Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T15:55:41.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

One Way to Bridge the Two Cultures: Advancing Qualitative Gerontology Through Professional Autobiographies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

W. Andrew Achenbaum
W. Andrew Achenbaum
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

North American gerontology has largely been shaped by the theories and methods of bio-medical researchers and social scientists. Among other things, this has meant that “qualitative” approaches in research on aging have been of secondary importance. Scholars do not always mean the same thing by the term. This essay cannot resolve all of the paradigmatic issues that separate “hard” and “soft” science, but it does propose that researchers take a more self-critical, even autobiographical, orientation to making sense of their own aging careers.

Résumé

La gérontologie, en Amérique du Nord, a été largement façonnée par les théories et les méthodes des chercheurs en biomédecine et des spécialistes en sciences humaines. Cela signifie, entre autres choses, que les approches «qualitatives» dans la recherche sur le vieillissement ont été mises au second plan. Les chercheurs ne s'entendent cependant pas toujours sur l'interprétation du terme. Cet essai ne pretend pas résoudre tous les paradigmes qui séparent la science «dure» de la science «douce,» mais propose plutôt que les chercheurs adoptent une orientation plus autocritique, et même plus personnelle, afin de saisir l'essentiel du processus de vieillissement dans leur propre vie.

Keywords

AutobiographyQualitative Gerontology.Autobiographiegérontologie qualitative.
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 12 , Issue 2: Qualitative Methods/Les méthodes qualitatives , Été/Summer 1993 , pp. 143 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbaum, W.A. (1987). Can gerontology become a science? Journal of aging studies, 1, 3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Achenbaum, W.A., & Orwoll, L. (1991). Becoming wise. International journal of aging and human development, 32, 21–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ashmore, M. (1979). The reflexive thesis, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Baars, J. (1991). The challenge of critical gerontology. Journal of aging studies, 5, 219–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binstock, R.H., & George, L.K. (Eds.). (1990). Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (3rd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Birren, J.E., & Fisher, L.M. (1990). The elements of wisdom: Overview and interpretation. In Sternberg, R.J. (Ed.), Wisdom. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Birren, J.E., & Schaie, K.W. (Eds.). (1990). Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (3rd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bühler, C., & Massarik, F. (1968). The Course of Human Life; A Study of Goals in the Humanistic Perspective. New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Butler, R.N. (1963). The life review. American journal of psychiatry, 26, 65–70.Google ScholarPubMed
Clark, M., & Anderson, B.G. (1967). Culture and Aging: An Anthropological Study of Older Americans. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Clark, T., & Westrum, R. (1987). Paradigms and ferrets. Social studies of science, 17, 3ndash;33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, T.R. (Ed.). (1992). The Journey of Life. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cole, T.R., Van Tassel, D.D., & Kastenbaum, R. (Eds.). (1992). Handbook of Aging and the Humanities. New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1939). Introduction. In Cowdry, E.V. (Ed.), Problems of ageing. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Frank, A.W. (1991). At the Will of the Body. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Gatz, M., Bengtson, V.L., & Blum, M.L. (1990). Families. In Binstock, R.H. and George, L.K. (Eds.), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (3rd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hall, G.S. (1922). Senescence. New York: D. Appelton.Google Scholar
Kaufman, S.R. (1986). The Ageless Self. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Kenyon, G.M., Birren, J.E., & Schroots, J.J.F. (Eds.). (1991). Metaphors of Aging in Science and the Humanities. New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Lasch, C. (1978). Culture of Narcissim. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Maddox, G.L. (Ed.). (1987). The Encyclopedia of Aging. New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Marshall, V.W., & Tindale, J.A. (1978–1979). Notes for a radical gerontology. International journal of aging and human development, 9, 163–175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marty, M.E. (1991). In the Belly of Illness. Christian Century, 268, 561–563.Google Scholar
Messer, S.B., Sass, L.A., & Woolfolk, R.L. (Eds.). (1988). Hermeneutics and psychological theory. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Mills, C.W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Moody, H.R. (1989). Gerontology with a human face. In L.E. Thomas (Ed.), Research on adulthood and aging.Google Scholar
Murphy, J.W., & Longino, C.F. Jr (1992). Qualitative approaches to aging studies. Ageing and Society, 12, 143–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myerhoff, B.L. (1978). Number Our Days. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Neugarten, B.L. (1985). Interpretive social science and research on aging. In Rossi, A. (Ed.), Gender and the life course. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine Publishing.Google Scholar
Neugarten, B.L., & Associates. (1964). Personality in Middle and Late Life. New York: Atherton Press.Google Scholar
O'apos;Brien, M., Stevenson, L., & Stevenson, T.O. (1985). Elders of the Island. Charlotte-town: Ragweed Press.Google Scholar
Parmelee, P.A., & Lawton, M.P. (1990). The Design of Special Environments for the “Aged”. In Binstock, R.H. and George, L.K. (Eds.), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (3rd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Polanyi, M. (1957). Personal knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Reinharz, S., & Rowles, G.D. (Eds.). (1988). Qualitative gerontology. New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Riley, M.W. (Ed.). (1988). Sociological Lives. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
Schneider, E.L., & Rowe, J.W. (Eds.). (1990). Handbook of the Biology of Aging. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Simon, H.A. (1991). Models of My Life. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Simonton, D.K. (1990). Creativity in the later years: Optimistic prospects for achievement. The Gerontologist, 30, 626–631.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snow, C.P. (1963). The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stevens, S.S. (1939). Psychology and the science of science. Psychological bulletin, 36, 221–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, L.E. (Ed.). (1989). Research on Adulthood and Aging. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Thorstam, L. (1992). The quo vadis of gerontology. The Gerontologist, 32, 318–326.Google Scholar