DAISUKE WATANABE

This essay introduces sociological studies on aging and related topics in Japan since 2000. It argues the three following points. First, the results of sociological studies on aging, and those from related social science disciplines, have moved away from a uniform understanding of aging to reveal greater diversity in the process. Second, it has become apparent that older people face various social problems, such as social isolation, social disparities, and family care problems. Studies have argued that it is essential to support mutual aid in the community. Finally, the reflexivity of high modernity attempts to push the problem of aging towards autonomy, but a new culture of aging assumes that dependence has the potential to overcome this reflexivity.

What governs labour force participation in later life and why is it so different across countries? Health and labour force participation in older ages are not strongly linked, but we observe a large variation across countries in old-age labour force participation. This points to the important role of country-specific regulations governing pension receipt and old-age labour force participation. In addition to the statutory eligibility age for a pension, such country-specific regulations include: earnings tests that limit the amount of earnings when pension benefits are received; the amount of benefit deductions for early retirement; the availability of part-time pensions before normal retirement; special regulations that permit early retirement for certain population groups; and either subsidies or extra costs for employers if they keep older employees in their labour force. This paper asks two questions: Can we link a relatively low labour force participation at ages 60–64 to country-specific regulations that make early retirement attractive? and Can we link a relatively high labour force participation at ages 65–74 to country-specific regulations that make late retirement attractive? To answer these questions, we compared the experiences in a set of developed countries around the world in order to understand better the impact of country-specific rules and laws on work and retirement behaviour at older ages and, by consequence, on the financial sustainability of pension systems.

This study aimed to understand attitudes of the urban elderly toward mutual support with neighbors in two types of situations, emergencies (e.g. disasters) and daily lives, to explain how these attitudes are associated with their relationships with neighbors. The authors conducted a self-administered mail survey with 2,800 residents aged 65 or over in Yokohama City, who had been randomly selected from the Basic Resident Register. The authors used data of 1,477 respondents, who had no missing variable for the analysis, and found the following: (1) Men were more likely to have no neighbor to relate to, such as greeting, providing support and receiving support; (2) regarding men’s attitudes toward mutual support with neighbors, family resources had an effect in times of emergency while socioeconomic status had an effect in daily lives; and (3) even occasional greetings and participation in activities organized by neighborhood associations a few times a year were associated with better attitudes toward mutual support with neighbors. It is essential to pay attention to such small interactions when building local communities where the urban elderly can support each other.

A questionnaire survey was conducted from October to December 2011 targeting healthcare professionals who belong to organizations that have accepted people in their terminal phase of life. The study aims to understand the discrepancies between ideal and realistic decision they made on the use of artificial nutrition and to investigate what contributes to these differences. To identify the ideal terminal approach as well as a realistic one, the questionnaire included a fictitious scenario of a person with dementia who is diagnosed as having pneumonia and unable to swallow foods. This study analyzes 426 professionals who responded to the survey with valid answers.<br /> Tube Feeding was most preferable both as an ideal and a realistic choice; more respondents selected it as a realistic choice than as an ideal one. 33.3% of the respondents chose a different realistic choice from an ideal one and many answered “keeping status quo” as an ideal treatment but “tube feeding” as a realistic one. 39.7% of the respondents determined that the individual in this scenario was in “terminal phase.” Multinomial logistic regression indicated that terminal phase decisions, experience of terminal care at work, and types of organizations were significant associated factors with the differences. As a future study, comparing this fictitious case to real-world care should deepen the understanding of the discrepancy.