Ch.2 Historical And Cultural Perspectives Exam Prep 7e

Chapter 2

Historical and Cultural Perspectives

on Aging

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to 2016 census estimates, approximately how many Canadians reported an ethnic identity as one of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit?
   1. 2,103,760
   2. 1,673,785
   3. 205,170
   4. 130,080

Page: 43

1. Approximately how many immigrants were admitted to Canada between January 2011 and May 2016?
   1. 10.6 million
   2. 5 million
   3. 1.2 million
   4. 500,000

Page: 43

1. Which of the following statements is false concerning the responsibility of families to care for older adults in Eastern and Western societies?
   1. In Western cultures, economic assistance, housing, and health care for older adults is common.
   2. In Eastern cultures, older family members often move in with one of their children.
   3. In Western cultures, a daughter or daughter-in-law is usually responsible for caring for elderly parents.
   4. Filial piety is deeply embedded in both Eastern and Western societies.

Page: 44

1. What is the name for the phenomenon whereby members of a society regard their mainstream culture as superior to all others?
   1. Assimilation
   2. Acculturation
   3. Marginalization
   4. Ethnocentrism

Page: 46

1. Which of the following is true regarding the primitive hunting-and-gathering societies that existed before the Industrial Revolution?
   1. The oldest members were considered to have a valuable source of knowledge concerning rituals and survival skills.
   2. The oldest members were considered to be a burden on the rest of the tribe and were given minimal power and responsibility.
   3. The knowledge of the younger members was viewed as a source of power.
   4. The knowledge of the older members was viewed as outdated and no longer needed.

Page: 48

1. According to Hendricks (1982), where does modernization first occur?
   1. In areas where there are more working men
   2. In the core areas of a country
   3. In peripheral (rural) regions
   4. In areas where there is a larger number of affluent families

Page: 50

1. How did the “before and after modernization” explanation account for the changing status of elderly people?
   1. Older adults lost power and status because they no longer played essential roles and were no longer the primary source of knowledge.
   2. Since adult children lived in the family home, some believed they could afford better health care.
   3. Older adults lost power and status even in societies where they continued to perform valued functions.
   4. Older people gained power and status in all societies because they had fewer children.

Page: 50

1. What did the Industrial Revolution lead to in terms of the social and economic systems of a society?
   1. The emergence of extended families and the breakup of the nuclear family
   2. The skills of older people becoming more useful than ever before
   3. An increase in life expectancy
   4. The end of mandatory retirement

Page: 49

1. Which lens has recently been applied to understanding how minority-group status and marginalization shape the experiences and identity of individuals based on the interaction of culture, age, gender, social class, and other salient domains that influence inequality?
   1. Intersectionality
   2. Marxist
   3. Democratic
   4. Centenarian

Page: 48

1. Anthropologists categorize societies into one of three types, according to their level of industrialization and modernization. Which if the following is not one of these categories?
   1. Actuarial societies
   2. Primitive hunting-and-gathering societies
   3. Pre-industrial societies
   4. Post-industrial and postmodern societies

Page: 47

1. According to research into preliterate societies, in which kinds of tribes did elderly people tend to have the lowest status?
   1. Risk-taking tribes
   2. Highly skilled tribes
   3. Nomadic tribes
   4. Illiterate tribes

Page 53

1. Which of the following statements is true regarding Ancient Greece?
   1. Power was associated with wealth more than with age.
   2. Power was associated with health more than with age.
   3. The Greeks looked forward to old age.
   4. Greek gods were often depicted as old.

Page: 54

1. Which of the following is false regarding shared elements of traditional Indigenous cultures?
   1. Their members tend adhere to traditional healing practices and beliefs
   2. Their members exhibit a respect for elders as a source of wisdom.
   3. Their members prefer formal care from public services over informal support from relatives.
   4. Their members value close-knit communities and strong family ties.

Page: 58

1. Ethnic subcultures are groups that do not necessarily share which of the following elements?
   1. Language
   2. Beliefs
   3. Religion
   4. Occupation

Page: 62

1. According to a study conducted by Chappell and Kusch (2007), what percentage of Chinese seniors in Canada live either with their spouse and a child or, if widowed, with a child?
   1. 73 per cent
   2. 50 per cent
   3. 21 per cent
   4. 15 per cent

Page: 64-65

1. Which of the following statements is false regarding recent elderly immigrants to Canada?
   1. They are often widowed.
   2. They often embrace their children’s busy “Western” way of life.
   3. They have arrived to be cared for by adult children who have lived in Canada for many years.
   4. They are more likely to be women than men.

Page: 64-66

1. Which of the following groups is part of the fastest-growing minority group in Canada?
   1. Muslims
   2. Anglicans
   3. Chinese
   4. Japanese

Page: 63

1. Currently, what percentage of all Canadians over the age of 65 were born outside of Canada?
   1. 5 per cent
   2. 10 per cent
   3. 30 per cent
   4. 60 per cent

Page: 63

1. Which of the following is not a major barrier to accessing health-care services for ethnic elders?
   1. Immigration status
   2. Linguistic needs
   3. Discomfort with having children present at medical appointments
   4. Limited knowledge of the health-care system

Page: 66

1. Which term refers to subcultures, such as the Old Order Mennonites or Hutterites, that maintain a totally separate and unique identity, lifestyle, and place of residence, often in rural areas?
   1. Persistent subcultures
   2. Dynamic subcultures
   3. Northern subcultures
   4. Ritualistic subcultures

Page: 57

1. In a multicultural society like Canada, there is an urgent need for new studies on the experiences of many ethnic and religious groups that are what?
   1. Visible in aging
   2. Invisible in aging
   3. Aging in isolation
   4. Aging in exurban communities

Page: 62-63

1. Carlos is conducting a study of elderly citizens in the Atlantic provinces. After several months of interviewing, Carlos realizes that his research participants speak about their experiences in distinct ways. For instance, he notices that men can differ from women, recent immigrants can differ from second-generation Canadians, and seniors with higher retirement income can differ from those with low-incomes. When conducting his analysis, Carlos explains to his supervisor that in order to more fully understand the status of older people within and between cultures and over time, he needs to examine levels of social support in cultures flowing to older adults and how this support is shaped by gender, social position, religion, etc. Which perspective is Carlos most closely aligned with?
   1. Before and after
   2. Positivism
   3. Intersectionality
   4. Elitism

Page: 51

1. According to Sharon Koehn’s unpublished findings (2002–4), a case worker helped Mr S deal with isolation and cultural dislocation by referring him to whom?
   1. A female physician and moving him to another care home in a more urban area
   2. A male physician and moving him to another care home in a warmer city
   3. A Punjabi-speaking physician and moving him to another care home where there were other Punjabi-speaking residents
   4. An older physician and moving him to another care home where there were other male residents

Page: 63

1. The grandmother of Charlie’s friend attends religious gatherings where they drink poison and handle dangerous snakes. Charlie thinks that these practices are not normal and doesn’t understand why others would want to practise such strange rituals. What concept is reflected in Charlie’s feelings?
   1. Cultural diffusion
   2. Ethnocentrism
   3. Globalization
   4. Cultural relativism

Page: 46

1. Which of the following terms refers to the respect and a feeling of responsibility for one’s parents?
   1. Unilineal piety
   2. Filial piety
   3. Paternalism
   4. Patricide

Page: 44

True or False Questions

1. Filial piety refers to the belief that the extended family is a burden.

Page: 44

1. Over the past 40 years, the Canadian immigrant population has become less diverse, coming mostly from two or three countries of origin.

Page: 44

1. Values are the internalized criteria by which people judge behaviour.

Page: 46

1. Beliefs are a statement about what is thought to be true as opposed to what is real or desirable.

Page: 46

1. Norms represent an individual’s conception of the world.

Page: 46

1. People who regard their own culture as superior can be called ethnocentric.

Page: 46

1. In agrarian-peasant societies, the oldest citizens had no control of the land and were generally lacking in power.

Page: 49

1. Modernization theory suggests that the Industrial Revolution led to a decline in the status of older adults.

Page: 50

1. The status of older adults was the lowest in preliterate societies that had a surplus of food.

Page: 53

1. The status of older adults was highest in preliterate societies in which older people had knowledge of rituals and customs.

Page: 53

1. In 2016, 27 per cent of the Indigenous population was under 15 years of age.

Page: 58

1. About 7 per cent of Indigenous people are 65 years of age or older.

Page: 57

1. The life expectancy of Indigenous is about six years less than the national average.

Page: 58

1. Indigenous elders have the advantage of quality home care systems if they live on reserves.

Page: 61

1. Indigenous elders fare equally well whether they live on or off a reserve.

Page: 57-61

1. Assimilation is a process whereby subcultures retain their own identity.

Page: 57

1. A racial subculture is a subgroup within a larger society in which physical appearance and cultural commonality define the boundaries of membership.

Page: 62

1. Kobayashi (2000) found that, among second- and third-generation Japanese Canadians, few had a strong commitment to filial duty.

Page: 65

1. The situation of elderly Chinese people is often related to whether they spent their childhood in China or in Canada.

Page: 64

1. Elderly people who have lived in Canada most of their lives are just as likely as recent elderly immigrants to feel isolated and marginalized.

Page: 63-66

1. Acculturation is a process whereby individuals from one cultural group learn and internalize the culture of another group.

Page: 46

1. Social scientists have always studied the diversity within a society and the structural factors that influence the experiences and opportunities of aging adults.

Page: 47

1. An intersectionality lens considers disadvantage (and privilege) as fundamentally tied to the intersection of multiple inequalities that are fluid over the life course and reinforced in social structures.

Page: 48

1. Intersectionality has been useful in understanding how minority-group statuses and related forms of inequality are formed, sustained, and how they can be changed over time.

Page: 48

1. Increased interventions through federal health and financial assistance programs have largely improved unemployment rates, living conditions, levels of physical and mental health, and poverty levels for Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Page: 59

Short Answer Questions

1. What are the similarities in Eastern and Western societies’ treatment of elderly persons?

Page: 44

1. What are the differences between Eastern and Western societies’ treatment of elderly persons?

Page: 44

1. What is the modernization hypothesis? What are four critiques of this perspective?

Page: 50-51

1. How are Indigenous elders in Canada viewed by their communities? What have they done that has had a positive effect on their status?

Page: 59

1. From a structural perspective, what are some of the inequalities faced by Indigenous peoples?

Page: 59

1. What are four common research approaches used to understand the cultural basis of aging?

Page: 44

1. What are three developments in the study of aging from a comparative perspective?

Page: 46-47

1. What is the intersectionality lens and how can it shed light on aging?

Page: 48

1. Why is ethnocentrism a problem for older adults in a multicultural society? Illustrate your answer with an example.

Page: 46

1. What are three ways in which the Industrial Revolution changed the lives and status of older people?

Page: 49

1. What are five types of respect that Asian cultures express towards elders?

Page: 52

1. What is an ethnic subculture? Compare and contrast how two different subcultures in Canada treat older adults.

Page: 57, 62-63

1. Compare and contrast the social and economic conditions of elderly people within two ethnic subcultures in Canada.

Page: 64-65

1. In what ways do Indigenous elders experience health disadvantages in Canada?

Page: 60-61

1. What are the challenges facing health-care workers and policy-makers in Canada’s multicultural society?

Page: 44-45

1. As an older person, is it better to have been born in Canada or outside of Canada? Explain your choice.

Page: 48, 62-66

1. What are values, beliefs, and norms?

Page: 44

1. How has modernization affected care of the elderly in Japan?

Page: 56

1. What is the difference between convergent and persistent subcultures? Illustrate your understanding by providing examples.

Page: 57

1. What were the six functions performed by elderly people in preliterate societies identified by Maxwell and Silverman (1970)?

Page: 53

1. What are Achenbaum’s (2010) archetypes of age?

Page: 47

1. What was the status of older people in preliterate societies?

Page: 52-53

1. What was the status of older people in literate pre-industrial societies?

Page: 53-54

1. How has the status of the Anishinabe Elders of Georgian Bay shifted?

Page: 54-56

1. What are the impacts of language and cultural barriers in health care? Illustrate your understanding by providing an example.

Page: 63