John C. Rife, Employment of the Elderly: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. $59.95 hardcover

Tracy, Martin B.

English

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The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 23 Issue 1 March Article 19 March 1996 Review of John C. Rife, Employment of the Elderly: An Annotated Bibliography. Reviewed by Martin B. Tracy, Southern Illinois University. Martin B. Tracy Southern Illinois University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw  Part of the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Tracy, Martin B. (1996) "Review of John C. Rife, Employment of the Elderly: An Annotated Bibliography. Reviewed by Martin B. Tracy, Southern Illinois University.," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 23 : Iss. 1 , Article 19. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol23/iss1/19 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Social Work at ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact maira.bundza@wmich.edu. Book ReviewsDiane Wiatt Rich, Thomas A. Rich and Larry C. Mullins (Eds.). Oldand Homeless: Double Jeopardy. Westport, CT: Auburn House,1995. $49.95 hardcover.John C. Rife, Employment of the Elderly: An Annotated Bibliography.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. $59.95 hardcover.Each of these publications provide useful materials in sub-ject areas that are difficult to access for research and practice.Certainly there are few comprehensive descriptions available onthe characteristics of the homeless elderly in the United States.Despite the apparent growing incidence of older people with-out adequate shelter, income and health care, this populationhas received little policy or social service-oriented attention. Onereason for the apparent lack of interest may be the complexityof acquiring adequate and reliable information on a populationwhich, as Harold Sheppard notes in the Foreword to this editedtext, is a very heterogenous group. It is difficult to compile data ona diverse and widely dispersed population who are often withoutmailing addresses or permanent community attachments. Evenwhen the homeless elderly are located, it can be an onerous taskto structure a feasible way of getting information that can bepersuasively used to influence policy makers to redirect limitedresources.This text illustrates some of the problems in getting good ma-terial on significant issues affecting the homeless elderly. The bookis structured around a survey of homeless elderly in the TampaBay, Florida area conducted in 1991. The survey is included in anAppendix for ready reference. The text goes beyond the survey,however, providing an introductory glimpse into the main areasof concern related to health and mental health, housing policies,social service, consumer participation, and community resources.While the range of topics discussed is useful in an introduc-tory text, there are considerable differences in the quality of thescope and depth of discussion which detract from its overallutility as a resource. Some chapters are quite analytical, offeringinteresting perspectives and interpretations of how the subjectunder discussion has a unique impact on the elderly homelesspopulation. This is particularly true of the chapters on substanceabuse and on outreach and empowerment. Several other chapters202 Journal of Sociology & Social Welfareare extremely abbreviated which severely constrains their valueother than as a very brief introduction to the topic. For example,the chapter on ageism is only three pages in length. The area ofsocial service needs and policy implications is covered in onlyfour pages. The complex issues of housing policy and mentalhealth are discussed in a little over four pages each.While there seems to have been an original intent to organizeeach chapter around a set of guidelines, there is a marked differ-ence in the format and focus of the various chapters. The chapteron community services is a summary of case illustrations anda listing of innovative programs. The chapter on psychotropicmedication could best be described as a literature review. Anoverview chapter of medication issues is an analysis of secondarydata and the literature, as is the chapter on substance abuse. Thechapter on outreach and empowerment is primarily a guide tothe steps required for community involvement with the elderlyaimed at their self-empowerment.Thus, a contributing factor to the unevenness in the qualityand depth of the book's chapters is the inconsistent use of a stan-dardized analytical format or structure. The longer contributionsdo seem to follow general guidelines, but these are unspecifiedand difficult to discern. It would have been helpful for the editorsto deal with the structure of the text in more depth in the introduc-tion. Despite these shortcomings, the book is a useful reference forstudents engaged in aging studies. It is a welcome addition to theliterature on an under investigated area of growing importance.In the second review text, John C. Rife has compiled a valuableresource on the employment of older persons. This is clearly a sig-nificant policy issue that has major implications for a number ofpublic programs, including social security benefits. The employ-ment rate of persons age 62 and over directly affects the financialsecurity of the old-age, survivors and disability (OASDI) programin terms of cash outlays and contributions paid into the system.The situation is compounded by rising health care costs that is thesocial security system's greatest challenge. Older individuals outof the labor force are particularly vulnerable to the related risksof a loss of income and of health insurance. Unemployed olderpersons who are not yet old enough for eligibility to Medicareare faced with additional problems of income and health careBook Reviews 203protection. These serious concerns are taking place in a rapidlychanging work market shaped by new technologies which oftenputs the older person at a competitive disadvantage, especiallyre-entry or initial entry women in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Minoritypopulations of both gender face even greater challenges in gettingsuitable employment in their later years.This annotated bibliography is an excellent resource for any-one interested in exploring these and other issues related to theemployment of older persons. It covers both historical and currentliterature and would be of particular use to students in agingstudies in economics, sociology and social work. It has an un-usually extensive section on displaced women, which is too oftenneglected in the literature and in reference guides. Its data baseoffers is a wide range of references of journals as well as texts.The book is very well organized, making it easy to use and tofind references to specific topics.Both of these texts are welcome additions to the literaturein subjects that will become increasingly important areas for re-search and practice.Martin B. TracySouthern IlLinois UniversityJoseph E. Stiglitz, Whither Socialism? Cambridge, MA: The NUTPress, 1994, 338 pp.According to conventional wisdom, the collapse of socialistgoveniments in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union inthe late 1980s symbolized the failure of socialist ideals and, in par-ticular, the economic and political structures developed since 1917to implement them. This assumption has profoundly affectedpublic dialogue in the United States over social and economicpolicies of direct concern to social workers, most notably debatesover the relationship between individual and society, and theextent (even the existence) of what Walter Trattner termed "col-lective responsibility for collective need," in the form of welfarestate policies and programs. If, as Vic George and Paul Wildingargued in Ideology and Social Welfare, 20th century welfare statesare the offsprings of a curious marriage of capitalist and socialist

Review of John C. Rife, \u3cem\u3eEmployment of the Elderly: An Annotated Bibliography.\u3c/em\u3e Reviewed by Martin B. Tracy, Southern Illinois University.

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Review of John C. Rife, \u3cem\u3eEmployment of the Elderly: An Annotated Bibliography.\u3c/em\u3e Reviewed by Martin B. Tracy, Southern Illinois University.

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