Towards a cross-cultural understanding of ageing and learning by senior adults in Hong Kong and Australia

Abstract

Ageing and learning are value-laden concepts that are culturally relevant. Culture plays an important role in influencing what people think, resulting in different views and understandings by people from diverse cultural backgrounds. In the literature, there have been research and discussions relating culture with ageing and culture with learning to shed light on the value systems and predominant cultural values that have influenced the understanding of ageing and learning by people in different cultures. The aim of this paper is fourfold. First, it examines the concepts of ageing and learning and considers the role that culture plays in the understanding of these two constructs. Second, it draws on the predominant East–West cultural debate to shed light on the cultural values and views that have influenced the understanding and conceptualisation of ageing and learning. Third, limitations are identified for the East–West dichotomous view of ageing and learning using the Confucian perspective of learning to illustrate the inadequacies of the Eastern and Western ideas of learning, or lifelong learning, in particular. Finally, this paper draws on findings from a cross-cultural study to compare and contrast senior adults in Hong Kong and Australia, with regard to ageing and learning.

Keywords:

• Culture
• ageing
• lifelong learning
• East-West debate
• Confucian

Acknowledgement

The cross-cultural research mentioned in this paper is part of a General Research Fund (GRF) project, ‘Towards a cross-cultural understanding of learning by senior adults: Hong Kong and Australia’ (HKIEd843912) that is funded by the Research Grants Council of the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong (2012–14).