Ethnicity and Aging

For the past two decades, social gerontologists in North America have recognized important ethnic variations in the experience of aging (Morgan, 1981, p. 207). Silverman and Barnett (1979) have described the conceptual dilemma underlying the interpretation of ethnic variation as the problem of "sameness" and "difference." Anthropologists have illustrated the variability of the experience of aging according to cultural context. Others have argued that old age, a "universal human challenge, brings with it similar problems and perceptions regardless of variations in social context" (Bengstrom, 1979, p. 10).

The history of academic interest in ethnicity and aging was instigated not so much by the revelations of anthropology, but rather by political activism, primarily of black and Hispanic groups in the 1970's (Morgan, 1981, p. 207). At that time, minority groups claimed that social programs for the elderly "were geared exclusively to the white elderly with the assumption that they require a different array of services" (Bengston, 1979, p. 13).

The political origin of ethnicity and aging has generated two themes which dominate the history of academic inquiry into these subjects. The first is the theme of inequality and disadvantage, which is implied by the concept of "minority" and is also a focus of minority-group activism. The second is a related concern that theory and research must produce policy-relevant appl

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rity groups, he does not elaborate on the significance of their distinction. Holzberg (1982) seriously examined the relationship between ethnic and minority status. In an important theoretical paper, she argued that the exclusive focus on minority status in ethnic aging research has led to "an analytical muddle with the issue of ethnicity" (1982, p. 250). Holzberg complained that the study of minorities is often the study of minority discrimination, which treats minorities and ethnic groups synonomously. Furthermore, the failure to distinguish these two concepts has caused cultural factors to become subordinate to factors of inequality, which are germane only to the definition of minority. Holzberg also points out research consequences of this conceptual issue. An inequality approach has tended to ignore cultural heterogeneity and cultural factors within "Anglo" and other ethnic and minority groups. Instead, studies are organized around the broad concepts of "Anglo," "black" and "Hispanic" populations. The failure to distinguish ethnic groups and minority groups has also led to a deficit research model. Ethnic research becomes the extent to which minority groups experience a deficit on an array of indicators: income, h
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Approximate Word count = 2627
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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