A New Paradigm for the Old


 

Publication Date: January 1994

Publisher: Jewish Communal Service Association of North America

Author(s): David M. Dunkelman

Research Area: Health

Keywords: Family; Elderly; Law

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

A new framework of services to the aged is proposed based on three interactive domains — gerontological Iaws, organizational laws, and the laws of self-interest. Each of these domains has changed so dramatically in recent years that the old paradigm of aging services is no longer functional. A crucial underlying principle of the new framework is that families have an ongoing moral obligation to take care of their parents that supersedes that of the community.