THE ELDERLY IN SOCIETY
A Paper by Carol Davenport
The basis of a talk to the Philosophy & Anthropology Group 17 June 2013
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INTRODUCTION
1.1 In this paper I seek to uncover the value that society places on the elderly, the roles they have
& to explore what being in our later years may mean for us. The topic is huge & has the potential
for deeper exploration of aspects next year if members wish it. This paper is only an introduction.
1.2 My illustrations & quotations are numbered in brackets in the text & sources are listed at the
end [p15 & 16] together with a list of appendices [some of the additional material collected in
preparing the paper], all of which are available on the group’s web page for 2012-13.
1.3 To illustrate this isn’t a topic only of modern interest; we’ll start with some observations by
some ancient worthies:
Take Sappho, a Greek lyric poetess of the 6th century BCE:
In one poem [1] referring to old age, she cites her own experience of ageing & she tells herself that
growing old is part of the human condition and there is nothing you can about it. It is set in a
mythical context, a popular tale of the goddess Eos who wished her new husband to become
immortal. But she forgot to ensure that he stay young forever. It must have been very disappointing
that he just grew ever older and feebler:
Poem read by Greta Guest
"You for the fragrant-blossomed Muses’ lovely gifts
be zealous, girls, and the clear melodious lyre:
but my once tender body old age now
has seized; my hair’s turned white instead of dark;
my heart’s grown heavy, my knees will not support me,
that once on a time were fleet for the dance as fawns.
This state I oft bemoan; but what’s to do?
Not to grow old, being human, there’s no way.
Tithonus once, the tale was, rose-armed Dawn,
love-smitten, carried off to the world’s end,
handsome and young then, yet in time grey age
o’ertook him, husband of immortal wife."
Socrates [2], [the classical Athenian philosopher born in 4th century BCE] was imprisoned under a
death sentence when he was 70. According to his pupil, Xenophon, he thought it was better to die
before senility set rather in than to escape execution & one of his intimate acquaintances,
Hermogenes records him saying:
Read by Tom Brookes
‘And now if my age is still to be prolonged, I know that I cannot escape paying the penalty
of old age, in increasing dimness of sight and dullness of hearing. I shall find myself slower
to learn new lessons, and apter to forget the lessons I have learnt. And if to these be added
the consciousness of failing powers, the sting of self- reproach, what prospect have I of any
further joy in living? It may be, you know," he added, "that God out of his great kindness is
intervening in my behalf to suffer me to close my life in the ripeness of age, and by the
gentlest of deaths….’ [2]
Finally, Seneca, the 1st century Roman Philosopher reflected the Stoic view of the soul as the
principle of life & closely related to physical functions as distinct from the differentiation of mind &
body in contemporary philosophy. He wrote in his publication: ‘On the Shortness of Life’ [3]
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‘It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it ….. Why do we
complain about nature? She has acted kindly: life is long if you know how to use it.’
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EARLY & TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES
2.1 In building a picture of the value & roles of the elderly, I’ll look first at early & traditional
societies:
Hunter-Gatherer Types of Human Subsistence
2.2 Archaeological evidence gives us an idea of how long people lived in the Upper Palaeolithic
period over 10,000 years ago in the Mediterranean & parts of Eurasia and Africa as Neanderthal
man disappears to be replaced by a variety of Homo Sapiens such as Cro-Magnon man. It
suggests that half of people died before they were 20 [4] & thereafter would survive to 54 years of
age. [5]
2.3 With the beginnings of communal hunting & fishing, one imagines that if part older members of
the group were unable to take full part, would fashion stone tools, some of which were finely
worked, & have a role in the earliest forms of ceremonies, dancing, music, the use of masks etc. &
in the organisation of society into patterns that were then apparently fairly complex.
2.4 We have some insight into how our ancestors lived for millions of years from the recent book
‘The World until Yesterday’ [6]. Over the last 50 years, Professor Jared Diamond lived & worked
with highland villagers in Papua New Guinea as well as undertaking studies in other countries &
calling on research by other anthropologists.
2.5 Fijian elders often live with their children who even pre-chew food for them if teeth are worn
down to the gum line. One Fijian, who had been to the US, was disgusted at the treatment of the
elderly; many in care homes, visited only occasionally by their children: ‘you throw away your own
parents’. Some traditional societies hold the elderly in even higher esteem than the Fijians,
allowing them to tyrannise their grandchildren & prevent sons marrying till in their 40s. Others have
even lower status than in the West: starving, abandoning or actually killing them.
2.6 He puts the wide variation down to:
 material aspects of society that make the elderly more or less useful to society & make it
feasible for younger members to support them
 & cultural values if handicapped elderly bring whole group into danger e.g.
o nomadic hunter gatherers who must shift camp from time to time & without beast of
burden, they have to carry everything on their backs. Adding old people who may be
unable to walk is impossible
o in arctic & desert areas where food shortages periodically occur & where food
surpluses to carry them through cannot be accumulated. If the society is to be kept
fit or alive with adequate food, they must sacrifice their least valuable or productive
members.
2.7 From a cold-blooded, adaptive perspective, where old people do remain productive; societies
do prosper if they care for the elderly. When men can no longer spear a lion & women cannot trot
many miles with a heavy load to & from nut groves, they can continue to obtain food for their
grandchildren & help the group by other means e.g.
 some South American hunter gatherers in their 60s concentrate on small animals, fruits, &
palm products & help with breaking trail when the group moves camp.
 Men of the Kung of the Kalahari Desert gather plants, set animal traps, interpret tracks on
hunts & propose strategies.
 Of the Hadza hunter gatherer women of Tanzania, the age group working hardest are the postmenopausal grand mothers who spend an average of 7 hours a day foraging for tubers & fruit –
the more time she spends, the faster her grand children will gain weight. Baby sitting frees up
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older children & women to forage for them. Making things for the family to use; tools, weapons,
baskets, pots & woven textiles.
2.8 This is an area where older members not only hold on to earlier abilities but are likely to excel:
 Traditional midwives & medicine men are often old as are the magicians, priests, prophets,
sorcerers, leaders of songs, games, dances & initiation rites.
 Old people enjoy huge social advantages from spending a lifetime of building up a network of
relationships into which they can introduce their children.
 Political leaders are usually older – ‘tribal elders’ has become the synonym for ‘tribal leaders’
even in modern state societies.
2.9 If we westerners want to ascertain some fact, we look it up in some written source or online,
but pre-literate societies must rely on human memories, hence the minds of older people are the
society’s encyclopaedias & libraries. In New Guinea many who can’t answer a question, often say
‘let’s ask the old man or woman’.
2.10 Diamond concludes that how much traditional societies care for their older people & whether
they are respected or scorned, depends on how useful they are & on the group’s social values. He
steers us away from romanticising the past … sometimes the elderly were regarded with more
respect than now & sometimes less. He suggests how we in the West might learn from these
studies of traditional societies & I will come back to this later.
More Pre-Literate & Mythical Types of Communities
2.11 One might speculate that, as pre-literate & mythical types of communities increasingly
practiced farming & settled into one place, the elderly might gain more respect of the group being
able to carry on more work less physically demanding than hunting. They would be able to carry on
more work, less physically demanding than nomadic hunting. They would also continue to
contribute their experience to the group’s wellbeing.
2.12 In present day rural India we know that one of our group, Paul Schur has experience of
working in a small hamlet where subsistence farming is supplemented by cash cropping. Work in
the fields is unmechanised & the blacksmith makes & adapts equipment like ploughs. Old people
live into their 70s & 80s & remain very active, unless ill & undertake house & farm work. It seems
the elderly are still a small proportion of the population. They are respected by the community &
seem to be well looked after by their families – even being carried up & down the hills on the backs
of their strapping grandsons, should the need arise because other transport is unavailable. They
are the responsibility of the eldest son; much of the care falling upon his wife. Daughters become
the carers for their husband's parents. If there is no family, there can be considerable problems for
the elderly.
2.13 other members, Bryan & Bernice Halson spent much time in Namibia, Africa between 1992
& 2005. The culture was one of the extended family being important, the church a major influence
& benefactor, no state welfare but with basic education for all children. Livelihoods were made in
farming but needing men to go away to the cities or mines for work; some having been involved in
the struggle for independence.
2.14 Grandparents, as part of the extended family, were a mark of stability. The elderly continued
working in the fields & making wooden utensils, pots & baskets. AIDS however brought great
change to family structure & the roles of the elderly. Initially, they found that AIDS was an issue
under wraps & it was openly acknowledged only once almost all families lost many members.
Because extra-marital sex was common, mostly both parents died. With grandfathers still mostly
working, the role of caring for orphaned children fell to grandmothers; a situation still pertaining
today.
2.15 In Ghana [15] one study has suggested that ‘Family is very important in the traditional
Ghanaian society … [but] the nuclear family is increasingly gaining importance whereas the
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influence of the extended family is decreasing. The main role for the elderly has been to function
as an advisor in every day matters, as well as in important decisions & caring for grandchildren.
This role has changed & ... only when there are important issues are the elderly consulted. The
elderly say: ‘The elderly … do not feel that there is .. respect … just because they are old. Instead,
respect is given according to achievement …for example, as an elder in church & believe that
elderly in Ghana will be even more marginalized in the future’. [Also that] ‘young people have
higher status in society than the elderly as a result of education and wage-jobs’ & they ‘are lonely
and are alone during long periods’
2.16 Our tutor, Sonia Gregson has told us about the Cretan mountain village from the 1980s. The
subsistence farming of sheep, potatoes, olives & orchard fruits was supplemented through
seasonal tourism & gift exchange. There, the elderly were given respect within the norms of their
socio-cultural status but without sentimentality. For example, the women who bear male children
had a high status. There was one ancient, bent widow, Adriani, who, despite being the mother of 2
sons, was still given the task of going uphill to the village spring to redirect the irrigation water to
the family’s fields – at 1am in the morning, the most inconvenient time to the men! It seems to me
that the old women worked very hard indeed in that community.
2.17 So we can start to appreciate that the value & role of the elderly in traditional societies raises
complex issues & questions which may equally apply today in the West.
3
CHANGE FROM FARM LABOURING & COTTAGE INDUSTRY TO MILL & FACTORY
WORKING & URBAN LIVING [8]
3.1 When work changed in England from farm labouring & cottage industry with the development
of large water-powered mills, this had massive social consequences. Initially mill owners had to go
in search of workers for their mills mostly from rural areas where lack of jobs arose largely from
mechanisation in farming & there was abject poverty; parochial records [9] showing whole families
in receipt of aid.
3.2 For example, at his remote Cromford Mill in Derbyshire, Arkwright provided housing, a school,
shop & church for the workers. At first women operated the spinning machines whilst the men
worked the hand looms in the top floor of their homes - did this then mean grandmothers did the
housekeeping & childminding for the family?
3.3 John Lane in the Art of Ageing [10] has said
‘It is in the nature of the industrial ethos to value … not the stable but the dynamic, not the
slow but the fast, not the communal but the individualistic, not the traditional but the novel –
all of which fundamentally alters the status of its older members in relation to their
successors. We call societies traditional precisely because they are productive
communities primarily concerned with the social relations between their members, as
opposed to marketplaces that are primarily concerned with economic transactions. It is
therefore little wonder that the old are no longer seen as role model … but viewed as … a
dead weight on progress & flexibility ..’
3.4 As towns grew, living conditions worsened & it is likely that people didn’t live as long as in
previous rural communities – in some cities in the 19th century, life expectancy was only 35-45
years – although those who did survive longer & were unable to work suffered terribly. This
migration into towns & cities, along with emigration to new lives abroad, also brought fragmentation
of families, Leaving many old people behind in their original home location, unsupported by family.
With the consolidation of land into the ownership of a few families & corporations, small farms are
now quite rare in England.
Rural Japan [13]
3.5 More recently than in England, Japan has had very rapid industrialisation & urbanisation only
since the 1950s. Many young adults moved from the country to the larger metropolitan areas to get
better jobs & education. They left their children to be brought by their own parents.
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3.6 People in Japan have traditionally had a very close relationship with the land & attachment to
the family farmsteads [unlike predominantly farm labourers & tenancies in England] with the eldest
son having a central role in village society. So, until recently, the young adults moved only to towns
that are about a 2 hour journey away & frequently travelled back to their community, continuing
some of their social activities & economic duties.
3.7 However in Japan the older population is growing faster than in any other industrialised
country, bringing with it expected problems in health & care as even the grandchildren move away
&, at the same time, more young adults favour modern urban dwelling & no longer wish to inherit
the family home or carry on a role in the village community. These absent adult children are given
the name ‘ghost or invisible’ members of the village. Many elderly people are working in their fields
much later in life than before. As in England, the urban wealthy incomers, or ‘strangers’ as they are
called, are taking no interest or responsibility in village matters.
3.8 There are some beneficial consequences:
 the elderly are the ones maintaining the strong social networks of relatives, friends &
neighbours, generally it is the women
 the elders have unintended health & welfare roles e.g. when they go to the shops or visit a
friend’s home, shopping & having fun are their main intentions. However, they maintain their
health by keeping moving & those visited, especially very dependent elders, are informally
checked out
 Elders have very important roles in terms of management & maintenance of local organisations
3.9 However, maintaining village daily life & agricultural productivity is increasingly becoming a
major issue & the long term future of Japan’s rural communities is at risk & no solutions seem to be
clear.
India [14]
3.10 For many in India, there are two concepts underpinning a relevant guiding philosophy
influencing cultural patterns, religious beliefs and rituals, customs and traditions, namely
 According to Karma, destiny is determined by an individual’s actions in previous life. Good
actions ensure better fate in next life.
 There are 4 stages in the life of an individual according to Ashramas: youth, married life,
retirement & renunciation [with withdrawal from the householder role & gradual handing over to
the eldest son.
Whichever caste to which an individual belong, he or she must pass through all the life stages.
3.11 Culturally older people have always been an integral & important part of the family. The ‘joint
family, with three [or four] generations live together under the same roof, is considered as one of
the pillars of Indian social organization …. People were trained & socialized from childhood &
guided through life by the rules of conduct set by the elderly of the family in preparation for roles
they were destined to play later in life.’
3.12 ‘Thus, the grandmother was the reigning female & a highly respected figure while the
grandfather was the revered patriarch whose whim was the law for the family & controlled all the
economic and social affairs in the joint or extended home. ….the role & the authority of the elders
was both supported & upheld …. They enjoyed high status due to their wisdom gained through
experience and knowledge acquired’
3.13 In contemporary urban India, we hear again how industrialisation & migration has fragmented
families. ‘After independence India vigorously moved onto the path of social progress & economic
development. Industrialization, physical separation of parents from the adult children as a result of
rapid urbanization & age selective rural urban migration affected the family’s solidarity &
competence in providing care to all its members.
3.14 Some of these changes are:
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‘Commercialization, industrialization and modernization .. paved the way for replacing joint
families by .. nuclear families ..[of husband, wife & their children]
Lessening family dependency on agricultural income caused the authority of elderly to shrink
Longer life expectancy .. with .. health related problems increase making the elderly dependent
on others for ..their physical & psychological needs ... also drains the resources of the family.
The paucity of dwelling units & high cost of living in cities and metropolitan areas .. the elderly
[are] not welcomed in small houses with low income.
Older persons .. were a storehouse of anecdotes & stories for grandchildren before TV,
videogames, comics and Internet robbed this role from them’.
3.15 ‘Older people across regions, religion, gender or class distinctions provide assistance in
household chores like baby-sitting, marketing for grocery items, kitchen work & voluntary
involvement in economic activities’. However, as there is no central social services provision in
India & none seems likely, the elderly without family support are becoming very vulnerable.
3.16 So we are seeing similarities as countries develop economically. Furthermore, not only are
they industrialised; many now have a post-industrial economy driven by consumerism, as in the
west. Before turning to old age life in Britain, I’ll set the scene a little.
4
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
4.1 This paper is entitled the ‘Elderly’ in society but what’s in a name? In the context of
Wittgenstein’s view that the language we use is symbolic of an agreed meaning within a
community, many names for & description routinely given to the elderly come loaded with
judgements. These give a clue to the way the elderly are viewed by a society or sections of it.
4.2 How many of the following names do you think fall into the categories of respectful & valued
rather than neutral or, derogatory & burdensome?
The elderly, elders, old, aged, ageing, retired, old-timer, gramps, granny, senior citizen,
golden ager, old fogey, old biddy, old gal, crock or geezer, sage, retired, wrinkled, grumpy,
crotchety, absent minded, forgetful, fragile, feeble, stuck in the past, past their prime, or a
burden on society …….
For me, the title the ‘elderly’ is neutral without inferred negativity. But we all have had different
experiences making other names preferable. ‘Elders’ still seems to infer distinct respect.
4.3 Many names & descriptions also seem to ridicule the elderly as a group to be set apart in our
society, one which does seem to have a cultural infatuation with the new & modern as opposed to
tradition. Robert Butler [as cited in ‘Art of Ageing’ [10] who coined the term ageism, having
observed ‘old’ had a negative connotation & old people suffer discrimination, felt few people are
willing to be identified by any of these names. He noted that Abkhasians of the Caucasus use
‘long- living’ instead of old’ – they have a highly developed sense of community. I’m not sure I feel
any better about that term either!
4.4 And at what age do we become ‘the elderly’? Traditional societies, as in the case of Native
Americans [12], did not record birth so old age was related to when people could no longer perform
productive roles. As I researched this topic, I found that nowadays categorising people into age
ranges depends on the context & purpose:
 as we know, U3A starts early 50
 many housing tenancies are for the over 55s
 state pensions vary now, depending on your current age, but the start is getting later & later
 population data sets by the Office of National Statistics are broken down into small age ranges
to inform projections & implications for the likes of education, health & pension policy
It is a matter of perspective too - do you remember when you were at school - how ‘old’ the
teachers seemed? We now have many years behind us, yet we may not accept we’re old – or
certainly don’t feel it!
4.5 Indeed who are the elderly? ‘Older people’ said Mervyn Eastman [11], ‘are somebody else’!
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4.6 So the beginning of old age can be interpreted very flexibly as whatever we or researchers
think it is – the saying goes ‘you are only as old as you feel’!
5
RITES OF PASSAGE
5.1 Before we look further at our own situation, I’d like to consider the question of rites of passage
associated with old age. In preparing this paper, I looked for significant rites of passage marking
this critical transition associated with the last stages of life & found that, apart from the end of life,
there are none – even in traditional societies.
5.2 This concept of socialisation was described by Arnold van Gennep [19 & in later works 20] as a
3 stage symbolic process of
 Firstly, separation from the community & the previous state [Sonia suggests this brings a
bonding with others in the group, as a joint initiation in the same sense as ‘communitas’]
 Then comes transition, this he called the ‘liminal’ rites [Sonia likens this to being on the
boundary between past & future; like being on a threshold between neither place]
 reincorporation into the community with your new status.
5.3 There are ceremonies associated with for example taking on high roles in a group, but these
are not exclusively related to old age. Today there are events & minor ceremonies as symbolic
markers of a changing situation: e.g.
 The big ‘0’ birthdays from age 60 etc
 The card from the Queen at age 100
 Significant wedding anniversary celebrations
 The first pension payment
 The first time you are helped across the road!
5.4 Retirement has been suggested by Schaefer as a rite of passage [21] as typically, symbolic
events are associated with this, such as a retirement party, gifts & praise on the last day on the job.
5.5 But I would argue that none of these are fully rites of passage as they don’t have the
significance of going through a process of letting go & growth of the Self.
5.6 But mostly it seems more like doors slamming shut behind you & a loss of a place in society:
 end of child bearing
 retirement from paid work & its status
 dropping off the medical screening list
 when you sense you are refused surgery on age grounds
 difficulty obtaining holiday insurance
 when your driving licence becomes short term
5.7 Depending on your views about continuity after death, there may be rites of passage in one’s
withdrawal from engagement in this life, one’s preparation for any future transcendence & the final
rituals attending death.
5.8 We could discuss if we feel that, since the elderly are living so long, there ought to be some
preparatory, status-giving rites of passage to help us enter old age & society accept us better?
What sort of process might they be & what would it feel like? Also what are the rituals that help the
elderly person facing death & how might they be improved. Are funerals for that person or their
survivors?
6
CHARACTERISTICS & IMPLICATIONS OF OUR OWN AGEING
6.1 I wish to touch on the characteristics & implications of our own ageing as a preliminary to
looking at how we ourselves are valued, & what roles we may have in Britain today.
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6.2 There are sociological theories of the impact of aging on the individual & society, for example
Schaefer [21] has written about 3 of them in terms of older people
 as socially isolated with reduced social roles [functionalist theory];
 as involved in new networks & changing social roles [inter-actionist theory] &
 as victimised by social structure with their social roles relatively unchanged but devalued
[conflict theory].
Here I’m merely acknowledging there are analytic approaches but I prefer for this paper an
informal approach to exploring ageing as I see it!
Let’s look at some influences
6.3 Growing older accompanied with deteriorative biological & psychological changes as we know
is not new. The circumstances of many elderly people today seem to be influenced by:
 Having had education for all working class children to 16 years & easier access to further
education
 Experienced high proportions of young women entering the work place & having significant
non-domestic roles
 A rise of lighter work in the service sector & decline of hard physical work in traditional
industry
 Benefiting from massive medical advances & the advent of contraceptives
 Experienced an affluent era of almost full employment [no longer the case]
 Seen travel abroad became common place
 but increasing caring roles: during the late 1990s, social scientists identified adults who
simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their elderly parents & their adult
children; called the Sandwich Generation [21]
 Possibly experienced tumultuous midlife conflicts within the self & with the external world
 changing family structure: more smaller households, many living alone
What is the Chance of a Good Old Age?
6.4 There are many positive aspects of living now in old age:
 We have longer life expectancy for example:
 for women in England it is 82 years; for men; 78 years [average life expectancy from birth]
[22]
 10% of 65 year old men can now expect to reach 100 years; & for women it is 14%; there
are now almost double the number of 105+ year olds than in 2002 [23]
 In one recent parish magazine [24] half of the deaths recorded were of people over 90
years of age, one being 101 years
 ‘baby boomer retirees represent the youngest-ever retiring generation’ [26]
 More people remain healthy & active into older age
 raised individual potential in many aspects of life
 financial independence: singletons, divorcees, widows & widowers
 increased interest in learning [more than academic study or acquisition of knowledge.
 In a recent study, 39% of 50-54 year olds are ‘likely or fairly likely to learn in the next 3
years’ [25]
 & what about the silver surfers?
7
THE VALUE & ROLES OF THE ELDERLY IN OUR 21ST CENTURY BRITISH SOCIETY
What are the warnings?
7.1 In contemporary Britain & the West, our society seems increasingly to undervalue old people
as a group, view us as having outlived its functional roles. We note that:
 less privileged youngsters see us as surplus; a drain on society & finance
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
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& we suffer invisibility in the media: why is it that we have younger models even in stair lift
adverts?
our national welfare-orientated government is disappearing
7.2 Diamond [6] observes that some of ‘the bad news for us is a straight consequence of the
[soaring] ratio of old people to children & productive young workers because birth rates have
dropped while survival rates of the elderly have risen. We used to have lots of young people with
few old people but at present we have more old people & fewer babies.’
7.3 He points out ‘one obvious consequence of these facts is the burden of supporting the elderly
is heavier with the looming crisis of funding the [British] welfare system that provides pensions for
retired workers. If we older people keep working, we prevent our children’s & our grand children’s
generation from getting jobs. If instead we older people retire & expect the earnings of the
shrinking younger cohort to continue to fund the social service system to pay for our leisure - then
the financial burden on them is far greater than ever before. And if we expect to move in with them
& let them privately support & care for us in their homes, they have other ideas’.
7.4 Diamond has pointed out that how much traditional societies valued their older people,
depended on their usefulness & on the group’s social values. & he wonders whether ‘we are
returning to a world where we will be considering choices about end of life made by traditional
societies such as assisted suicide, encouraged suicide & euthanasia. These measures are being
discussed with increasing frequency. The status of old people in modern Western societies has
changed drastically in the last century.’
7.5 Another commentator, Professor Luke Gormally of the Christian Linacre Centre in a paper
‘Human Dignity and Respect for the Elderly’ [16], pointed out that increase in dependant frail
elderly is occurring precisely when state welfare is under stress as the working age population is
diminishing & levels of unemployment in advanced capitalist societies is increasing.
7.6 He sets the scene with ‘Cultural historians of the condition of the elderly in society have noted a
radical change in that condition emerging over recent centuries. As one such historian [17] has
noted "improved medical & economic conditions for older people have been accompanied by
cultural disenfranchisement - a loss of meaning & vital social roles’. Although written about
America, this is certainly relevant to cultural changes throughout Northern Europe.
7.7 And he observes that ‘in the nineteenth century a `good old age', free of disease & frailty, was
seen as the reward of healthy living & a `bad old age' as the consequence of ignoring it such that
old age ceases to be a challenge to self-transcendence & becomes a "problem" to be solved by
will-power aided by medical science & technology …. & lacking positive meaning.
7.8 Gormally makes an important point that ‘a radical tendency in contemporary philosophy denies
value to the lives of those elderly who have lost control of their lives in the sense of having lost the
capacity for self-determination. It denies that value & dignity belong to human beings just by virtue
of the fact that they are human & human dignity; a value which commands respect.’
7.9 ‘To invest one's life with value one must, of course, have certain developed abilities, hence
human beings lacking the requisite developed abilities lack lives with a value of their own. Do
therefore those suffering from advanced senile dementia lack value & dignity & so lack basic
human rights?’
7.10 So, does anyone lacking abilities to assert their innate value, also lack basic human rights?
The consequent moral question he poses, is then ‘who is entitled to be treated justly?’ & who
‘should be regarded as disposable?’
7.11 Observations by the elderly themselves were reported in the press [18] last year. Age UK
research revealed that ageism is the most widely experienced form of discrimination in Europe,
with Britain topping the table: it seems that half of over 65s ‘believe they have become invisible in
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THE ELDERLY IN SOCIETY
Britain’s youth-obsessed society’ & almost half ‘were unable to recall the last time someone asked
their opinion’.
7.12 I have illustrated the severe problems experienced by the elderly in the 18th century & now
occurring in countries without a caring state. Does this suggest that we in Britain need to heed
against reducing state welfare too far?
Yet all is not discouraging & without opportunities:
7.13 Diamond suggests ‘we must understand & make use of the changes in people’s strengths &
weaknesses as they grow older
 generally useful attributes tending to decrease with age include ambition, desire to
compete, physical strength & endurance, capacity for sustained mental concentration &
powers of novel reasoning.
 conversely, those attributes tending to increase with age include experience in one’s field,
understanding of people & relationships, ability to help other people without one’s ego
getting in the way.
These shifts in strength result in many older people concentrating their efforts into supervising,
administrating, advising & teaching.’
7.14 He throws out the challenge to ‘society as a whole is to use older people for what they are
good at & what they like doing rather than requiring them to put in the 60 hour week of ambitious
young workers or going to the opposite extreme of stupidly imposing policies of mandatory
retirement at some arbitary age.’
7.15 ‘The challenge for older people themselves is to be introspective, to notice the changes in
themselves & to find work [activities?] utilising the talents that they now possess’.
In this regard, I do feel that we have to accept that much of our experience is no longer appropriate
for the ‘modern’ age for example in the field of technical work where technology has moved on.
However, even in this case, I hope that such experience will not be lost but can be recorded so
that, should it become relevant again, it can be accessed.
7.16 Jennie Keith, [7] a leading US anthropologist & authority on aging undertook, with others,
many studies including of Kung gatherers & Hararo herdsmen of Africa & , Irish villagers, rural
Americans, and urban dwellers of Hong Kong. They found that ‘most societies define two groups of
old people, ‘intact and decrepit’ each treated differently’.
7.17 The ‘status & treatment do not always coincide’ & as to ‘positive behaviour’ what is important
are ‘visibility of intergenerational relations in the community’ as well as ‘perceptions of the quality of
relationships within extended families’ & ‘the elderly’s negotiating strategies’. Increasing power in
old age as well as erosion comes through social change
7.18 Another writer has observed ‘in the culture at large, a sort of anti-ageing movement is afoot,
the members of which are determined to show that getting older doesn’t have to mean getting old’
[27]
7.19 I came across a refreshing comment on the internet by a young Malaysian [28] expressing
respect for the elderly view that things were better in their day:
The horrible decline in morals & standards displayed by teenagers & young adults today is
a huge worry. I think we could do with having our minds refreshed with higher standards of
modesty, dignity & self-control. On the whole, we are a graceless, ungrateful society who
live a life of luxury and ease.
7.20 There are many thousands of well-known elderly people to aspire to, here are a few [bearing
mind, old was younger in days gone by]:
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Novelists:
John Le Carre, Fay Weldon 81, Margaret Attwood 73 ,PD James 91, Ruth Rendell
81, Robert Graves, Geothe, Victor Hugo, Proust, Leo Tolstoy
Visual Arts & Media: Lucien Fraud, Matisse, William Blake at 70 continued painting & learned
Italian, Titan,
Claude Monet lived to 86 & created some of his most original paintings in later life as Water Lilies
1920–1926:
Web address: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet
Michelangelo lived to 89 & left his last Pieta unfinished
Web address: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deposition_(Michelangelo)
Wildlife
Philosopher
Presenter Sir David Attenborough now 87 years
Heidegger
Musicians:
Hildegard von Bingen, 12th C Benedictine abbess, mystic & composer of poetry & music until her
death aged 81 e.g.‘Vision’ performed in St Andrew’s Church, Toddington played at the beginning of
meeting.
Handel composed during the last 7 years of his life despite blindness & played the harpsichord in a
performance of his Messiah shortly before he died, aged 74,
Johannes Brahms wrote his most tender & introspective Opus 117 intermezzi only 5 years before
he died at 64,
Stravinsky composed well into his 80’s remaining innovative throughout [e.g. Petruchka, a ballet
composed in 1911],
Vaughan Williams wrote into his 80s e.g. at 75, Symphony No.6 in E minor [played during the
meeting’s break] & at 85, his Ninth.
Also we have Verdi, who at 80 wrote Falstaff; Richard Straus & the contemporary singer Placido
Domingo is 73.
7.21 I feel that members of this Philosophy & Anthropology Group demonstrate the sort of attitude
to ageing that makes the very best of it.
8
FUTURE ROLES
8.1 What are the roles we elderly seem to appreciate & which are helpful to society?
8.2 We are familiar with using our time, energy & skills to continue:
 working longer: reputedly offer employers lower rates of absenteeism than younger
employees & are often more effective sales people albeit are also viewed as job stealers [I
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

note that B&Q, once known as seeking older workers does not make any reference to this
on its jobs web page]
making huge beneficial contribution to the voluntary, community sector: over half of 60+
year olds are in formal voluntary work & the estimated minimum value is around
£50billion/year [Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury’s last speech in the
Lords [26] on the place of older people in society – he asked ‘what would happen if we all
went on strike’!]
grand-parenting
8.3 We also have the opportunity to develop ourselves & skills more through:
 our story telling from our experience to carrying on the oral thread of ages
 our influence on political, social & moral debates: almost a quarter of UK’s population is
over 60 years [29] - a powerful sector!
 using social networking: a survey in spring 2013 of 38 Degrees, the internet-based
campaigning activists, found that 43%, the largest group of respondents, are over 60 & a
third are retired [30]
 using our emotional intelligence which is claimed to increase with age. Research [31] into
the human mind’s ability to regulate emotions is showing that in older age, we tend to
enhance meaning & value of our relationships, be attracted to novelty less & are often
happier & more positive than younger people. Certain mental impulsive reactions are
moderated. These are appropriate to mediating, training, advisory roles. Diamond agrees
with this.
8.4 Of course much of what we may do as individuals depends on
 our circumstance to make/take opportunities
 responsibilities thrust upon us
 our temperament & outlook on life
 our capabilities
 our spiritual & moral beliefs
But shall we consciously take up roles or drift into them?
9
PERSONAL INNER JOURNEY IN LATER LIFE
9.1 Quite apart from our role in society, we have the freedom to look to our own well-being; our
personal inner journey in later life. This is a little openly discussed aspect of our lives. It could
cover:
 facing the fears of old age [existential angst isn’t the preserve of the young!]. I do not intend in
this paper to dwell on the negative; on the ills of old age although we must accept that not
everyone who grows old always experiences a good old age:
 we fear infirmity, pain, discomfort & especially deterioration into dementia
 & such severe physical handicap that brings immobility, trapping us in our homes, or worse
in a care home
 we also fear losing most of our friends & family & being left lonely [internet is starting to
relieve feelings of isolation]
o but it can also be reassuring to read the likes of Jean Simister’s poem of Sonia’s Cretan
widows [32], which tells of their quiet resilience & independence in grieving within a
caring community where
‘neighbours do not swerve off, averting eyes for fear of reading pain. The amputation is
acknowledged, comprehended.
 we fear suffering financial distress
 continue developing our unique potential
 connecting with our inner knowing, our sense of true self, our heart-centred wisdom &
finding our inner peace & reconciliation
 continuing to learn & seek the unachievable meaning of Truth
 freeing ourselves from the conventions & pressures of society, the media, politics questioning the appropriateness of the norms, traditions, rituals
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

reaching a heightened awareness of inter-connectedness [within ourselves, society, the
natural world] & responsibility to rather than for the world
 Albert Einstein at age 75 proposed:
The human being is part of the whole called by us ‘the universe’, a part limited in time
and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, as something separate
from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of
prison …. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of
compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. [quote
supplied by Bryan Halson]
Have the time of your life! So take good risks, have fun, ‘do it now or never’!
9.2 As an example of this sort of attitude to life, Bernice tells of her sister, who in her 70 & 80s
pursued a theology degree & voluntary work, organising seniors clubs, many members being
younger than herself! In her 90s, she had a hip replacement &, being returned to the ward, was
told she was a ‘wheelchair’ case now – the next morning she was found using it as a walker - a
very determined & independent lady!
Let’s listen to 2 contrasting poems:
Firstly from
Sailing To Byzantium by W B Yeats
Read by Christopher Gilmore
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
---Those dying generations---at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unaging intellect.
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
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& next we have
‘Warning’ by Jenny Joseph
Read by Judith Edwards
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me,
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
10
THE FOURTH STAGE OF LIFE & THE GREAT UNCERTAINTY
10.1 So far we have been looking at what is generally regarded as the third stage of life & at the
elderly who are more or less active. However many, me included, believe there is a fourth stage
that of preparing for death.
10.2 In what he calls The Great Uncertainty, 83 year old John Lane, the author of The Art of
Ageing [10], turns to what happens after death. He quotes Hamlett asking ‘what dreams may come
when we have shuffled off the mortal coil?’ & explores different views of individuals & religions. We
can live life well now for ourselves & others, because either it will bring us a good afterlife or since
it is the only opportunity we have.
10.3 The final task, if we are courageous enough, is to prepare ourselves for dying & death; the
final boundary in this life’s journey. This is rarely talked about & can raise great anxiety yet, if it is to
be done; needs to be done before we are too frail & fearful.
10.4 Socrates’ ability to accept his death with equanimity became a model for wisdom and courage
on the verge of death. He is quoted in Plato’s “Phaedo” section 64A
Read by Bryan Halson
‘Ordinary people seem not to realise that those who really apply themselves in the right way
to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and
death. If this is true, and they have actually been looking forward to death all their lives, it
would of course be absurd to be troubled when the thing comes for which they have so long
been preparing and looking forward.’
11
CONCLUDING COMMENTS
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11.1 In conclusion, I’d like to offer 3 observations:
 Firstly, the state of being in old age can be an attitudinal matter over which we have some
control & we owe it to ourselves to explore where we are now, what really matters to us &
how we can go on growing despite the restrictions seemingly holding us back.
 our old age give us more opportunity for altruism’, Theodore Roszak said ‘the longevity
revolution … has given this remarkable generation the chance to do great good against
great odds’ [33]
 however the matter of society is far more difficult but, again I feel we; with our experience
should be willing to take some responsibility for improving the value given to the elderly in
the future.
11.2 There is much scope in this topic to pursue next year if members feel it worth picking up.
However many aspects of personal journeying through the last two stages of our lives are probably
not for a Philosophy & Anthropology Group. I am very interested in exploring this further & invite
any of you to join me in a separate informal group.
The meeting ended with The Beatles ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ from their Sgt. Pepper album 1966 [it
all depends which angle you are looking from: at 18 or so, 64 looks really old!]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------REFERENCES OF SOURCE MATERIAL
All poems are taken from the web site:
http://www.poemhunter.com/
1 New poem by Sappho translated by Martin West & published in the Times Literary Supplement
21.6.2005
2 Xenothon’s Account of Socrates’ dying, The Apology Translation by H. G. Dakyns
from http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_xenophon_apology.htm
3 ‘On the Shortness of Life’ Seneca Penguin Books, translation: CDN, Costa 2004 Part 1
4 quoted in ‘Art of Ageing’ [ref 10] from unknown source
5 Hillard Kaplan, Kim Hill, Jane Lancaster, and A. Magdalena Hurtado 2000 web.
6 ‘The World until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?’ Professor Jared
Diamond of the University of California 2012. My notes are taken from Part 4 Treatment of
the Elderly of Radio 4’s abridged Book of the Week March 2013 [no longer accessible]
7 ‘The Aging Experience: Diversity and Commonality Across Cultures’ Jennie Keith & others Sage
Publications 1994, information from various web sites
8 No direct evidence & most of this comes from my own family & work knowledge & amateur
studies in industrial & community history of my friend, Pat Newman
9 Parochial Records in Eden, Cumberland 1797
10 ‘The Art of Ageing - Inspiration for a Positive & Abundant Later Life’ John Lane Green Books
2010
11 Mervyn Eastman former Social Services chief in a North London Borough & now director of
Better Government for Older People a network of local authorities, health organisations &
voluntary bodies set up to influence national and local policy and service provision for older
people.
12 Kurt R. Woodfin, a US blogger interested in law, justice, sociology
July 2009
http://www.woodfin.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93:theelderly&catid=38:sociology&Itemid=54
13 ‘The Social Role and Position of Elderly in Order to Sustain Rural Life in Japan’. A paper
prepared for XII World Congress of Rural Sociology, Goyang-Korea, July 2008 by Tolga
Ozsen PhD Candidate, Graduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences, Kumamoto
University Japan & Sadao Tokuno Professor, Faculty of Letters
irsa-world.org/XII/papers/16,17-4.pdf
14 ‘Family in Transition and Challenges for Elderly Persons’, Dr. Asiya Nasreen of Sauhard,
the helping organisation of India, Feb 2010
https://sites.google.com/site/sauhardindia/hot-news1/familyintransitionandchallengesforelderlypersons
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15 ‘Elderly People in Ghana’ - About Roles and Life Situation from their own Perspective by
Therese Karlberg, Örebro Theological Seminary, Field Study Course 07/08 Field Study
Paper, level C
http://www.orebromissionsskola.se/bilder/nya_uppsatser/FSP%200708%20Therese%20Ka
rlberg%20Elderly%20People%20in%20Ghana.pdf
16 ‘Human Dignity and Respect for the Elderly’ a paper for II Jornadas Internacionales Bioetica,
Granada, 25 September 1998, Professor Luke Gormally from the Linacre Centre, the
Christian bioethics institute in Britain
http://www.linacre.org/elderly.html
17 The Journey of Life. A Cultural History of Ageing in America, Thomas R Cole Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992, p.xix
18 ‘The Ignored Elderly’ Daily Mail 20 May 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1388922/The-ignored-elderly-Weve-invisiblesociety-say-half-65s.html
19 Arnold van Gennep featured in Dictionary of Anthropology Macmillan 1987 & Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rite_of_passage
20 ‘The Rites of Passage’ 1909 & later work in 1977 Arnold van Gennep
21 ‘Aging and Society’ Schaefer, McGraw Hill [undated but is after 2006]
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073404268/622359/Schaefer_Aging_7e.pdf
22 The Telegraph 27.10.2011
23 Office of National Statistics information on UK ageing 2012
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Ageing
24 Nantwich Parish magazine ‘The Month’ June 2013.
25 ‘Older People’s Learning’ survey by NIACE, the adult learning organisation spring 2012 [this
may be under-reporting since the interpretation of learning may have been too narrow]
www.niace.org.uk
26 House of Lords debate on the place of older people in society 14.12.12
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldhansrd/text/121214-0001.htm
27 ‘Time’ Eva Hoffman 2009.
28 Duncan Horne, Malaysian web blogger:
http://duncaninkuantan.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/what-is-your-opinion-of-role-of-elderly.html
29 Briefing by House of Lords Library 10.12.12
30 Online petitioning organisation, 38 Degrees [named after the angle at which an avalanche
happens] enables people to act together for change in the UK on issues that matter to
them. Currently internet activism gives people power to make change. Survey by Ron
Liddle Sunday Times 11.3.13: over 101,000 responded of the 1 million members
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/
31 ‘Origins of the Human Mind’ Prof. Stephen Hinshaw University of California 2010, book & DVD
32 ‘Bridges & Fences’, Sonia Gregor 1995
33 ‘The Longevity Revolution’ Theodore Roszak 1998
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------APPENDICES
1
2
3
4
5
Background Information, Thoughts & Additional Reading
Lords Debate December 2012
Socrates Views on Age & Dying
Anthology of Poems on Ageing & Dying
Taking the Topic Further
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Many thanks for contributions & help from
Jean Cooper, Sonia Gregson, Bernice & Bryan Halson, Brian Harborth, Paul Schur, Alan White
And for readings by
Tom Brooks, Judith Edwards, Christopher Gilmore, Greta Guest, Bryan Halson
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