The Gift of Generations: Japanese and American Perspectives on Aging and the Social Contract - Hardcover

Hashimoto, Akiko

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521483077 ISBN 13: 9780521483070

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Synopsis

The Gift of Generations is a comparative study of aging and the social contract in Japan and the United States. By using original, systematically comparable data collected in these countries, the book explores the different cultural definitions of vulnerability and giving, and the ways they shape and constrain the social strategies of routinizing helping arrangements. The book succeeds in interweaving the theory and practice of the social contract by developing the concept of symbolic equity.

About this title

Book Description:

Using original, systematically comparable data collected in Japan and the United States, this study explores the different cultural definitions of vulnerability and giving, and the ways they shape and constrain the social strategies of routinizing helping arrangements for the aged.

From the Back Cover:

The Gift of Generations is an inquiry into the different cultural meanings of giving and deserving help in two aging societies. Post-industrial societies today contend with population dynamics that have never before existed. As the number of older people grows, countries must determine how best to provide for the needs of this population. The constraints are real: Fiscal and material resources are finite and must be shared in a way that is perceived as just. As such, societies confront the fundamental question of who gets what, how, and why, and ultimately must reappraise the principles determining why some people are considered more worthy of help than others. This study systematically explores the Japanese and American answers to this fundamental question.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0521483077
• ISBN 13: 9780521483070
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244