Social engagement and the elderly in rural Indonesia

Ariane Utomo, Peter Mcdonald, Iwu Utomo, Nur Cahyadi and Robert Sparrow ()

Social Science & Medicine, 2019, vol. 229, issue C, 22-31

Abstract: Rural areas in Indonesia are older relative to urban areas. This paper questions how levels of social engagement vary across among the elderly in rural Indonesia. A sample of 2750 respondents aged 60 and over was drawn from 10 purposely-selected relatively “old” villages. Our three measures of social engagement are: participation in income-generating activities, in communal activities, and in care work. While there are notable village-level differences in patterns of social engagement, the majority of our respondents are actively engaged in productive activities in their old age until they can no longer be so. A negative educational gradient in the likelihood of work participation suggests that needs for income security is a driver of the elderly's work participation. The notion of promoting active ageing, as typically understood in the Western and/or urban contexts, is of secondary importance to health care provision and managing old-age disability in these ageing rural communities.

Keywords: Ageing; Rural; Indonesia; Social engagement; Demography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.009

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