Culture in the Act of Caring: Bringing Geropsychology, other gerosciences, and Cultural Psychology together

In the introduction of a multidisciplinary book on the role of culture in elder care the editors set the stage for a substantive integration of contributions from geropsychology, other gerosciences, and cultural psychology. The authors present arguments for a life-span developmental perspective on care for the elderly and extend this to geropsychology as subsection of life-span developmental psychology. They further emphasize that these disciplines consider to some extent the role of cultural and other contextual factors and that other gerosciences specialized on historical, political, health-and nursing-related aspects of elder care can further supplement this effort. Then three major streams of cultural psychology are mentioned which are particularly relevant to topics of caring: Dialogical Self Theory, Theory of Social Representations, and Cultural Psychology of Semiotic Dynamics. The authors conclude that an increasing population aging and growing gaps between demand and supply of care create a serious practical need for an integration of geropsychology, other gerosciences, and cultural psychologies to achieve a better understanding of the individual, interpersonal, and macro social processes involved in elder care.