Ethnic belonging, traditional cultures and intercultural access: the discursive construction of older immigrants' ethnicity and culture.

Older people with a migration background are a continuously increasing population group in Germany. This increase has led to a heightened awareness of the socioeconomic situation, access to health care and social services available for older immigrants in politics, research and health care instituti...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies Vol. 49; no. 9; pp. 2290 - 2310
Autor principal: Göttler, Andrea
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd May2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Older people with a migration background are a continuously increasing population group in Germany. This increase has led to a heightened awareness of the socioeconomic situation, access to health care and social services available for older immigrants in politics, research and health care institutions. Previous research indicates that generalisations about older immigrants, e.g. as a social problem group, are common in academic research and policy publications. Furthermore, the focus on ethnicity seems to homogenise older immigrants under their ethnic difference, instead of acknowledging cultural and ethnic diversity. This discourse analysis investigates 43 publications from health care or older age-related organisations, government reports, city council or municipal documents and articles from health and care-related magazines published in Germany between 2000 and 2019. The methodology is guided by a sociology of knowledge approach to discourse to examine knowledge constructions of ageing/older age, older immigrants and cultural/ethnic classifications. I demonstrate how ethnicity and culture of older immigrants are stereotyped and portrayed as traditional and family-oriented and support is presented as situated in informal private networks. At the same time, a general consensus is that intercultural approaches should be encouraged as important strategies to improve access to health care and social services.