Ageing without children : European and Asian perspectives / edited by Philip Kreager and Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kreager, Philip, editor.

Schroeder-Butterfill, E., editor.

Series:

Fertility, reproduction, and sexuality Ageing without children

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Older people--Services for--Europe--Case studies.

Older people.

Older people--Services for--Asia--Case studies.

Childlessness--Europe.

Childlessness.

Childlessness--Asia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 276 pages) : illustrations, map

Place of Publication:

New York ; Oxford : Berghahn Books, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Rapid fertility declines and improved longevity are now shifting the overall balance of population towards older ages in many parts of the world. Within this growing population of older people there are many groups with particular needs about which relatively little is known. This collection focuses on one such sub-population, the elderly without children. Few would deny that childlessness poses potential human and welfare problems for older people without them. What is less well known is that comparative anthropological and historical demographic research indicates that childlessness is a recurring social phenomenon that has affected 1 in 5 older women in many cultures and historical periods. High levels of childlessness arise not solely or primarily from biological factors like primary sterility, but from a combination of actors. Many, like non-marriage, delayed childbearing , and pathological sterility, reflect the interaction of social and biological influences. Also of major importance are factors that remove the support of children from elders' lives: migration, mortality, divorce, remarriage, family enmity, social mobility, and the pressing demands of family and career on younger generations. The papers collected in this volume employ a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods to define and characterize the experience of ageing without children.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

FOREWORD

CHAPTER 1 WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?

CHAPTER 2 PROBLEMS OF ELDERLY WITHOUT CHILDREN: A CASE-STUDY OF THE MATRILINEAL MINANGKABAU, WEST SUMATRA

CHAPTER 3 ‘THEY DON’T NEED IT, AND I CAN’T GIVE IT’: FILIAL SUPPORT IN SOUTH INDIA

CHAPTER 4 ADOPTION, PATRONAGE AND CHARITY: ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE ELDERLY WITHOUT CHILDREN IN EAST JAVA

CHAPTER 5 IN THE ABSENCE OF FAMILY SUPPORT: CASES OF CHILDLESS WIDOWS IN URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS OF EAST JAVA

CHAPTER 6 DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE IN EUROPE: IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE FAMILY SUPPORT FOR OLDER PEOPLE

CHAPTER 7 BRITISH PAKISTANI ELDERLY WITHOUT CHILDREN: AN INVISIBLE MINORITY

CHAPTER 8 HOME-PLACE, MOVEMENT AND AUTONOMY: RURAL AGED IN EAST ANGLIA AND NOMANDY

CHAPTER 9 THE POSITION OF THE ELDERLY IN GREECE PRIOR TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR: EVIDENCE FROM THREE ISLAND POPULATIONS

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

INDEX

Notes:

Series number appears as Volume 5 on ser. title pages and Volume 6 on cover. Publisher Web page indicates Volume 6 is correct.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781789205794

1789205794

9781845450410

1845450418

9781571816146

1571816143