There have been many legislative initiatives undertaken over the years that have a direct impact on persons over 65. While we as a group are affected by this legislation, many in the over-65 age group have at best a general idea of what is contained in these legislative initiatives. This post is intended to provide links to information resources you may find useful if you wish to learn more about these initiatives.
Social Security
One of the most important legislative initiatives affecting persons over 65 was the Social Security Act of 1935. Following are some sources of information about the legislation:
If you would like information about the following topics, go to:
Comprehensive information from the Social Security Administration
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/
Actual text of the 1935 Social Security Act
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/35actinx.html
Historical background and development of social security
• http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/briefhistory3.html
• http://people.howstuffworks.com/social-security-number5.htm
• http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-SocialSecurity.html
• http://www.answers.com/topic/social-security-united-states
Legislative history of the Social Security Act
• http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/law.html
• http://www.socialsecurity.gov/legislation/history/
Amendments to the Social Security Act:
Amendments of 1950
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/1950amend.html
Amendments of 1972
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/1972amend.html
Amendments of 1983
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/1983amend.html
Full text of current social security law
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_Home/ssact/comp-ssa.htm
Debate and controversy
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_debate_%28United_States%29
• http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0303/p01s04-uspo.html
• http://ezinearticles.com/?Controversy-Over-Social-Security---Part-1---An-Overview&id=2837285
• http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Social-Security-debate-%28United-States%29
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
WHAT DO WE CALL OURSELVES? TERMINOLOGY FOR THE OVER-65 SET
Associated with the concept of identity is the question of terminology used when discussing the group of people 65 years of age and older. I don’t think there is a single “right” answer for what to call this age cohort. Many terms have been used; this post offers some resources you may find useful in exploring terminology pertaining to the over-65 set.
Thesaurus of Aging Terminology
AARP
http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/general/thesaurus.pdf
The Thesaurus of Aging Terminology, as described in its Introduction, “ is a controlled vocabulary of subject terms used to index journal articles, books, book chapters, videos, and dissertations cited in the AgeLine Database. AgeLine is an online, bibliographic database produced by AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) that focuses on the subject of aging and middle-aged and older adults, particularly addressing the social, psychological, economic, policy, and health care aspects of aging. “
This publication is arguably the most complete inventories of terms used to describe older persons.
Guide to Library Research on Aging topics
University of North Carolina Institute on Aging
http://www.aging.unc.edu/infocenter/tutorials/researchaging.html
This Web site contains much valuable information about terminology used in conducting research about aging. In particular, the site has a section called “Getting started: Aging terminology,” which lists a number of encyclopedia and handbook articles that that explore (as the name implies) aging terminology.
Glossary of terms associated with aging, disability, or long-term care
United States Department of Health and Human Services
http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/diction.shtml
This site contains a relatively comprehensive index or glossary of terms associated with aging.
Guide to Resources in gerontology
State University of New York, University at Albany
http://library.albany.edu/dewey/gerontology.html
This site contains an inventory of print resources pertaining to gerontology. Among these resources are several which focus on terminology pertaining to aging, the University Library at Albany describes these resources as follows:
• Dictionary of Gerontology
Dewey Reference HQ 1061 H338 1988
Identifies the specialized terms used in gerontology and provides bibliographic references to help clarify their meanings.
• International Glossary of Social Gerontology
Dewey Reference HQ 1061 I5348 1985
Created by the UN Assembly on Aging, this work includes terminology in English, Spanish, French, and German.
• Older Americans Almanac
Dewey Reference HQ 1064 U5 O416 1994
This book provides many facts and statistics on a broad range of topics including elder care, the aged and relationships, mental disorders, finance, history of aging in America, employment and retirement, and political and legal issues.
These are but a few of the resources that contain descriptions of terms that describe various aspects of the lives of people over 65.
As for me: I tend to the use of the phrase “people over 65” to generically name or label the cohort of people about which I am concerned in this Blog. In doing so, I recognize the claims of the movement to use “age-irrelevant” terminology, and, indeed, to make age an irrelevant criterion in any discussion of any group of people. It could be argued that age 65 no longer has any “marking” relevance in today’s society. But in the reading I have done thus far, for better or worse, age 65 continues to be a demarcation in much public dialogue. I’m willing to use the over-65 descriptor, not as an indicator of positive or negative judgment, but merely as a descriptor of fact: people do become 65!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
WHO AM I NOW? PERSONAL IDENTITY AFTER 65
Soon after I turned 65, I retired from my career as professor, academic administrator, and librarian. Like many people, I looked forward to both events with relief and anticipation. I remember working in a paper mill during the summer, while I was an undergraduate. That work experience, short as it was, proved to be instructive in many ways, but the part of the job that sticks in my memory was sitting in the lunch room during breaks, and listening to the full-time employees of the mill describing the number of years or months left until they retired. Retirement seemed to be a, if not the, primary goal for most of these men (No, there were no women working in that part of the mill at that time.) I recall not fully understanding the sentiment, although by the end of a summer of shoveling coal and packing cartons of ceiling tile, I had a better feel for what these guys were talking about.
Nearly a half-century later, I am the one retiring. Weeks after my last day at work, I felt an uneasiness begin to permeate my thinking. Time weighed heavily on me; I found I could not say, even to myself, who I was now. What a strange and uncomfortable feeling that was! I realized my view of myself over the years consisted primarily in what I did in my career. I was mainly a professor, or an administrator, or a librarian. But what now? I could say to those who asked that I “used to be a professor,” or “I’m a former librarian.” Those answers did not satisfy. The ambiguity I felt about who I was now did not feel good at all.
It is my guess that I am not alone in posing this question for myself. Statistics compiled by the United States Bureau of the Census indicate that as of July 2008, the number of people aged 65 or older living in the United States was 22,404,913. That number represents an increase of nearly 2,000,000 over the same estimate for April 2000. A study done by the Mature Market Institute indicates that by 2030, the 65+ population will more than double to about 71.5 Million, and by 2050 will grow to 86.7 Million. While not every one of these people 65 or older will ask the “who am I now” question, it is safe to assume that a significant number will.
I thought the question I posed to myself could properly be defined as an inquiry into personal identity. As I began my investigation into my personal identity, I learned that the idea of identity has been explored by many researchers, for many, many years. I learned that the precise meaning of the term identity is elusive, and that there are various schools of thought as to the characteristics of identity. Still, in spite of the ambiguities that surround definitions of identity, the general thrust of the concept seems to “fit” the notion of “Who am I Now.”
This post on personal identity after 65 is intended to provide the reader with some guidance in seeking out information that may be useful for others to probe the question, “Who am I now?” If you want some suggestions for how to explore this issue yourself, please read on!
Seminal Books on Aging and Identity
The literature contains many excellent books on the topics of aging and identity. Following are examples of books that I find especially beneficial to anyone trying to understand their own personal identity as he or she ages. You may be able to find these books in your local or public library, or through one of the online distributors.
de Beauvoir, S. (1996). The coming of age. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Erikson, E. (1959). The problem of ego identity. Psychological Issues, Vol. 1, Number 1. Pp. 101-164.
Friedan, B. (1993). The Fountain of Age. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Johnson, M. (Ed)(2005). The Cambridge handbook of age and ageing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Levinson, D. (1986). The seasons of a man’s life. New York: Ballantine Books.
Levinson, D. (1997). The seasons of a woman’s life. New York: Ballantine Books.
Neugarten, D. (Ed.) (1996). The meanings of age: Selected papers of Bernice L. Neugarten. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sheehy, G. (1976). Passages: Predictable crises of adult life. New York: Dutton.
Biographies and Memoirs
Some people may find it beneficial to read biographies, autobiographies, or memoirs by or about individuals who have reached 65 and beyond, and who reflect on their lives from that perspective. There are, of course, many such publications; examples are listed below. Check your local public library to see if they have copies of these or other volumes.
Foster, P. (2004). Just beneath my skin: Autobiography and self-disclosure. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Higgins, C. (2000). Elder grace : the nobility of aging. Boston : Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Co.
Mandela, N. (2000). Long walk to freedom: The autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Steck-Vaughn.
O'Dea, C., Picot, F. and McCurdy, J. (2008). Skidding Sideways Through Our Fifties: Three Sisters Explore the Art of Growing Older. XLibris Corporation.
Roosevelt, E. (2000). The autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. DeCapo Press.
Waxman, B. (1998). To Live in the Center of the Moment: Literary Autobiographies of Aging. University of Virginia Press.
Magazines and Journals
Another good source of information about identity and aging is magazines and journals. Some of these publications are oriented toward scholarship and research, while others are focused on lay readers. Following are some examples of magazines/journals that you may find contain useful articles.
My suggestion for gaining access to these publications is to check with your public or academic library, to see if they carry the print versions of the magazines. Increasingly, the full text of these magazines is available in electronic form, which is usually provided through database subscriptions maintained by the library. Check with your public librarian for instructions on how to find and use electronic journals and magazines.
A A R P: The Magazine
United States
American Association of Retired Persons
A A R P Bulletin
United States
American Association of Retired Persons
Aging
United States
U.S. Administration on Aging, Department of Health & Human Services.
Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research
United States
Hindawi Publishing Corp.
Gerontology News
United States
Gerontological Society of America.
International Journal of Ageing and Later Life
Sweden
Linkoepings Universitet.
Journal of Aging Studies
United Kingdom
Pergamon
Journal of Applied Gerontology: the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society
United States
Sage Publications, Inc.
Psychology and Aging
United States
American Psychological Association.
The Internet Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology
United States
Internet Scientific Publications, Llc.
Web sites
The Internet, through the World Wide Web, offers a significant amount of information about identity and aging. In searching the Web on this topic, however, one learns quickly that some of the most relevant information is contained in subscription or proprietary data bases, and is thus not readily available to the user. One way to get at this “blocked” information, of course, is to go through your local public or academic library and utilize the subscription databases provided by those libraries. Here are just a couple of examples of the kind of relevant information you might encounter in a search using the search terms “identity old age”:
Self and identity in advanced old age: validation of theory through longitudinal case analysis. Coleman PG, Ivani-Chalian C, Robinson M.
From PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10540759
As Old as You Feel: Age Identity In Middle and Later Life
From Social Forces
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=95184403
Identity, old age, and society
http://www.find-health-articles.com/rec_pub_17093700-identity-old-age-society.htm
For many articles such as those listed above, a general search will provide the reader with an abstract of the article, but access to the full text of the article is gained only by the use of a paid-for subscription to the relevant database.
Having said all that, there are a number of sites that can be accessed, following a targeted search using a search engine such as Google. Following are a small number of examples of such sites:
10 Ways to Finding Your True Identity in Retirement
http://www.lifeafterteachingexpo.com/pdf/lifeafterteachingfreereport.pdf
Working Beyond Retirement: For Money, Identity, and Purpose
http://www.quintcareers.com/working_beyond_retirement.html
Age Identity and Subjective Well-Being
http://psychsoc.gerontologyjournals.org/cgi/content/full/60/3/S129#SEC1
Identity and getting older
http://www.templatenetwork.net/topaz/14/en/16_01.html
To find more articles pertaining to identity and aging, try using the following search strings in a search on Google or other engine:
Identity old age
Personal identity old age
Self-definition old age
Self-esteem old age
Social Web sites
Blogs are a relatively new way for people to connect with others who share an interest in a particular topic. With some searching, you can find blogs that address issues around aging and personal identity. Following are some examples, to give you a flavor of what these blogs are all about:
Age And Aging Blogs & Blog Posts
http://dir.blogflux.com/topic/age+and+aging.html
Midlife crisis Queen blog
http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/midlife-crisis-queen/10652eca9f0e8772b2d566a810cfa415
Consider this: From the Council on Aging
http://www.considerthisblog.net/
AARP Blog
http://aarp.typepad.com/
Seniors Site
http://seniors-site.com/blog/2009/03/top-10-aging-myths-busted/
Seniors World Chronicle
http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/seniors-world-chronicle/posts/tag/aging/
The Future of Aging Blog
http://futureofaging.aahsa.org/2009/03/11/so-long-senior-citizen/
Everyone is Aging Blog
http://www.retirement-living.com/publisher/
Top 100 Senior Blogs & Web Sites
http://www.seniorsforliving.com/content/article/top-100-senior-blogs-web-sites/32/
Nearly a half-century later, I am the one retiring. Weeks after my last day at work, I felt an uneasiness begin to permeate my thinking. Time weighed heavily on me; I found I could not say, even to myself, who I was now. What a strange and uncomfortable feeling that was! I realized my view of myself over the years consisted primarily in what I did in my career. I was mainly a professor, or an administrator, or a librarian. But what now? I could say to those who asked that I “used to be a professor,” or “I’m a former librarian.” Those answers did not satisfy. The ambiguity I felt about who I was now did not feel good at all.
It is my guess that I am not alone in posing this question for myself. Statistics compiled by the United States Bureau of the Census indicate that as of July 2008, the number of people aged 65 or older living in the United States was 22,404,913. That number represents an increase of nearly 2,000,000 over the same estimate for April 2000. A study done by the Mature Market Institute indicates that by 2030, the 65+ population will more than double to about 71.5 Million, and by 2050 will grow to 86.7 Million. While not every one of these people 65 or older will ask the “who am I now” question, it is safe to assume that a significant number will.
I thought the question I posed to myself could properly be defined as an inquiry into personal identity. As I began my investigation into my personal identity, I learned that the idea of identity has been explored by many researchers, for many, many years. I learned that the precise meaning of the term identity is elusive, and that there are various schools of thought as to the characteristics of identity. Still, in spite of the ambiguities that surround definitions of identity, the general thrust of the concept seems to “fit” the notion of “Who am I Now.”
This post on personal identity after 65 is intended to provide the reader with some guidance in seeking out information that may be useful for others to probe the question, “Who am I now?” If you want some suggestions for how to explore this issue yourself, please read on!
Seminal Books on Aging and Identity
The literature contains many excellent books on the topics of aging and identity. Following are examples of books that I find especially beneficial to anyone trying to understand their own personal identity as he or she ages. You may be able to find these books in your local or public library, or through one of the online distributors.
de Beauvoir, S. (1996). The coming of age. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Erikson, E. (1959). The problem of ego identity. Psychological Issues, Vol. 1, Number 1. Pp. 101-164.
Friedan, B. (1993). The Fountain of Age. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Johnson, M. (Ed)(2005). The Cambridge handbook of age and ageing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Levinson, D. (1986). The seasons of a man’s life. New York: Ballantine Books.
Levinson, D. (1997). The seasons of a woman’s life. New York: Ballantine Books.
Neugarten, D. (Ed.) (1996). The meanings of age: Selected papers of Bernice L. Neugarten. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sheehy, G. (1976). Passages: Predictable crises of adult life. New York: Dutton.
Biographies and Memoirs
Some people may find it beneficial to read biographies, autobiographies, or memoirs by or about individuals who have reached 65 and beyond, and who reflect on their lives from that perspective. There are, of course, many such publications; examples are listed below. Check your local public library to see if they have copies of these or other volumes.
Foster, P. (2004). Just beneath my skin: Autobiography and self-disclosure. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Higgins, C. (2000). Elder grace : the nobility of aging. Boston : Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Co.
Mandela, N. (2000). Long walk to freedom: The autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Steck-Vaughn.
O'Dea, C., Picot, F. and McCurdy, J. (2008). Skidding Sideways Through Our Fifties: Three Sisters Explore the Art of Growing Older. XLibris Corporation.
Roosevelt, E. (2000). The autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. DeCapo Press.
Waxman, B. (1998). To Live in the Center of the Moment: Literary Autobiographies of Aging. University of Virginia Press.
Magazines and Journals
Another good source of information about identity and aging is magazines and journals. Some of these publications are oriented toward scholarship and research, while others are focused on lay readers. Following are some examples of magazines/journals that you may find contain useful articles.
My suggestion for gaining access to these publications is to check with your public or academic library, to see if they carry the print versions of the magazines. Increasingly, the full text of these magazines is available in electronic form, which is usually provided through database subscriptions maintained by the library. Check with your public librarian for instructions on how to find and use electronic journals and magazines.
A A R P: The Magazine
United States
American Association of Retired Persons
A A R P Bulletin
United States
American Association of Retired Persons
Aging
United States
U.S. Administration on Aging, Department of Health & Human Services.
Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research
United States
Hindawi Publishing Corp.
Gerontology News
United States
Gerontological Society of America.
International Journal of Ageing and Later Life
Sweden
Linkoepings Universitet.
Journal of Aging Studies
United Kingdom
Pergamon
Journal of Applied Gerontology: the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society
United States
Sage Publications, Inc.
Psychology and Aging
United States
American Psychological Association.
The Internet Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology
United States
Internet Scientific Publications, Llc.
Web sites
The Internet, through the World Wide Web, offers a significant amount of information about identity and aging. In searching the Web on this topic, however, one learns quickly that some of the most relevant information is contained in subscription or proprietary data bases, and is thus not readily available to the user. One way to get at this “blocked” information, of course, is to go through your local public or academic library and utilize the subscription databases provided by those libraries. Here are just a couple of examples of the kind of relevant information you might encounter in a search using the search terms “identity old age”:
Self and identity in advanced old age: validation of theory through longitudinal case analysis. Coleman PG, Ivani-Chalian C, Robinson M.
From PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10540759
As Old as You Feel: Age Identity In Middle and Later Life
From Social Forces
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=95184403
Identity, old age, and society
http://www.find-health-articles.com/rec_pub_17093700-identity-old-age-society.htm
For many articles such as those listed above, a general search will provide the reader with an abstract of the article, but access to the full text of the article is gained only by the use of a paid-for subscription to the relevant database.
Having said all that, there are a number of sites that can be accessed, following a targeted search using a search engine such as Google. Following are a small number of examples of such sites:
10 Ways to Finding Your True Identity in Retirement
http://www.lifeafterteachingexpo.com/pdf/lifeafterteachingfreereport.pdf
Working Beyond Retirement: For Money, Identity, and Purpose
http://www.quintcareers.com/working_beyond_retirement.html
Age Identity and Subjective Well-Being
http://psychsoc.gerontologyjournals.org/cgi/content/full/60/3/S129#SEC1
Identity and getting older
http://www.templatenetwork.net/topaz/14/en/16_01.html
To find more articles pertaining to identity and aging, try using the following search strings in a search on Google or other engine:
Identity old age
Personal identity old age
Self-definition old age
Self-esteem old age
Social Web sites
Blogs are a relatively new way for people to connect with others who share an interest in a particular topic. With some searching, you can find blogs that address issues around aging and personal identity. Following are some examples, to give you a flavor of what these blogs are all about:
Age And Aging Blogs & Blog Posts
http://dir.blogflux.com/topic/age+and+aging.html
Midlife crisis Queen blog
http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/midlife-crisis-queen/10652eca9f0e8772b2d566a810cfa415
Consider this: From the Council on Aging
http://www.considerthisblog.net/
AARP Blog
http://aarp.typepad.com/
Seniors Site
http://seniors-site.com/blog/2009/03/top-10-aging-myths-busted/
Seniors World Chronicle
http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/seniors-world-chronicle/posts/tag/aging/
The Future of Aging Blog
http://futureofaging.aahsa.org/2009/03/11/so-long-senior-citizen/
Everyone is Aging Blog
http://www.retirement-living.com/publisher/
Top 100 Senior Blogs & Web Sites
http://www.seniorsforliving.com/content/article/top-100-senior-blogs-web-sites/32/
Saturday, September 19, 2009
WHY THIS BLOG?
A short while ago, I turned 65. I was not ready to be 65. I have many questions, uncertainties, even fears. Surely I could have been more prepared for this life milestone. Given that I wasn't prepared, I thought it might be helpful to me, and perhaps useful to others, to think and write about some of the issues, opportunities, barriers, and means for seeking out well-being and quality of life at this developmental stage.
A trip to any bookstore reveals a number of books about how to retire, grow old gracefully, cope with aging parents, etc. You've seen them. I think many of these resources are good, and can be of considerable use to and comfort for people who reach the age of 65 or thereabouts. For things change at this age, so much so that it may become difficult to navigate through the changes. I thought a digital handbook, encompassing discussions of a variety of issues, and pointing the way to information resources pertaining to these issues, also might be helpful. Thus, this blog.
This is not a textbook on financial well-being, although the topic may well be broached in this Handbook. Nor is the a handbook about health only, or careers, or any of the single topics about which entire books have been written. This blog is about the exploration of issues more than a prescription for how to live.
We'll see how this thing develops, and if it is of any use to anyone. Thanks for taking part.
A trip to any bookstore reveals a number of books about how to retire, grow old gracefully, cope with aging parents, etc. You've seen them. I think many of these resources are good, and can be of considerable use to and comfort for people who reach the age of 65 or thereabouts. For things change at this age, so much so that it may become difficult to navigate through the changes. I thought a digital handbook, encompassing discussions of a variety of issues, and pointing the way to information resources pertaining to these issues, also might be helpful. Thus, this blog.
This is not a textbook on financial well-being, although the topic may well be broached in this Handbook. Nor is the a handbook about health only, or careers, or any of the single topics about which entire books have been written. This blog is about the exploration of issues more than a prescription for how to live.
We'll see how this thing develops, and if it is of any use to anyone. Thanks for taking part.
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