Nobody's Burden Lessons from the Great Depression on the Struggle for Old-Age Security

by Ray, Ruth E.; Calasanti, Toni; Bailey-Fakhoury, Chasity; Briller, Sherylyn H.; Chapleski, Elizabeth Edson; Cheng, Shu-hui Sophy; Dillaway, Heather E.; Durocher, Mary E.; Harrison, Jill; Hopp, Faith P.; Jankowski, Thomas B.; Langlois, Janet L.; Padgett, Do

• ISBN13: 9780739165317
• ISBN10: 0739165313
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-08-05
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

Nobody's Burden: Lessons on Old Age from the Great Depression is the first book-length study of the experience of old-age during the Great Depression. Part history, part social critique, the contributors rely on archival research, social history, narrative study and theoretical analysis to argue that Americans today, as in the past, need to rethink old-age policy and accept their shared responsibility for elder care. The Great Depression serves as the cultural backdrop to this argument, illustrating that during times of social and economic crisis, society's ageism and the limitations in old-age care become all the more apparent. At the core of the book are vivid stories of specific men and women who applied for old-age pensions from a private foundation in Detroit, Michigan, between 1927 and 1933. Most applicants who received pensions became life-long clients, and their lives were documented in great detail by social workers employed by the foundation. These stories raise issues that elders and their families face today: the desire for independence and autonomy; the importance of having a place of one's own, despite financial and physical dependence; the fears of being and becoming a burden to one's self and others; and the combined effects of ageism, racism, sexism and classism over the life course of individuals and families. Contributors focus in particular on issues of gender and aging, as the majority of clients were women over 60, and all of the case workers - among the first geriatric social workers in the country -- were women in their 20s and early 30s. Nobody's Burden is unique not only in content, but also in method and form. The contributors were members of an archival research group devoted to the study of these case files. Research was conducted collaboratively and involved scholars from the humanities (English, folklore) and the social sciences (anthropology, communications, gerontology, political science, social work, and sociology). Nobody's Burden is both rigorous in s

Author Biography

Ruth E. Ray is professor of English/liberal arts at Wayne State University. Toni Calasanti is professor of sociology at Virginia Tech University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Studying the 'Burden' of Age: The Work of the Hannan Archival Research Group	p. 1
The Burden of Age in the Great Depression	p. 31
Public Response to the Needs of Old People	p. 33
Private Response to the Needs of Old People	p. 57
This Old Man and That Old Woman	p. 93
Client Sketches	p. 95
Old Age in Hard Times	p. 119
The Multiple Roles of Social Workers in the Great Depression	p. 123
Resisting Dependence and Burden: On Refusing to Become a 'Little Old Lady'	p. 147
Privileged But Pensioned? How Two Formerly Well-Off Women Experienced Receiving Aid	p. 173
What is Held Dear: Personhood and Material Culture in Old Age	p. 197
Race, Class, Gender and the Social Construction of ôBurdenö in Old Age	p. 223
The Haunting Fear: Narrative Burdens in the Great Depression	p. 245
Rethinking the ôBurdenö of Age	p. 271
Reflections on Ageism: Perspective of a Septuagenarian on the Avoidance of Burdenhood	p. 273
The Continuing Struggle for Old-Age Security	p. 293
Toward a Future When We Truly Care for Old People	p. 317
Afterword: From Charity to Care	p. 347
Index	p. 353
About the Contributors	p. 367
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