Dependency and Old Age: Theoretical Accounts and Practical Understandings
- 1 June 1988
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Ageing and Society
- Vol. 8 (2) , 171-188
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x00006759
Abstract
The concept of dependency is involved in two strands of the literature on old age, and is used in each with a different effect. In the literature on ‘structured dependency’ the concept is used to describe and criticise a relationship between elderly people and the state that is determined by social policy. In the literature on ‘dependency scales’ the concept is used as a basis for categorising elderly people for research, planning and service purposes. More recent commentary on the role of the concept in relation to elderly people suggests that dependency needs to be understood in a fuller way if it is to be useful in understanding the situation of elderly people in contemporary society. This paper develops the idea that dependency refers to a form of relationship characterised by an unequal distribution of power.Keywords
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