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Abstract
Recent demographic and historical trends have generated a growing interest in the special population of elderly women who live alone. Most housing and gerontological experts view this population at risk for institutionalization and loss of independent living. Five underlying assumptions and themes are identified in past research on elderly housing. These five areas are (a) a reliance on socio-psychological explanations of people’s attitudes; (b) the use of survey-research data and quantitative, analytic techniques; (c) a focus on the elderly as consumers of housing; (d) a concern for the role of government as provider of housing to the elderly; and 5) the perception of housing as an environment with variable interpretations by the residents. Several limitations to the use of current methodological and theoretical approaches are cited. A reorientation based on a feminist-materialist perspective is used as a method to address the limitations of past research on housing and to examine elderly women living alone.
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Notes on contributors
Paul C. Luken
Paul C Luken is a Faculty Associate and Suzanne Vaughan is an Assistant Professor. Both are in the Social and Behavioral Science Program at Arizona State University-West in Phoenix.
Suzanne Vaughan
Paul C Luken is a Faculty Associate and Suzanne Vaughan is an Assistant Professor. Both are in the Social and Behavioral Science Program at Arizona State University-West in Phoenix.