How have attitudes toward the aged
changed over time? In non-Western cultures
the elderly are often accorded great respect and esteem.
Were the aged venerated in the past in
Europe and the United States? Some historians
have used evidence about cultural practices toward
old people elsewhere to argue that the aged in the
European Old World and in the New World were
held in high esteem. Others contend that veneration
was merely a cultural ideal that was rarely
practiced. Evidence for the colonial period in
North America suggests that the ideal of veneration
did exist but did not extend to aged women,
immigrants, or members of minority groups.
For much of the twentieth century the aged
were viewed as isolated, frail, and poor. Recently
older people have been depicted as prosperous,
selfish, and politically powerful. Such
stereotypes are not completely accurate.
Did elderly people live with their children
in the past? Extended family households consisting
of two generations of married couples
were most common during one phase of the life
course, not as the preferred living arrangement.
Typically, such households were formed when
the parents retired and passed their farms on to
their children.
How did the rise of cities affect the way
older people and their families lived? According
to modernization theory, urbanization
leaves the aged isolated in rural areas. This generalization
is not entirely accurate, however, for
in certain periods overcrowding in cities forced
families to live together in family households.
This arrangement was most likely during bad
economic times. If young adults had trouble
finding good jobs, they would continue living
with their parents.
Have older people always been able to retire?
Retirement is not a new phenomenon. In
the past, retirement was associated with the
ownership of land. Farmers would retire by
giving their property to their children in exchange
for care in old age. People who owned
no property could not afford to retire and often
worked at marginal jobs in old age. Skilled craft
workers also pooled their funds to provide retirement
pensions for union members.
How did society care for the frail elderly in
the past? Although the family has been the primary
haven for the aged, there have always been
vulnerable older people who turned to the community
for care in old age. In the colonial period,
care was often provided in the homes of local
families. As pauperism became associated with
unemployed transients, almshouses replaced
other forms of public welfare. The almshouse experiment
proved to be a failure, and almshouses
became de facto old-age institutions. Since the
1940s there has been a growth in nursing homes;
but even so, fewer than 5 percent of people aged
65 or older are residents of nursing homes.
