Cover not available
Article published In:
Cognitive Linguistic Studies
Vol. 5:2 (2018) ► pp.261–281

Cross-cultural conceptualizations of ageing in Australia

| Monash University
| Monash University
| Monash University
| Monash University
| Monash University
| Australian National University

In this paper, the framework of Cultural Linguistics is employed to examine how older people from two different ethnic backgrounds in Australia conceptualize ageing and their own experience of ageing. The paper employs a qualitative method for the instantiations of interviews from two focus groups of Australian women. The results indicated that women of Anglo-Celtic background had a more self-oriented perception of ageing, aged care and self, while women of Chinese background had a more relational outlook. However, the evidence indicated that changes were taking place in both traditions despite a certain degree of continuity.

Keywords: Cultural Linguistics, cultural conceptualizations, ageing, Anglo-Australian, Chinese-Australian
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Aging and aged care in traditional Chinese and Anglo-Celtic cultures
  • 3.Cultural Linguistics and cultural conceptualizations
  • 4.The study
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Data collection and analysis
  • 5.Findings: Cultural conceptualizations of aging and aged care
    • 5.1What is seniority
    • 5.2Ageing and aged care
      • 5.2.1Chinese older immigrants’ ageing and aged care
        • 5.2.1.1Familial dependence and filial piety
        • 5.2.1.2Social interdependence
      • 5.2.2Independence and acceptance: Anglo-Australian’s schema of ageing and aged care
    • 5.3Older immigrant’s self
      • 5.3.1Chinese immigrants’ self
      • 5.3.2Older Anglo-Australian’s self
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 14 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.00021.hua
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics
(2016) 2016 Census Data. Canberra: ABS.Google Scholar
Bengtson, V. L., Kim, K., Myers, G. & Eun, K.
(2000) Aging in East and West: Families, states and the elderly. New York: Springer Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Benczes, R., Burridge, K., Sharifian, F., Allan, K.
forthcoming). Cultural Linguistics and ageing: What naming practices in Australia can reveal about underlying cultural conceptualizations.
Chappell, N. L.
(2003) Correcting cross-cultural stereotypes: Aging in Shanghai and Canada. Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 18(2), 127–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Che, M. S.
(1985) A comparative study on philosophies of T’oegye and Yulgok. Seoul: The Sungkyunkwan University Press.Google Scholar
Cho, K., Hong, S. & Kim, K.
(1999) Aging in Korea: Today and tomorrow. Seoul, Korea: Federation of Korean Gerontological societies.Google Scholar
Hu, W. Z. & Grove, C. L.
(1991) Encountering the Chinese: A guide for Americans. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.Google Scholar
Jang, Y., Haley, W. E., Small, B. J., & Reynolds, S. L.
(2000) Psychosocial resources as predictors of depression among older adults in Korea: The role of sense of mastery, social network and social support. International Journal of Aging, 21, 26–35.Google Scholar
Lakoff, G.
(1987) Women, fire and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lloyd, P.
(1991) The empowerment of elderly people. Journal of Aging Studies, 51, 125–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, J. S. Loong, Ng, C., Gee, S., & Weatherall, A.
(2003) Cultural stereotypes and social representations of elders from Chinese and European perspectives. Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 18 (2), 147–168.Google Scholar
Liu, Y. L.
(2003) Aging service need and use among Chinese American seniors: Intragroup variations. Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 18(4), 273–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Macia, E., Lahman, A., Baali, A., Boetsch, G. & Chapuis-Lucciani, N.
(2009) Perception of age stereotypes and self-perception of aging: A comparison of French and Moroccan populations. Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 24 (4), 391–420. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S.
(1991) Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98 (2), 224–253. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morton, D., Stanford, J. E., Happersett, C., & Molgaard, C.
(1992) Acculturation and functional impairment among older Chinese and Vietnamese in San Deigo County, California. Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 7 (2), 151–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mui, A., & Domanski, M.
(1999) A community needs assessment among Asian American elder, Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 14 (1), 77–90. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Phelan, E. A., Anderson, L. A., LaCroix, A. Z., & Larson, E. B.
(2004) Older adults’ views of “successful aging”-How do they compare with researchers’ definitions? Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 52(2), 211–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Plath, D.
(2008) Independence in old age: The route to social exclusion? British Journal of Social Work 381, 1353–1369. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Radermacher, H., Feldman, S., & Brownin, C.
(2009) Mainstream versus ethno-specific community aged care services: It’s not an ‘either or’. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 28(2), 58–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sharifian, F.
(2001) Schema-based processing in Australian speakers of Aboriginal English. Language and Intercultural Communication, 1(2), 120–134. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003) On cultural conceptualizations. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 3(3): 187–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2008) Distributed, emergent cultural cognition, conceptualization, and language. In M. Roslyn, F. René Dirven, T. Ziemke, and E. Bernárdez (Eds.), Body, Language, and Mind, Sociocultural Situatedness, vol. 21 (pp. 109–136). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
(2013) Cultural linguistics and intercultural communication. In F. Sharifian & M. Jamarani (Eds.), Language and intercultural communication in the New Era (pp. 74–94). New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2014) Advances in cultural linguistics. In M. Yamaguchi, D. Tay, B. Blount (Eds.), Approaches to language, culture, and cognition: The intersection of cognitive Linguistics and linguistic anthropology (pp. 99–123). London: Palgrave McMillan.Google Scholar
(2017) Cultural Linguistics and linguistic relativity. Language Sciences, 591, 83–92. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sharifian, F., & Jamarani, M.
(2011) Cultural schemas in intercultural communication: A study of the Persian cultural schema of sharmandegi ‘being ashamed’. Intercultural Pragmatics, 8(2), 227–251. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shore, B.
(1996) Culture in mind: Cognition, culture, and the problem of meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sokolovsky, J.
(1985) Ethnicity, culture and aging: Do differences really make a difference. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 4 (1), 6–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sung, K.
(2000) An Sian perspective on aging East and West: Filial piety and changing families. In V. L. Bengtson, K. Kim, G. Myers & K. Eun (Eds.) Aging in East and West: Families, states and the elderly (pp. 41–56). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Tan, J., Ward, L., & Ziaian, T.
(2011) Comparing definitions of successful ageing: The case of Anglo- and Chinese-Australians. Electronic Journal of Applied Psychology, 7(1), 15–21.Google Scholar
Wenger, G. C.
(1984) The supportive network: Coping with old age. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
White, A. M., & Groves, M. A.
(1997) Interdependence and the aged stereotype. Australian Journal on Ageing, 16(2): 83–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wong, S., Heiby, E., Kameoka, V., & Dubanoski, J.
(1999) Perceived control, self-reinforcement, and depression among Asian American and Caucasian American elders. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 18(1), 46–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Browning, Colette J., Zeqi Qiu, Hui Yang, Touhong Zhang & Shane A. Thomas
2019. Food, Eating, and Happy Aging: The Perceptions of Older Chinese People. Frontiers in Public Health 7 DOI logo
Hamiduzzaman, Mohammad, Anita De Bellis, Wendy Abigail, Evdokia Kalaitzidis & Ann Harrington
2021. The World Is Not Mine – Barriers to Healthcare Access for Bangladeshi Rural Elderly Women. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 36:1 ► pp. 69 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.