This is a presentation I came across recently about control beliefs. It reviews Seligman's shock treatment of dogs and Rodin / Langer's work about control in nursing homes. I'm a neophyte when it comes to psychology and found this presentation, even without its accompanying text / speech, to explain a bit more about control beliefs.
Showing posts with label Glossary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glossary. Show all posts
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, September 18, 2009
Social Structures
Estes mentions the term "social structures" a number of times in the second chapter of Social Policy and Aging. Here's a specific quote:
Wikipedia has a good definition about it here:
A more recent dimension of this theory is the concept of structural lag, wherein social structures (e.g. policies of retirement at age 65) do not keep pace with changes in population dynamics and individual lives (such as increasing life expectancy).Social Policy and Aging, p 30
Wikipedia has a good definition about it here:
It looks like Estes is using the term in the third sense here - that of "social institutions and norms becoming embedded into social systems in such a way that they shape the behavior of actors within those social systems. I think she also means it in a bigger sense, that social structures can be institutional - such as companies having a standard retirement age of 65.Social structure is a term used in sociology and anthropology to refer to relationships or bonds between groups of individuals (e.g. societies). Whereas 'structure' refers to "the macro", "agency" refers to "the micro". (See also: Structure and agency)
In a general sense, the term can refer to:
- entities or groups in definite relation to each other,
- relatively enduring patterns of behaviour and relationship within a society, or
- social institutions and norms becoming embedded into social systems in such a way that they shape the behavior of actors within those social systems.
By the 1930s, the term was in general use in social science[1], especially as a variable whose sub-components needed to be distinguished in relationship to other sociological variables.
Self-efficacy
Estes mentions self-efficacy here:
Wikipedia has a really clear-cut description of "self-efficacy:"
...more recent studies focus on understanding the process of aging from the perspective of the life course and the relation of coping, social support, personal control, self-efficacy, and focus on the behavioral dimensions of aging.
Wikipedia has a really clear-cut description of "self-efficacy:"
The concept of 'self-efficacy' is an important one in the self-management of chronic diseases because doctors and patients often do not follow best practice in using a treatment. For instance, a patient using combined oral contraceptive pills to prevent pregnancy may sometimes forget to take a pill at the prescribed time; thus, while the perfect-use failure rate for this form of contraception in the first year of use is just 0.3%, the typical-use failure rate is 8%
Normative vs. Interpretive Perspective
Normative models of social research hold that human behaviour is law-like and should be investigated by natural science's techniques of observation. Behaviour is determined by the past. General theories are sought to account for social behaviour.
Interpretive models work explicitly from within the human perspective. Action, i.e. future-oriented intentional behaviour, is emphasised and theories are emergent, multi-faceted, and attentive to the meanings created by the participants.
Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2000)
Normative
Concerned with rules, recommendations or proposals, as contrasted with mere description of the statement of matters of fact.
Interpretive sociology
Any sociological theory or approach that emphasises that humans give meaning to social reality before deciding how they are going to act, requiring explanations to refer to the subjective states of social actors.
Estes states:
Another classification dimension of different gerontological theories (also consistent with the larger disciplinary social sciences) is the "normative" versus the "interpretive" perspective...
Friday, September 11, 2009
Modest Universal Transfers
We also briefly talked about Modest Universal Transfers in class.
I'm still confused on this, as it seemed that a universal transfer could be the dispersement of your wealth to your heirs prior to your death, as a means of "spending down" to qualify for Medicaid. Technically, I think this is a transfer, but I found some economics-based definitions of "transfer payments" to be helpful:
Transfer Payments definitions:
The Congressional Budget Office:
Payments made to a person or organization for which no current or future goods or services are required in return. Federal transfer payments include Social Security and unemployment benefits.
In this context, "transfer payments" definitely relates to spending down on a micro level. It doesn't account for the "modest universal" part of the term I'm trying to understand though... does Social Security count as this?
World Bank:
Payments from the government to individuals used to redistribute a country's wealth. Examples are pensions, welfare, and unemployment benefits.
I'm still confused on this, as it seemed that a universal transfer could be the dispersement of your wealth to your heirs prior to your death, as a means of "spending down" to qualify for Medicaid. Technically, I think this is a transfer, but I found some economics-based definitions of "transfer payments" to be helpful:
Transfer Payments definitions:
The Congressional Budget Office:
Payments made to a person or organization for which no current or future goods or services are required in return. Federal transfer payments include Social Security and unemployment benefits.
In this context, "transfer payments" definitely relates to spending down on a micro level. It doesn't account for the "modest universal" part of the term I'm trying to understand though... does Social Security count as this?
World Bank:
Payments from the government to individuals used to redistribute a country's wealth. Examples are pensions, welfare, and unemployment benefits.
Means-tested Assistance - Discussion
We talked about Modest Universal Transfers and Means-tested Assistance in class the other day and I have a much more clear understanding of what these terms mean now!
When a person gets "means-tested assistance," they somehow qualify for it, such as Medicaid. You need to have limited means in order to qualify for the assistance. Means-tested assistance is frequently associated with stigma because, well, if you're getting X assistance, then it's known you qualify for it by X means, as in, low income.
The discussion went on to point out that in order for people to qualify for the long-term care that is provided by Medicaid, they need to "spend down," by divesting of their savings and investments (home, properties, stocks, etc).
--------
Social Security, on the other hand, is not a means-tested assistance. It is an institution that goes to all who contributed to it. Often, women exit the workforce to raise children and therefore the Social Security program is a social policy structured against women.
When a person gets "means-tested assistance," they somehow qualify for it, such as Medicaid. You need to have limited means in order to qualify for the assistance. Means-tested assistance is frequently associated with stigma because, well, if you're getting X assistance, then it's known you qualify for it by X means, as in, low income.
The discussion went on to point out that in order for people to qualify for the long-term care that is provided by Medicaid, they need to "spend down," by divesting of their savings and investments (home, properties, stocks, etc).
--------
Social Security, on the other hand, is not a means-tested assistance. It is an institution that goes to all who contributed to it. Often, women exit the workforce to raise children and therefore the Social Security program is a social policy structured against women.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Modest Universal Transfers & Means-tested Assistance
This isn't really a definition... it's just the main source quote I could find about it... it doesn't delineate the difference between "modest universal transfers,""means-tested assistance" and modest social-insurance plans."
...the liberal welfare state, in which means-tested assistance, modest universal transfers or modest social-insurance plans predominate. Benefits cater mainly to a clientele of low-income, usually working-class, state dependants. In this model, the progress of social reform has been severely circumscribed by traditional, liberal work-ethic norms: it is one where the limits of welfare equal the marginal propensity to opt for welfare instead of work. Entitlement rules are therefore strict and offer associated stigma; benefits are typically modest. In turn, the state encourages the market, either passively - by guaranteeing only a minimum - or actively - by subsidizing private welfare schemes.The Welfare State, a reader, p 162
Source Quote:
How public policy defines citizen rights is highly determinative of the "life chances" available to members of society, including the elderly. In liberal states such as the United States, there are modest universal transfers and means-tested assistance with strict entitlement rules, often associated with stigma... In contrast to the "largely individualistic and sometimes asocial views of the New Right" in which citizen rights are based largely on labor market participation and property, the opposing concept of "social rights" emphasizing notions of independence and solidarity...Social Policy and Aging, p 11
Deficit Spending
Deficit spending is the amount by which a government, private company, or individual's spending exceeds income over a particular period of time, also called simply "deficit," or "budget deficit," the opposite of budget surplus.
Rational Unfreedom
Unfreedom is the "domination of one's instincts, domination that society makes into second nature and that perpetuates the institutions of domination. But civilized unfreedom is oppression of a particular kind: it is rational unfreedom, rational domination. It is rational to the extent that it makes possible the ascent from a human animal to a human being, from nature to civilization..."
(The Essential Marcuse, p. 168)
Quote from "The Sex/Gender System" section, Social Policy and Aging text:
(The Essential Marcuse, p. 168)
Quote from "The Sex/Gender System" section, Social Policy and Aging text:
According to Brown... women face the "rational unfreedom regulated by the state" versus their state of "nature" in which there is arbitrary violence by men against them as women. The state meets the requirement of men to protect women from the violence that men cause. The role of dependency in the health and aging of women is explored in greater detail in both Chapter 6 and Chapter 7.
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