when many preconceptions about the ageing process, such as that it is an essentially fixed, ineluctable part of our biological make-up, are being challenged. This challenge is coming from two directions. First, the continuing increases in life expectancy (Oeppen and Vaupel, 2002) show that – contrary to all predictions – life expectancy has not settled at some ceiling imposed by genetic programming. Second, new biological understanding of the basic mechanisms of ageing reveal that the process is intrinsically more malleable than most of us have yet appreciated (Kirkwood, 2005). In this chapter we make a brief survey of some of the key features of the biology of ageing, looking at why and how we age, at the blend between genetic and nongenetic factors influencing longevity, and at the relationship between normal ageing and disease. We conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of these features for the future of human ageing.

INTRODUCTION

SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

Rudi G. J. Westendorp and Thomas B. L. Kirkwood

First published 2007 © Editorial arrangement British Society of Gerontology 2007 Chapter 1 © Sheila Peace, Freya Dittmann-Kohli, Gerben J Westerhof and John Bond Chapter 2 © Rudi J Westendorp and Thomas BL Kirkwood Chapter 3 © Alfons Marcoen, Peter G. Coleman and Ann O’Hanlon Chapter 4 © Chris Phillipson and Jan Baars Chapter 5 © Christina Victor, Gerben J. Westerhof and John Bond Chapter 6 © John Bond and Gregorio Rodriguez Cabrero Chapter 7 © Gerhard Naegele and Alan Walker

Chapter 8 © Harald Künemund and Franz Kolland Chapter 9 © Janet Askham, Dieter Ferring and Giovanni Lamura Chapter 10 © Sheila Peace, Hans-Werner-Wahl, Heidrun Mollenkopf and Frank Oswald Chapter 11 © Gerben J. Westerhof and Emmanuelle Tulle Chapter 12 © Ralf Th. Krampe and Lynn McInnes Chapter 13 © Freya Dittmann-Kohli and Daniela Jopp Chapter 14 © John Bond, Freya Dittmann-Kohli, Gerben J Westerhof and Sheila Peace

The biology of ageing

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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

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Hans-Werner Wahl is Professor of Psychological Ageing Research and Chair of the Department of Psychological Ageing Research, Institute of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Germany.

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Alan Walker is Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology at the University of Sheffield, UK, and Director of the UK New Dynamics of Ageing Programme and of the European Research Area in Ageing.

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Rudi Westendorp is Professor and Head of the Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics at Leiden University Medical Center, University of Leiden, the Netherlands.

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Gerben Westerhof is Associate Professor in the Behavioural Science Institute at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

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countries from the African continent, and on to the eastern markers of the Urals, the Ural River and the Caspian Sea which have conventionally separated Europe from Asia. This is a continent of great diversity in terms of climate, the dominance of the Alpine mountain chain, and the human development of fertile plains alongside its central river systems from the Volga to the Danube to the Rhine to the Thames. It can be seen geographically as up to fifty countries that can be divided into a number of regions – eastern Europe, south-east Europe, central Europe, southern Europe, western Europe, Scandinavia and the British Isles/UK – ranging across a vast mix of rural and urban landscapes. There are 18 cities having populations exceeding one million inhabitants, and areas of dense population are seen in contrast to the rural hinterland of the northern continent (Eurostat News Release, 2004). Already the variation in rural and urban living can lead to lifestyles that can be described as more peasant-like or more metropolitan while at the same time there are also cultural stereotypes attached to regions known as Mediterranean, Scandinavian or Alpine. Given this breadth, is there a European culture?

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Ralf Krampe is Professor and Psychologist at the Center for Developmental Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium. Harald Künemund is Professor for ageing research and methodology and Director of the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Vechta, Germany. Giovanni Lamura is Senior Researcher at the Department of Gerontological Research, Italian National Research Centre on Ageing, Ancona, Italy. Alfons Marcoen was Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Lynn McInnes is Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Panel Manager for North East Age Research at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Heidrun Mollenkopf is a retired Senior Research Associate at the former German Centre for Research on Ageing, University of Heidelberg, Germany. Gerhard Naegele is Professor of Social Gerontology and Director of the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Dortmund, Germany. Ann O’Hanlon completed her masters and doctoral degrees in psychology at the University of Southampton. She is now based at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland where she coordinates the multisite cross-disciplinary Healthy Ageing Research Programme (HARP). She is also an executive member of the BSG.

Cultural Europe

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older people but with ageing as a process. Together these two perspectives allow us to capture the complexities of the individual within society. Consequently, there is a need for a text which at a primary level allows the reader to engage with specific disciplines in order to provide a baseline for going on to develop further complexity. For this reason the book is divided into two parts, the aim being for the reader to consider all chapters within Part One before reading the chapters in Part Two. The first part consists of five chapters, including this introduction. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 allow the reader to focus clearly on particular disciplinary approaches to studying ageing: biological, psychological and sociological. Here we consider why and how we age, enabling the reader to integrate the differing perspectives. Chapter 5 offers a different baseline for guiding the reader through the second part of the text by focusing on the evidence base and the variety of research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, that are commonly used in gerontology. It is a multidisciplinary subject in which different disciplines engage with data through populations, samples, methods and forms of analysis which are more or less embracing of positivism, more or less theoretically driven, and more or less open to subjective interpretation of meaning by both researcher and researched. In recent years the complexity of human ageing seen through the individual within society has led researchers to use multi-method approaches to research which have led to the triangulation of data, allowing for conflict as well as indefinite triangulation to occur. The discussion of methodology is essential to understanding the detailed analysis to follow. In the second part of the book the aim has been to do two things: first, that every chapter should offer a unique in-depth contribution to the discussion of its topic; and second, that the chapters be cumulative and that there be a sequence to the way in which topics have been chosen and ordered. Chapters 6–10 consider specific aspects of the lives of older people as a group – their health, financial security, work, personal relationships and the context in which they live. The research discussed draws upon both national and international survey data as well as more detailed ethnographic material sometimes underpinned by particular theoretical debates which allow the authors to consider the impact on individual ageing through a specific lens. However, this more individualistic view is further developed in Chapters 11–13 where a more psychological perspective unpacks the ageing world in more depth. If read as a whole, this text should enable the reader to undertake a journey and to arrive at a point where it is possible to look forward to how the ageing individual within the context of European society will face the future. Our own view of how we see the future of ageing is presented in Chapter 14. 14 1/9/2007

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Diversity is a central part of European culture. History has shown that it has been the scene of kingdoms and empires that have moved through periods of conflict and stability to create more cohesive nation states. Whilst the Greek and the Roman civilisations have influenced and underpinned the development of cultural traditions through language, literature and political processes and structures, adoption of the Christian religion has also been central both to periods of conflict and the regional adoption of particular religious ideologies. Whilst Roman Catholicism is the chief religion of southern and western European countries, Protestantism is dominant in the UK, Scandinavian countries and parts of northern Europe. But these are not the only orthodoxies; the Orthodox Eastern Church predominates in eastern and south-eastern Europe, and the Muslim faith is central to parts of the Balkan Peninsula and Transcaucasia. Indeed, whereas certain religions may be dominant in particular areas, migration has also led to the spread of a variety of religious groups especially within urban and metropolitan centres. Across Europe national identities may commonly involve particular religious traditions, but the impact of recent political history also nurtures aspects of identity formation, and politics and religion are often intertwined. During the twentieth century, Europe not only witnessed two world wars but also saw the rise and demise of two ideological blocs, for and against communism, in what was known as the ‘cold war’. Here opposition was seen between western European countries influenced by the USA in opposition to communist countries of eastern Europe dominated by the USSR. In more recent times the breaking-up of the Soviet bloc

Frank Oswald is Senior Research Scientist and Deputy Chair of the Department of Psychological Ageing Research, Institute of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Germany. Sheila Peace was trained as a human geographer and is Professor of Social Gerontology in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the Open University, UK. She is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the BSG and is co-editor of the second and third editions of the textbook Ageing in Society. Chris Phillipson was trained as a sociologist, is a Professor of Applied Social Studies and Social Gerontology at Keele University, UK, and is a former President of the British Society of Gerontology.

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Gregorio Rodriguez Cabrero is Professor of Sociology at the University of Alcalá (Madrid), Spain. He is Director of the Spanish Journal of the Third Sector.

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Emmanuelle Tulle is a Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Law and Social Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University, UK.

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Christina Victor is Professor of Social Gerontology and Health Services Research and Head of the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Reading, UK.

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in the early 1990s led to both the democratisation of former communist countries and to ethnic nationalism within the region of the former Yugoslavia. Consequently, a number of countries have been transformed from states with centralised economies towards more market-based economies – countries such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, where the suppressed national cultures are now becoming more visible. Stability, continuity and change are key factors when defining the context of Europe. International migration has been a dominant experience across the continent for a number of centuries. People have moved not only between countries but also between continents. For different nations this can be seen as part of both an historic colonial past and a recent past; whilst for individuals and groups emigration may have been prompted by the desire for asylum, employment and an improved quality of life. Such experience gives the European continent a very different historical and cultural profile from that of younger continents. Migration patterns are also subject to on-going development influenced by political, economic and demographic trends. Warnes et al. (2004, p. 311), commenting on the European experience, says: Only in the last half-century has the net movement reversed, and since the 1980s another radical change has occurred: Greece, southern Italy, Spain and Portugal, which through most of the twentieth century were regions of rural depopulation and emigration to northern Europe, the Americas and Australia, have become regions of return migration and of immigration from eastern Europe and other continents (Fonseca et al., 2002; King, 2002).

So, in contrast to the national unity of the states in North America, cultural diversity both within and between countries in Europe is historic and on-going. Nevertheless, political unity between many European countries has been seen by some as an advantage and a strength. Political boundaries

A period of conflict from the late nineteenth century through to the mid twentieth century brought a number of western European political leaders to consider that stability and peace could be secured only through developing economic and political unity. This led to the setting up of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951 with six members – Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, France, Italy and the Netherlands. The success of the ECSC led them to sign the Treaties of Rome in 1957 establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and the European Economic Community (EEC) through which they removed trade barriers between them and formed a ‘common market’. In 1967 these three institutions merged into a single Commission establishing the European Parliament, leading to direct elections for members from each country in 1979 (see Box 1.1).

30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65

Source: WHO World Atlas of Ageing (1998) p. 28 70

Figure 1.2 Proportion of people aged above 80 (percentage of total population) 1997

2025

80

1975

75

2050

85

7.5 Western Pacific

2.7 1.0

90

0.6 3.4 South-East Asia

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1.2 0.3 0.4

98 8.8

100

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Europe

2.7 1.6 2.0

Eastern Mediterranean

0.8 0.3 0.4 5.7 2.9

The Americas

1.7 1.2 0.9

Africa 0.0

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2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Source: WHO World Atlas of Ageing (1998) p. 25 Figure 1.1 Proportion of people aged above 65, (percentage of total population) 1975

1997

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2050 22.9

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Western Pacific

6.9 4.7 15.5 8.1

South-East Asia

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AGEING IN EUROPE

25.2 Europe

18.1

12.9 10.7 10.1

oldest old. These changes will impact upon all aspects of human life – from family composition, living arrangements and social support to economic activity, employment rates and social security – and to transfers between the generations. While the ageing of the population will be unique within every country and characterised by specific cultural experiences where older people will occupy particular roles as leaders, experts, grandparents; the global nature of ageing will also lead to some common experiences that are characterised because of the years lived. 2

5.3

Eastern Mediterranean

3.2 3.6 19.1 13.2

The Americas

6.9 7.9 5.7 2.9 3.0 3.5

Africa 0.0

5.0

10.0

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LIST OF FIGURES

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10.1 Historical influences on theory development in environmental gerontology. 10.2 Press–competence model due to Lawton and Nahemow. 10.3 Heuristic framework for domains of meaning of home in old age. 8.5 Productive activities in the second half of life in Germany. 8.6 Use of time (in hours) by people aged 65 and older, living as a couple, with no children