The Aging Enterprise Revisited

The need for fresh blood: Understanding organizational age inequality through a vampiric lens

“…In contrast to political economy of ageing debates which critique state and macro dynamics for marginalizing the elderly (Estes, 1979;, the questioning the ageist nature at the level of organization has thus far remained curiously absent in debates surrounding age inequality -at least beyond its portrayal as a neutral catalyst through which attitudes can be transformed. As such, the underlying logics that drive organizational life have enjoyed a lack of critical scrutiny.…”

Unmaking old age: Political and cognitive formats of active ageing

“…Estes 2008, Estes, Swan & Gerard 1982, and that the opportunities and capacities of older individuals have been shaped by expert beliefs about ageing processes. This means that bureaucratic standards (Kohli 1986), policy instruments such as pension systems (Fry 2006, Walker 1980 and 'old age' services (Townsend 1981, Estes 1979 have formed the design of, and expectations towards, old age. Gerontological knowledge has embedded normative categorisations of the role of 'old people' in institutional arrangements.…”

Adult daughters as caregivers to elderly parents : an exploration of the care relationship

“…In contrast, present day definitions of old age are largely in terms of a health orientation with a decremental decline and/or dependency notion of aging in terms of individual physical, psychological and social functioning (Estes, 1979:171 Phillipson, 19821 Weg, 1983.…”

“…In the social environment of the United States, the prevailing "reality" of old age, as indicated in the literature, suggests a status that is widely perceived to be a period of decline, of decreasing competence, and of dependence rather than autonomy -in general a negative portrayal of a life stage (Kuypers and Bengtson, 1973;Harris, 1975;Achenbaum, 1978;Estes, 1979;Levin and Levin, 1980;Langer, 1983;Arluke and Levin, 1986). Of interest is whether the level of dependence or of autonomy exhibited by the elderly person is related more to the construction of old age held by society than to chronological age and associated factors per se.…”

“…Of interest is whether the level of dependence or of autonomy exhibited by the elderly person is related more to the construction of old age held by society than to chronological age and associated factors per se. Kuypers and Bengtson (1973), Estes (1979), Russell (1981) and Langer (1983) suggest that the labeling and stigmatization engendered by such societal devaluation do indeed influence the competence of older persons. Similarly, Comfort (1976:9), in earlier writing, promotes the concept of "sociogenic aging" to indicate society's role in the construction of what the everyday person sees as a "normal" aging process.…”