Question

How can older adults broaden their impact through civic engagement?

Answer 1

Ans) From our stance as loving critics, using a critical gerontology framework to highlight some of the less frequently asked questions regarding the meaning and significance of the new emphasis on civic engagement and older adults.

- To broaden the dialogue on civic engagement and older adults and to move it into some largely uncharted terrain.

- Although this conversation remains in its infancy, several initial recommendations may be offered.

- First, although volunteerism and other forms of civic engagement should not be required of older adults, those who are interested in participating should be encouraged and enabled to do so. For low-income individuals who wish to volunteer but for whom there may be economic impediments, the provision of government stipends to make such participation possible should be expanded. At minimum, reimbursement for transportation and other volunteer-related expenses should be provided to those for whom desired participation might otherwise be a hardship.

- Second, and at the same time, we should be critically aware of how programs stressing civic engagement and volunteerism in older adults may impact and reflect the social significance of later life. In the words of ter Meulen and colleagues , “The societal role assigned to the elderly and the public programs developed on their behalf, will not only influence the self-perception of the aged, but will also project a picture of the value placed on them by society”. To help foster such critical awareness, the forums in which the virtues of civic engagement and older adults increasingly are being discussed should be expanded to include frank discussions of the potential pitfalls and limitations of this approach, and how these may be addressed.

- Third, we must consciously expand conventional notions of civic engagement to include the work of organizations such as the Gray Panthers and other grassroots movements led by older adults that focus on broad social change objectives.

- “The old, having the benefit of life experience, the time to get things done, and the least to lose by sticking their necks out, [are] in a perfect position to serve as advocates for the larger public good”. All too often, such efforts are left out of the discourse on civic engagement, whose political roots have favored individually focused social betterment over broader institutional and policy-level change initiatives.

- Finally, the creation of an environment honoring and enabling diverse civic engagement opportunities must be broadened still further to respect those elders who do not volunteer, for whatever reasons, in order that we may embrace aging in all its forms, lives, abilities, and meanings. For in last analysis, a real commitment to a good and satisfying later life would mean “recognizing and reinforcing the essential meaning of old age,” which transcends things such as whether or not people volunteer and involves more fundamentally the right to flourish and grow and “live a good old age” in whatever ways are possible and desired.

- The art of creating an honoring environment means involving older people, in all their diversity, in determining how our social institutions and ways of living can reflect a broader appreciation for all older adults, regardless of whether or not they are civically engaged.

- As gerontologists, we must continue to advocate for and develop programs and policies that promote an environment respectful of older people for who they are, not simply for what they can contribute. Such an environment would enable older people to live with dignity and to create their own meanings for later life. For some, that will include volunteer work and other forms of civic engagement. For others, it will not.