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WORKING ACROSS DIFFERENCE

Younger social workers working with older service

users

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Aims- by the end of this session I hope:

You will have • considered some of the complexities in

defining what we mean by ‘old age’• Examined some models of power • Explore contrasting constructions of ‘old

age’• Explore some of the emotions involved

in working with older people• Identify possible ways of working across

age successfully

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Defining ‘old age’

• ‘old age’ = often used to denote people aged 65 years plus, whatever their actual situation in terms of professional activity or state of health

• ‘older elderly people’ = over 75 years old (increased disability and ill health become correlated with chronological age)

• How are you defining ‘old age’?• Definitions are arbitrary

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What is power?

• Various models of power• Common theme – ‘the ability to

influence or control people, events, processes or resources’.

• In what circumstances is power positive?

• Potentially can be used to exploit, oppress or abuse others

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Giddens (1993)“Power is an ever-present phenomenon in social life.

•In all human groups some individuals have more authority or influence than others, while groups themselves vary in terms of the level of their power.

•Power and inequality tend to be closely linked. The powerful are able to accumulate valued resources, such as property or wealth; and possession of such resources is in turn a means of generating power” (p.209)

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Models of ‘power’

• The capacity to produce an effect• Lukes 3 dimensions What is done (overt power) What is not done (covert power) The context – social and political factors• Weber The probability that a person will be able to carry out his or her own will

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Structural power

• Various ways in which society is structured

• Social divisions• The distribution of life chances

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AgeismDiscrimination and oppression based on age“…a matrix of beliefs and attitudes which

legitimates the use of age as a means of identifying a particular social group, which portrays the members of that group in negative, stereotypical terms and which consequently generates and reinforces a fear of the ageing process and a denigration of older people”

Hughes B. (1995) in Thompson, N. (1998) Promoting Equality p.99

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Power in human services

• Control or influence over the allocation of resources

• Knowledge, expertise and skills • Professional discourse and

legitimation• Statutory powers• Hierarchical power by virtue of

status or position within an organization

• Thompson, N. (1998) Promoting Equality

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Perceptions of Power

“Not uncommon for all parties to feel powerless while appearing to others to be powerful. Workers can feel that have no power over the behaviour of parents and others, and so ‘have no choice’ but to act to rescue a child or an adult who is vulnerable. In doing so they appear all powerful….” Smale et al (2000) p38

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Different constructions of

Old Age

A biological process• Physical impairment and possible

mental deterioration

A social construction• A highly significant social indicator

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Negative construction

Economic• Marginal status outside of production

and reproduction• Society values those that are

working• Economic burden• Low income seen as inevitable• Loss of status

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Negative construction

Demographic ‘time bomb’• Improvement in life expectancy• Growth in the proportion of those

over 65• An ageing population is undesirable

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Negative constructions

• Old equals childlike / but not equal to children

• Old equals ill / but not ill• Old equals asexual • Old equals unintelligentThompson, N. (2001) p.90

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Positive constructions

• 80% of over 75 year olds do not experience senility

• Vast majority not in need of care.• Even over 75 years old 50% experience no or

only slight impairment.• Not an homogeneous group• 20 years of freedom in retirement• Opportunity to pursue interests• Can be a creative and rewarding process

• A little help goes a long way

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Emotions involved

Fear of Loss of Control“……, the loss of cognitive and other skills

produces the danger of social unacceptability, unemployability and being labelled as less than fully human. Loss of bodily controls carries similar penalties of stigmatisation and ultimately exclusion. Deep (or late) old age is personally and socially disturbing because it hold out the prospect of the loss of some or all of these controls.” Featherstone and Hepworth 1989 p261 in Biggs et al ‘Elder Abuse in Perspective’.

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Loss of control

“My memory already plays tricks on me, and I fear senility. Will I be unable to make decisions for myself, or become child-like in a world of my own – making phone calls to relatives in the middle of the night, wandering the streets without aim like a lost soul? The thought of losing control terrifies me”. (Hen Co-op ‘Growing Old Disgracefully’ 1993 p195)

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Own Mortality

“Baby care and the care of the elderly become convergent phenomena, except for one difference: that a baby is felt to be the bearer of hope, whereas an elderly person ….is seen as a destroyer of hope… The carer will search an old person’s face in vain for the charm of that of a child, which summons up a caring impulse almost by reflex … it is more likely to be marked by grief deriving from a consciousness of mortality”

 Diessenbacher (1989 p65)

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Exploring our own age identity

• How do we identify ourselves in terms of age, young adult, thirty something, over 40’s, middle-aged?

• What attitude do we have to the ageing process in ourselves?

• What implications does this have for our work with older people?

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Positive Practice

Perception of a ‘good life’ in older people:• Personal relationships – a feeling of

belonging• Activity – engaging in something

meaningful and a feeling of being needed• A philosophy of life (religion or strong

personal beliefs)(Based on research by Nilsson et al (1998) cited in Crawford &

Walker 2004)

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Working positively with older people

• A recognition of crisis, change and transition, and loss

• From pathology to empowerment• The importance of biography and

life course• Risk and risk management

(decision making)

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Working positively with older people • Challenge the notion

that work with older people is simply the supply of a limited range of off the peg services

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Summary

• Age is a significant aspect of identity • It is more than a biological process• Power and inequality are closely

linked• The relationship between power and

age is complex• The need to recognise our own

emotional response to the ageing process