Jack is successful in his collaboration of comprehensive set of texts to give the reader an insightful understanding on the notion of empowerment. On one hand Jack examines theoretical perspective from potent writers of empowerment theories in history. While on the other hand Jack also examines practical implications of empowerment, for example, in chapter 9 Jack uses the work of Carter and Nash to convey these empowerment strategies highlighting the efficiency of older age forums and age groups in England including the Strathclyde Elderly Forum (SEF) and National Pensioners Convention (NPC).
The strength of Carter and Nash’s proposed strategies must be noted as many critics of empowerment suggest that some empowerment strategies do not in fact make any difference to a group’s situation merely giving the group self-confidence. Riger argues “Empowerment is sometimes used in a way that confounds a sense of efficacy with that of actual decision making control over resources” (Riger 1993:282). In other words, some empowerment strategies have built up self esteem but have done little to affect their control over resources or policies. Carter and Nash recognise these limitations as they stress that such forum groups need to have political, economical, and legal support, as conveyed on page 162 ;
“Pensioner groups need to join together under an umbrella organisation so that the views of the members can be passed on via recognized and acceptable channel to public bodies”
This understanding of possible limitations in implementing empowerment strategies displays the books dependability as a theoretical source for empowerment.
The next text in my collection of literature, explores elderly marginilization from a crime context. Titled ‘Direction on ageing NSW- Crime and safety’ I thought it would be necessary to gain an understanding on how elderly people are disadvantaged in the NSW criminal justice system. The report was published by the ‘Office on ageing’, a division of the NSW premiers department but was written by the NSW police force (or NSW police service as it was then). The report indicates that elder people are more likely to be more susceptible to crime because of their vulnerability, covering relevant issues such as background to the problem, legislation, support groups, street crime, road safety, home safety, recommendations and future planning.
Published by the government the author’s point of view is evident throughout the report as there is little criticism aimed at the government, reinforced through the style, content, and format of the report. The use of simple language and basic layout which makes it easily readable indicates that it is written for the general public. Coupled with statements such as “The NSW government has taken the initative to work in cooperation with the police” (1990: 1) highlight the purpose of the report, as a tool aimed at promoting the work of the government. Consequently, as a result of this purpose, explanations for crime regarding the elderly have been lacking, failing to place any responsibility on the government. For example in chapter Five ‘Street Crime and Safety’, one would expect to see the causes of problems, incidents of crime, and reasons for street crime. However there is no such mention on any these factors, rather arguing that the fear of crime is the concern, not actual crime as there is “little worry for old people”. The report indicates the media as the major problem for street crimes amongst the elderly through its spurring of crime creating unesccessary fear of crime; “fear is often fed by impression and perception gained from the media ….. effect older people unrealistic fears”(1990:18).
This failure of the government to take any responsibility for crimes against the elderly and blaming it on the media is an attempt to reassure the public’s faith in the government.
Another Government report was used as my collection of literature on old people, in this case it was chosen to gain an understanding of culture and its relation with the oppression of the elderly. Titled ‘Local government and the ethnic age’ and published in 1987 the report was a study on the relationship between the local governments of Northcote and Brunswick, Melbourne and that of the ethnic community aiming to address the “Needs of Italian and Greek aged care residents”. The report indicates that migrant communities are being disadvantaged due to various reasons including language barriers, inability to follow Australian lifestyle and values, lack of social integration, low economic resources, and racial tension.
It is interesting to examine the power relations that are evident, as there a two underlying discourses present throughout the report; the dominant group discourse (White institutional Australia) and the subordinate group discourse (Ethnic elderly) (Osmond 2006). There is a well defined balance of power within this report as the onus is placed upon white institutional power (the local government) to control the problem of elderly oppression while little attention is placed on the ethnic elderly discourse and principles of empowerment. This power relationship is demonstrated through the idea of having the dominant group (Institutional Australia) having programs such as Meals on wheels (a service delivering Australian meals to the elderly) to try to effectively fix the subordinate group (Ethnic aged) can be seen as merely an attempt of the government to normalize culture. This is further reinforced on page 22 of the report as the government explains the ethnic elders lack of participation within the community is due to no ‘social mobility’ and failure to learn from “Australian lifestyle and values” By having such programs based on such ideals, will not lead to an effective white-ethnic relationship, rather give the dominant group more power. This perspective of placing the onus on the dominant group must be placed of lower importance, as strategies of empowerment must be taken into consideration in an attempt to balance the power relationships within society.
These power relationships are a result of the structure of society itself, are thus it is necessary to explore how the elderly are disadvantaged in a democratic/capitalist society. The next text in my collection of literature does exactly that, by exploring the impact of capitalist society on the elderly. Titled “Capitalism and the construction of old age”(1982), the author Chris Phillipson, uses Marx’s theory as an underlying theme to argue that within a capitalist society “people are valued primarily in economic terms demonstrated through social policy”. He explains the oppression of old people as “a problem for society characterised by major inequalities in the distribution of power income and property’”(Phillipson 1982:1) and that inequality exists due to the inability of the elderly to produce labour, therefore they having no wealth and are likely to become poor.
Phillipson’s strong Marxist views are potent throughout the book as he draws upon this theoritical framework to explain various facets of elderly disadvantage. For instance, in chapter three (The emergence of retirement) he describes the oppression of old people due to their role as “non-productive”, that is consumption of resources without any prospect of producing. He further argues that “old age is not only an economic burdern for but also a factor causing long term damage to the economy” (Phillipson 1982:16-18)
Obvious criticisms aimed towards Phillipson surround the understanding of the nature of power in society. Many social theorist such as Weber argue that power is not solely dependant on the distribution of economical resources (Van Kriekan et all 2000:119) rather there are other sources of power, such as Foucault’s notion of ‘discursive practices’ (Holmes et al 2000: 396). It must also be noted that Phillipson’s study of old age and capitalism was done by examining societies in the 1960’s and may have little relevance in contemporary society.
The choice of the final piece of literature, a media article published in the Adelaide Advertiser, was in response to the need of examining elderly oppression from a contemporary perspective. Published on October 13th 2006, by Ian Yates the article headlines “Poverty a growing crisis for our elderly” and discusses the growing threat of poverty to the ageing population. Yates states that “Half of Australia’s 50- to-64- year-olds have almost no wealth to help sustain them through the decades of retirement” and argues that the governments failure to increase pension rates due to a higher cost of living and lack of adequate services such as health, public transport, homecare, concessions and public housing are the main contributors to the crisis.
The article is most effective in conveying various themes and ideas already discussed throughout this review. For instance, the issue of empowerment is touched upon as Yates raises empowerment strategies such as elderly groups and organisations that are working to fix the poverty crisis;
“ ..The AMA has with COTA, initiated a transport working group within the National Aged Care Alliance to develop policy…”
Although the article raises an empowerment strategy it does not aim to empower the elderly, rather intending to highlight the issue to the general public. The headline “crisis for our elderly” does not indicate that the article is about promoting the issue amongst the elderly, rather suggesting that the fixing elderly poverty problem is up to “Us”. This raises another underlying theme in the text, that is the relationship of the power conveyed in the article. There is an “Us versus Them” mentality (people versus government or non power versus power) reinforced through the statements “‘we need more action” and “Federal government needs to pull its weight”. Phillipson (1982) using his Marxist perspective would argue that it is the distribution of economic resource (the pension) that is the key cause for the oppression and conflict of the elderly. All in all, the article is an effective means of demonstrating the potent sociological factors still influencing contemporary society.
To finally conclude, it has been seen that there are numerous means of which the elderly are oppressed in contemporary Australian society. Wether it may be from criminal, cultural, institutional, political or economical perspectives, literature on these perspectives have had inconsistencies and shortfalls. The NSW police in ‘Ageing in NSW- crime and safety’ failed to acknowledge governmental problems such as inadequate protection for the elderly or poor relations between the government and the ageing. The Local Governments of Northcote and Brunswick in “Local government and the ethnic aged’ acknowledged cultural issues however failed to introduce strategies that removed the competing discourses (white institutional VS Ethnic elderly). Chris Phillipson in “Capitalism and the construction of old age’ did not take into account the oppression of old people outside the capitalist society, for instance the stigmas or discourses associated with the elderly. There were also limitations in proposed strategies to prevent elderly oppression, such as Kosberg in ‘The abuse and Maltreatment of the elderly who placed to much emphasis on others fixing the problem and not enough on principles of empowerment. Conversely Jack in “Empowerment in community care’ failed to place any emphasis on means other then empowerment in an attempt to resolve the issue. For instance, raising the issue through the media, as it was demonstrated through Yates article “Poverty a growing crisis for our elderly” which only made little progress to instigate any significant social change due to its small scale nature and inability to reach a large audience. All in all, the various texts did enhance my understanding on the nature of elderly oppression within society. I remain optimistic for the future of this issue as there is growing awareness and stronger involvement of groups empowering individuals, to perhaps one day live in a society in which the elderly are no longer seen as a helpless group rather one that prospers and succeeds , as eloquently put by the famous American writer Pearl S Buck;
“
- Pearl S buck (1892-1973)
REFERENCES
TEXTS IN LITERATURE REVIEW
Jack, R (1995) ‘Empowerment in community Care’ Chapman &Hall
Chapter 9 Tony Carter and Caroline Nash “Pensioner forums- a voice for older people”
Kosberg J (1983) “Abuse and maltreatment of the elderly” Jon Wright Publications
NSW Premiers Department (1990) ‘Ageing in New South Wales- Crime and safety’ Office on Ageing, NSW Premiers Department
Office of Local Government (1987) ‘Local Government and the ethnic Aged’ Commenwealth of Australia
Phillipson C (1982) ‘Capitalsim and the construction of old Age’ Macmillian Press
Yates 1 (2006) ‘Poverty a groowing crisis for our elderly’ published in The Adveritiser- Adelaide October 13 2006 pg 08 cited at ..
Last accessed 23/3/2007
OTHER REFERENCES
Buck, P ‘quotation’ cited at http:// www.wisdomquotes.com/002195html.
Holmes et al (2003) ‘Australian sociology- A changing society’ Pearson Longman
Chapter 12 Power and the State
Payne M, (1997) Modern social work theory, Macmillian
Osmond, C (2006) “Juvenile Crime and Justice- ‘Governmentality and discourse: a cultural context’ (week 3 Lecture Notes) UWS Sydney
Riger S (1993) What’s wrong with empowerment? American journal of community psychology Vol 21 No 3
Van Kriekan et al (2000) sociology: themes and perspectives 2nd ed Longmans
Chapter 3 power and the state
