When Strangers Become Family
As the 21st Century unfolds, the traditional welfare state that evolved during the 20th Century faces serious threats to the solidarity that social programs were meant to strengthen. The rise of populist and nationalist parties reflects the decline of a sense of belonging and inclusiveness that mass education and economic progress were meant to foster, as traditional politics and parties are rejected by working- and middle-class individuals who were previously their staunchest supporters. Increasingly, these groups reject the growing gaps in income, power, and privilege that they perceive between themselves and highly educated and cosmopolitan business, academic, and political elites.
When Strangers Become Family examines the potential role of civil society organizations in guaranteeing the rights and addressing the needs of vulnerable groups, paying particular attention to their role in advocacy for and service delivery to older people. The book includes a discussion of the origins and functions of this sector that focuses on the relationship between the state and non-governmental organizations, as well as a close examination of Mexico a middle-income nation with a rapidly aging population and limited state welfare for older people. The data reveals important aspects of the relationship among government actors, civil society organizations, and political parties. Ronald Angel and Vernica Montes-de-Oca Zavala ask the fundamental question about the extent to which civil society organizations represent a potential mechanism whereby vulnerable individuals can join together to further their own interests and exercise their individual and group autonomy.
Ronald J. Angel is Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas-Austin and coauthor, along with Jacqueline L. Angel, of Family, Intergenerational Solidarity, and Post-Traditional Society and Latinos in an Aging World.
Vernica Montes-de-Oca Zavala is Professor of Sociology and Demography at the Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (UNAM). She is the author of Envejecimiento en Amrica Latina y el Caribe.
Aging and Society
Edited by Carroll L. Estes and Assistant Editor Nicholas DiCarlo
This pioneering series of books creatively synthesizes and advances key, intersectional topics in gerontology and aging studies. Drawing from changing and emerging issues in gerontology, influential scholars combine research into human development and the life course; the roles of power, policy, and partisanship; race and ethnicity; inequality; gender and sexuality; and cultural studies to create a multi-dimensional and essential picture of modern aging.
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The Privatization of Care:
The Case of Nursing Homes (2020)
Pat Armstrong, Hugh Armstrong et al.
Age and the Research of Sociological Imagination:
Power, Ideology, and the Life Course (2021)
Dale Dannefer
When Strangers Become Family:
The Role of Civil Society in Addressing the Needs of Aging
Populations (2021)
Ronald Angel and Vernica Montes-de-Oca Zavala
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Aging-and-Society/book-series/AGINGSOC
First published 2022
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2022 Taylor & Francis
The right of Ronald J. Angel and Vernica Montes-de-Oca Zavala to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Angel, Ronald, author. | Montes de Oca Zavala, Veronica, author.
Title: When strangers become family : the role of civil society in addressing the needs of aging populations / Ronald Angel, Veronica Montes-de-Oca Zavala.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. |
Series: Aging and society | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021012634 | ISBN 9781032071466 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367459994 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003205609 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Older people--Services for. | Older people--Services for--Mexico. | Older people--Services for--United States. | Population aging--Social aspects--Mexico. | Population aging--Social aspects--United States. | Non-governmental organizations--Mexico. | Non-governmental organizations--United States.
Classification: LCC HV1451 .A6746 2021 | DDC 362.60972--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021012634
ISBN: 978-1-032-07146-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-45999-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-20560-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003205609
We want to thank the large number of individuals who make this project possible. Primarily, we thank the older individuals who shared their life experiences and who contributed their time. We also thank the leaders and members of the civil society organizations and other groups who volunteered their time and recounted their struggles for human rights and shared with us their dedication to fighting for the rights and satisfying the political, material, and psychological needs of older people. From them we learned that a society that dignifies old age is a society that ensures the dignity of everyone and insures its future.
In addition, we are grateful for the financial support of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) through the General Directorate of Academic Personnel Affairs (DGAPA) and the Support Program for Research and Technological Innovation Projects (PAPIIT) with project number IG300517 Active aging and citizenship. Government mechanisms for social inclusion, poverty reduction and inequality in older adults in Mexico (20172019). Additional funding for data analysis was provided by the Policy Research Institute-International Program, LBJ School of Public Affairs, and the Research Center for Minority Aging Research (NIA grant number 5P30AG05930102) at the University of Texas, Austin. The Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales of UNAM (IISUNAM) provided invaluable administrative support to the project.
We are particularly grateful to dedicated members of the research team, whose insights and close attention to detail made the field experience a success. They conducted the interviews with great skill. We appreciate their time and dedication, as well as their valuable intellectual and practical input. We wish to give special thanks to the following individuals: Mara Del Pilar Alonso Reyes (Faculty of Sciences (FC-UNAM)); Jos Antonio Flores Diaz (FC-UNAM); Alma Miriam Bermdez Espinosa (National School of Social Work (ENTS-UNAM)); Gina Irene Villagmez Valds (Autonomous University of Yucatn (UADY-Yucatn, Mexico)); Feliciano Villar Posada (Barcelona University (UB-Spain)); Rodrigo Serrat Fernndez (UB-Spain); Mara Del Roco Enrquez Rosas (ITESO-Mexico); Rosaura Avalos Prez (ENTS-UNAM); Fermina Rojo Prez (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas (CSIC-Spain)); Gloria Fernndez-Mayoralas Fernndez (CSIC-Spain); Vicente Rodrguez Rodrguez (CSIC-Spain); Mara Concepcin Arroyo Rueda (UJED-Mexico); Paola Carmina Gutirrez Cuellar (Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales de la Universidad de Baja California-Mexico); Patricia Rea ngeles (IISUNAM-Conacyt Chairs-Mexico); Sagrario Garay Villegas (Universidad Autnoma de Nuevo Len (UANL-Mexico)); Ana Fidelia Aparicio Trejo (Seminario Universitario Interdisciplinario sobre Envejecimiento y Vejez (SUIEV-UNAM)); Edith Hernndez (SUIEV-UNAM); Karla Prez Guadarrama (SUIEV-UNAM); and Paola Magdaleno (SUIEV-UNAM).