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Perceptions of the Adult Life Course: A Cross-cultural Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Charlotte Ikels ,
Jennie Keith ,
Jeanette Dickerson-Putman ,
Patricia Draper ,
Christine Fry ,
Anthony Glascock  and
Henry Harpending
Charlotte Ikels
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA. For details of the team and its affiliations, see Acknowledgements on 83.
Jennie Keith
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA. For details of the team and its affiliations, see Acknowledgements on 83.
Jeanette Dickerson-Putman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA. For details of the team and its affiliations, see Acknowledgements on 83.
Patricia Draper
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA. For details of the team and its affiliations, see Acknowledgements on 83.
Christine Fry
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA. For details of the team and its affiliations, see Acknowledgements on 83.
Anthony Glascock
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA. For details of the team and its affiliations, see Acknowledgements on 83.
Henry Harpending
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA. For details of the team and its affiliations, see Acknowledgements on 83.
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Abstract

A team of seven anthropologists conducted a coordinated, cross- cultural investigation to examine how structural and cultural variables shape the strategies people employ to assure themselves a secure old age. Central to the investigation was the goal of determining how people in the societies involved (Hong Kong, the United States, Ireland, and Botswana) perceive old age and its place in the adult life course, e.g. whether they view old age as an improvement or a decrement compared with other stages of life and the characteristics on which they base their views. The seven sites were selected to ensure broad representation in terms of the key structural variables of scale, complexity, subsistence pattern, residential mobility, and population structure. Both across and within sites people differed in their willingness and ability to discuss the concept of the life course. We attribute this variation to five factors: (i) characteristics of the social field, (2) education, (3) cultural salience of age categorisation, (4) predictability of life events, and (5) variability in timing of normative social or work roles.

Type
Artilces
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , March 1992 , pp. 49 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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