Ageing and Care in Cultural Perspective

Population ageing and migration are key issues in many societies today. Despite globalisation and cultural contact, cultures still differ in their ideas and expectations with respect to ageing and late life. This becomes particularly evident regarding old age provision. Whereas old age care preferences in western, individualistically oriented cultures rather highlight autonomy and staying independent as long as possible, collectivistic cultures traditionally rely on family care and co-residence. Cultural preferences are also expressed in different policies and extent of state provision for old-age. The question of how care decisions are taken becomes particularly prominent in light of societal transitions or migration when old care patterns might no longer hold. The present symposium focusses on cultural aspects of ageing and care from different parts of the world, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Starting with a general view on how people prepare for later life, the symposium deepens the focus on transitions to old age care in different cultural contexts and in light of migration. The first presentation draws on a large cross-cultural comparison between Germany, Hong Kong, and the US, and examines how personal timing of late-life preparation is associated with subjective residual life expectation. In the next contribution, we have then a closer look into cultural influences on older people’s transition into a nursing home, taking into account also family and context factors. This is followed by an in-depth look into decisional processes related to care home entry in a non-western cultural context. Afterwards, we address the context of migration, thereby comparing more independently oriented vs. family oriented cultural contexts and how the transition between the two might have an impact on preferences for different care arrangements. Finally, we focus on the emerging topic of specific needs of migrants in nursing homes, increasingly important in light of growing numbers of ageing first generation migrants.