Download Societal Challenges

Societal Challenges and Issues in Later Life
There are many challenges and issues associated with late adulthood that
have an impact on society. As a society we need to be aware of each
generation and its particular issues and challenges, since it is believed that
we have a communal responsibility for all of our citizens. We make laws to
protect them and set up programs to provide for their needs.
In this lesson you will explore some of the issues associated with later life
in which Canadians, as a society, have a stake.
Support Programs
In Canada, we have established a system of social services over the past
century that provides for the needs of our citizens. These social services
include health care, pension plans, welfare, employment insurance, and
education, to name a few. The very fabric of our society, and how we
define ourselves, is dependent upon the provision of these services.
Look at the graph on page 473 of your text and notice how the different
support services in the graph were introduced over the course of the
twentieth century. Notice how many of the programs are for families with
children and how many are for seniors. (If you don’t know what some of the
specific support programs in the graph are, go to the Government of
Canada Web site and look them up.) Children and seniors are considered
to be the dependent groups in a society.
The Health Canada Act provides for health care that benefits Canadians,
including older adults, in many ways. Different levels of government fund
long-term care facilities in order to provide the care needed by elderly
members of our society. Moving to a long-term care facility can be stressful
for older adults, as they have to leave the comfort of their home and
neighbourhood. The decision to move an elderly member of a family to
long-term care is difficult for any family to make. Ultimately the health and
well-being of the family member must be considered.
The Decision to Move Victims of Dementia into Long-Term Care
Dementia is a growing concern as our population lives longer. More and
more members of our society will experience dementia. Dementia, like
cancer, has many causes. Dementia robs a person of their memories and
their personality. Caring for elders with dementia can be very demanding
and time-consuming for family members. Often families are left with no
choice but to put loved ones in a care facility, as they cannot keep them
safe at home.
Choosing a long-term care facility for a senior with dementia is made more
difficult by the fact that the senior often cannot understand why they have
to move. Other seniors, who are not suffering from dementia, are more able
to understand that, physically, they need extra support.
Dependency Crisis
Support services in Canada are paid for through taxes. Taxes are collected
from landowners, from consumers in the form of sales tax, and from
working people by means of income tax. There is some debate as to who
benefits from the taxes paid. As the population ages, those who are still in
the wage-earning age strata are questioning whether or not their tax dollars
are being spent on caring for the elderly, and indeed whether there will be
any money left by the time they become the older generation.
This debate is centered on the dependency crisis. The dependency crisis,
simply put, means that there are fewer people paying taxes than there are
people who are dependent upon them. To learn more about this issue and
what experts are saying about it, read pages 470, and 472 to 478.
Elder Abuse
Abuse is an issue people often don’t want to discuss. In our society,
societies to prevent cruelty to animals were established before children’s
aid societies. Child abuse has been recognized and fought against for
some time now. Abuse is reported in the paper and there are support
systems established to help the victims as well as the abusers. People
work to make others aware of child abuse, and those in a position of caring
for children, such as teachers and doctors, are legally bound to report it. As
a society we are openly working towards reducing the incidence of child
abuse.
The treatment of elder abuse is less openly dealt with. It is seldom
discussed, and it does not appear in advertisements. However, laws have
changed to provide support for victims, and more people are reporting it.
Elder abuse still exists in our society, and the elderly are a very vulnerable
group. In a society where the population is clearly aging, elder abuse is an
issue that sociologists will need to examine carefully.
To read more about the cycle of violence related to the elderly, turn in
your textbook to pages 467 to 470 and read the section titled ”Elder
Abuse.”
Question
1. Answer the following questions based on the previous reading.
a)
Define elder abuse and elder neglect.
b)
What is the cyclical nature of abuse?. How does it apply to elder
abuse?
c)
Why does elder abuse go unreported? How does this lack of
reporting influence our understanding of the issue?
d)
Describe the typical victim and the type of abuse they suffer.
e)
Explain how elder abuse is viewed from a social exchange
perspective.
f)
What can society do to prevent elder abuse?
Death and Mourning
The last stage of life is death; it is a natural part of the cycle of life. Yet, in
our society, dying and losing a loved one are difficult for many people to
accept. Medical technologies have been developed to keep people alive
after they are brain-dead, in the hope that one day they will wake up. No
matter how hard we fight death, however, it comes to us all.
Helping people who are dying or grieving the loss of a loved one is an
important function of society. To learn more about death and mourning,
read pages 462 to 467 in your text.
Question
Answer the following questions based on the previous reading.
a) What is a “good” death? What is a “bad” death?
b)
Explain the Social Death theory.
c)
What are the five stages of death? How do they affect the person
who is dying? The family?
d)
Describe the phases of the grieving process. Describe how people
can assist in this process.
.