Synopses & Reviews
This volume tackles a number of popular misconceptions about the social and economic impact of an aging population. It emphasizes the specific demographic and policy changes taking place in Canada and focuses on trends in social policy that affect pensions, healthcare, and retirement. It provides a critical look at how an apocalyptic approach to the aging population is being used by the conservative parties to dismantle the Canadian welfare state. It also examines the many ways in which intergenerational relationships are changing and challenges the popular image of the elderly population as a burden on the younger generations.
Synopsis
The impact of population, and of growing and diminishing segments of the population, has been a cause for concern for many years. Globally, a 'population explosion' was much in the news in the sixties and seventies but is little heard of today. In Canada, demographic shifts have driven public policy in culture, language, and education. The contributors to The Overselling of Population Aging-from the fields of demography, sociology, gerontology, social policy, and social work-examine this alarmist concern about an aging population, which they label 'apocalyptic' or 'voodoo' demography. The chapters focus on such topics as social policy, hospital usage by older Canadians, aging families, intergenerational caregiving, adult children returning to live at home, retirement income, and economics and women's pensions.
Table of Contents
Foreword Lillian Zimmerman, Simon Fraser UniversityPreface Ellen M. Gee and Gloria M. Gutman
1. Population and Politics: Voodoo Demography, Population Ageing, and Social Policy, Ellen M. Gee
2. Three Demographic Stories: Apocalyptic, Opportunistic, and Realistic OR Chicken Little's, Nest Eggies, and Humpty Dumpties, Michael J. Prince, University of Victoria
3. Alarmist Economics and Women's Pensions: A Case of Semanticide, Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto
4. Population Ageing and Hospital Days: Will There Be a Problem?, Yves Carriere, Simon Fraser University
5. What Did You Ever Do for Me?: Intergenerational Linkages in a Restructuring Canada, Susan A. McDaniel, University of Alberta
6. Ageing Families: Have Current changes and Challenges been Oversold?, Carolyn J. Rosenthal, McMaster University
7. Intergenerational Care Giving: How Apocalyptic and Dominant Demographies Frame the Questions and Shape the Answers, Anne Martin-Matthews, University of British Columbia
8. The Refilled 'Nest': Debunking the Myth of Families-in-Crisis, Barbara A. Mitchell, simon Fraser University