Cross-Cultural Communication and Aging in the United States

by Noor Al-Deen,Hana

• ISBN13: 9780805822946
• ISBN10: 0805822941
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-08-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Recently, the communication discipline has devoted increasing energy toward the study of aging, yet most of the research has insufficiently addressed a crucial factor in communicative relationships--culture. Meanwhile, cross-cultural/intercultural communication has not adequately addressed the aging process. Combining three powerful elements--communication, aging, and culture--all of which have an increasingly profound impact on today's multicultural society, this book focuses on older Americans in various communicative contexts within the framework of their cultures. Composed of original research by experts in their respective fields, the book combines communication, aging, and culture for a unique examination of those elements in American society. Section 1 deals with perspectives in cross-cultural communication and aging. These perspectives both illustrate the issues that greatly affect the lives of our elders and suggest ways to improve their status. Section 2 showcases three American co-cultures: Hawaiian, Arab, and Mormon illustrate how language, attitudes, and mentoring can serve as the links for maintaining cross-generational continuity in multicultural society. Section 3 demonstrates that many American organizations frequently contribute to the hardships that both internal elder customers (employees) and external elder customers (residents and patients) must endure. Section 4 incorporates popular culture and aging. It presents the role of selective popular media in portraying our elders. Because Americans rely heavily on the media, their mediated perceptions can have a profound impact on their attitudes toward the older population. Designed as a reader or supplementary text for college students in communication, gerontology, anthropology, sociology, and other related fields, this text can also be used by professionals in gerontological service areas, by libraries, and as a personal reference. It offers extensive appendices, figures, and tables for additional reference.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi	(4)
Foreword	xv	(4)
Jennings Bryant
About the Contributors	xix
I. PERSPECTIVES IN CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND AGING	1	(62)
1 Aging and the Elders From a Cross-Cultural Communication Perspective	5	(18)
L. Brooks Hill
Larry W. Long
William R. Cupach
2 Older Women As Cultural Figures in Aging	23	(20)
Enid J. Portnoy
3 Aging and Infotainment Technologies: Cross-Cultural Perspectives	43	(20)
Norbert Mundorf
Jennings Bryant
Winifred Brownell
II. CROSS-GENERATIONAL COMMUNICATION AND AGING	63	(58)
4 Pidgin To Da Max: A Bridge Toward Satisfying Cross-Generational Communication Among the Hawaiians	67	(16)
Diane M. Kimoto
5 Trends in Cross-Generational Communication Among Arab Americans	83	(14)
Hana S. Noor Al-Deen
6 Mentoring Across Generations: Culture, Family, and Mentoring Relationships	97	(24)
Pamela J. Kalbfleisch
Arlyn Anderson
III. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND AGING WITHIN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTINGS	121	(58)
7 Cultural Views and Stereotypes of Aging in American Organizations	125	(18)
Larry W. Long
Daniel A. DeJoy
Manoocher N. Javidi
Akbar N. Javidi
8 The Nursing Home and Retirement Community: A Cross-Cultural Communication Perspective	143	(18)
Christi L. Grooters
L. Brooks Hill
Penelope N. Long
9 The Dilemma of Oklahoma Native American Women Elders: Traditional Roles and Sociocultural Roles	161	(18)
Lynda Dixon Shaver
IV. POPULAR CULTURE AND AGING	179	(66)
10 Images of Elders in Traditional Literature	183	(18)
Carole E. Tallant
11 Searching for the Fountain: Models of Aging in Contemporary Self-Help Literature	201	(14)
Thomas J. Darwin
12 Young by Day: The Older Person on Daytime Serial Drama	215	(16)
Mary Cassata
Barbara J. Irwin
13 The Image of Aging in Television Commercials: An Update for the 1990s	231	(14)
Wendy J. Hajjar
Epilogue	245	(2)
Hana S. Noor Al-Deen
Author Index	247	(6)
Subject Index	253