Social aspects of dependence and family care

Abstract

Ageing in Australia (and in other industrial societies) is seen by many as a problem because it is so often associated with dependency. Dependency, I would argue, is socially structured and created, and the social consequence of ageing is cumulative exclusion of a significant number of people from income, jobs, and meaningful roles in society. The dependencies associated with ageing are chronic rather than transitional - furthermore they are not legitimized as are the dependencies of the young, who are seen as the producers and consumers of tomorrow. Dependency is a difficult concept to see clearly and unambiguously. It means different things to different people - it has a specific meaning in demography - a very different meaning in the bio-medical world and again a different meaning in terms of social constructs.