| Summary: | 碩士 === 南華大學 === 生死學研究所 === 90 === Abstract
The main purpose of the study, in addition to understanding the static meaning of the life of the contemporary Taiwanese elders, is to disclose the movement of the social influences behind one’s meaning of the life in terms of the process of the social construction, and to re-examine the elders’ alienation which is taken for granted in the modern society.
The study uses the qualitative method to find the meaning of the life of the contemporary elders from their life review, and analyzes it by micro-social gerontology theories. The study adheres the spirit of critical gerontology to induce the effects of social changes on elderly life, and analyzes them by macro-social gerontology theories. Social changes include the following four: demographic transition, industrialization and urbanization, social stratification, social policy and the welfare for the elderly. That is, this study relates the meaning of the life of the contemporary elders to the process of social construction in Taiwan.
On the meaning of the life of the contemporary Taiwanese elders, the findings of the study conclude the three attributions of the meaning of the life, and the six grounds of the meaning of the life. On the effects of the processes of social construction on the meaning of the life of the contemporary Taiwanese elders, the findings show that for the relations between demographic transition and the meaning of the life of the contemporary elders, the trend of increasing older population effects the economy and the residence arrangement of the elders, both produce the chain effects to the grounds of the meaning of the life; for the relations between industrialization, urbanization and the meaning of the life of the contemporary elders, the double obstruction of political situation and economic strategy in the past crates the sexual difference of the subjective meaning of life; for the relations between social stratification and the meaning of the life of the contemporary elders, the interaction between social stratification and education produces the different subjective meaning of the life among the elders; for the relations between social policy, the welfare for the elderly and the meaning of the life of the contemporary elders, because of relying on social policy and the welfare for the elderly, it is difficult for them to affirm the meaning of life at the present time by themselves due to the false consciousness which comes from the dominant political ideology of the Kuomintang state.
To explore the meaning of the life of the contemporary Taiwanese elders within the Taiwan historical context of social changes, not only open the horizon of popular conceptions about elders, but also increases the intellectual interaction between the young and old generations.
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