ABSTRACT
I have now outlined the broad theoretical framework within which my research was conducted. No single perspective can equally claim to accommodate all significant aspects of a social phenomenon. It is important to stress at the outset, however, that this unifying theme emerged from the data itself. At the beginning of the fieldwork period, my principal empirical focus was merely on the structure and content of old people’s relationships with their kin and with each other. As the task of data collection progressed, it became clear that there was a commonality underlying the experience of the most diversely situated elderly informants. The commonality lay in the perception of negative stereotypes attached to old age and in the manifestation of cognitive and behavioural strategies whereby aged individuals attempted to cope with them.
