CULTURAL INFLUENCES IN OLD AGE: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC COMPARISON OF ANGLO AND FILIPINO ELDERS.

Description

This study focuses upon the role of indigenous cognitive orientations on the aging experience of elders in American society. Two groups of elders with different value premises are compared. Filipino elders are first generation immigrants in the States who have spent most of their lives in the Philippines. Anglo elders have been residents of the United States since birth with European heritage. The term Anglo as used in the study reflects the group's dominant value orientations rather than ancestry. The theoretical framework is extrapolated from Francis Hsu's comparative analysis of Americans and Chinese, and Talcott Parsons' paradigm of pattern alternatives of a social system. Concept variables linking theoretical formulations with observable and verifiable events in the elders' daily life are identified as kinship structure, role performance/expectation, valued personality types and future concerns/plans. The study design consists of a multivariant approach using participant observation, cohort investigation and life course analysis. Phenomenological and collective experiences are examined within the context of previous patterns of integration and broad sociocultural influences through the life-span. Comparative analysis of data supports the study hypothesis. For both groups of elders, core value orientations persist in late life, conditioning the way aging is perceived and lived. Esteemed values govern their activities of daily life and their preparations for the inevitability of progressive incapacitation and death. The significance of the study is found in its contribution to the discovery of parameters of a meaningful life in old age. Cultural resources are emphasized as a balancing force in aging, mitigating significant losses associated with agedness. The essence of cultural variability in defining requisites of security and happiness in late life, is further affirmed.

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