An Anthropological Study of Well-Bing of the New Generation of Elderly People in Socio-Cultural Changes of the 1990's in the U.S.

这项人类学研究考察了1980年的S和1990年的S在威斯康星州的一个中等城镇发生的社会文化变化，以及这些变化如何影响老年人的幸福观。在本研究地区进行的深入访谈和参与者观察发现：(1)1980年的S时代的城镇仍然保持着“波兰城镇”的氛围。20世纪90年代的S，大型购物中心取代了当地的商店，家庭奶牛场要么关闭，要么收购其他农场，成为大规模的工业化农场。苗族难民在这个地区定居，使一个以欧美人为主的小镇变成了一个多种族的小镇。(2)老年人社区服务经历了三个阶段：(A)第一阶段(从1970年中期的S到1980年中期的S)：通过在老人中心提供社会活动和活动来满足老年人的社会需要。(B)第二阶段(1980年中期的S到1990年中期的S)：服务的重点从社会需要转向长期的家居照顾。(C)第三阶段(从20世纪70年代中期的S到80年代中期的S)从20世纪90年代中期的S到现在)：重组社区结构，不仅包括老年人，还包括残疾人。(3)自80年代的S以来，老年人的幸福来源没有改变。也就是说，他们喜欢看到自己“乐于助人”、“积极与他人相处”和“不停止学习”。然而，他们的活动中心不再像上世纪80年代的S那样以老年中心为中心，确实，老年中心似乎已经失去了老年人的人气。然而，这项研究发现，与以前相比，为老年人提供的服务在大社会中得到了更广泛的接受和纳入，因此，老年人在活动地点方面有更多的选择。

This anthropological study examines the socio-cultural changes occurred between the 1980's and the 1990's in a middle-sized town in Wisconsin and how these changes affect the elderly people's concepts of "well-being" The in-depth interviews and participants observations conducted in this research area found the following.(1) The town in the 1980's still kept an atmosphere of being a "Polish town." In the 1990's, large scale shopping malls replaced local stores, and family dairy farms either closed down or bought other farms to become a large-scale industrialized farms. Hmong refugees settled in this area and thus they have changed a predominantly Euro-American town into a multi-racial town.(2) The community services for senior citizens have gone through three stages.(a) First Stage (from mid-1970's to mid 1980's) : Accommodating social needs of the elderly people by providing social programs and activities at senior centers.(b) Second Stage (from mid-1980's to mid-1990's) : The central focus of services has shifted from social needs to long-term home care.(c) Third Stage (from mid-1990's to present) : Reorganizing community structure to encompass not only senior citizens but also people with disability.(3) The sources of "well-being" for elderly people have not changed since the 1980's. That is, they like to see themselves "being helpful," "being active with other people," and "not stopping learning." However, the locus of their activities is no longer centered at senior centers as it used to be in the 1980's. Indeed, senior centers seem to have lost popularity among elderly people. However, this study has found that services for senior citizens are more widely accepted and incorporated in large society than before, and therefore, senior citizens have more options for loci of their activities than before.