G. Clare Wenger – författare

Much previous research on elderly people had focused on their problems, and had created an impression of a group of isolated individuals suffering from almost insurmountable social difficulties. Originally published in 1984, this study of the everyday lives of elderly people, and the sources of help and care available to them in the community at the time, made a special contribution by showing how they can and do make creative adaptations to the challenge of age, and by increasing our understanding of their informal networks of support.

The author looks not only at the role and availability of family, but also of friends, neighbours, voluntary associations and statutory services and the composite networks of support which these contacts form, noting differences related to gender, class and household composition. The detailed picture that she presents would be invaluable to those teachers, students and practitioners of social work concerned with the development of more community-based patterns of social work, as recommended by the Barclay Report, and to policy makers who needed to understand how sometimes strained natural support systems may be reinforced and maintained. The book also extends our knowledge of the normal lives of elderly people and will be of general interest to social gerontologists and network theorists in sociology and anthropology.

Much previous research on elderly people had focused on their problems, and had created an impression of a group of isolated individuals suffering from almost insurmountable social difficulties. Originally published in 1984, this study of the everyday lives of elderly people, and the sources of help and care available to them in the community at the time, made a special contribution by showing how they can and do make creative adaptations to the challenge of age, and by increasing our understanding of their informal networks of support.

The author looks not only at the role and availability of family, but also of friends, neighbours, voluntary associations and statutory services and the composite networks of support which these contacts form, noting differences related to gender, class and household composition. The detailed picture that she presents would be invaluable to those teachers, students and practitioners of social work concerned with the development of more community-based patterns of social work, as recommended by the Barclay Report, and to policy makers who needed to understand how sometimes strained natural support systems may be reinforced and maintained. The book also extends our knowledge of the normal lives of elderly people and will be of general interest to social gerontologists and network theorists in sociology and anthropology.

Originally published in 1987, it seemed likely that by the end of that decade, if current trends continued, the majority of social researchers would be working under contract to government and other agencies which commissioned policy-relevant investigations. This shift towards contracted and commissioned research threw into heightened relief the importance of greater understanding of the often problematic relationship between researchers on the one hand, and funding agencies and policy-making bodies on the other.

This book was directed at both social scientists who were or would in the future be involved in social policy research, and at administrators, planners and policy makers who often had responsibility for funding such research and who were also its potential users. The authors provide accounts of research in a wide variety of settings, conducted on behalf of a diverse range of sponsors, in order to confront, describe and try to understand the tensions which develop between the two sides of the policy research relationship. While there is, of course, no suggestion here that there are tailor-made solutions that can eradicate difficulties, the feeling is expressed that improvements in the research relationship are possible and highly desirable. The primary objective of the book was to provide an impetus for greater understanding and collaboration that could lead to such improvements.

Originally published in 1987, it seemed likely that by the end of that decade, if current trends continued, the majority of social researchers would be working under contract to government and other agencies which commissioned policy-relevant investigations. This shift towards contracted and commissioned research threw into heightened relief the importance of greater understanding of the often problematic relationship between researchers on the one hand, and funding agencies and policy-making bodies on the other.

This book was directed at both social scientists who were or would in the future be involved in social policy research, and at administrators, planners and policy makers who often had responsibility for funding such research and who were also its potential users. The authors provide accounts of research in a wide variety of settings, conducted on behalf of a diverse range of sponsors, in order to confront, describe and try to understand the tensions which develop between the two sides of the policy research relationship. While there is, of course, no suggestion here that there are tailor-made solutions that can eradicate difficulties, the feeling is expressed that improvements in the research relationship are possible and highly desirable. The primary objective of the book was to provide an impetus for greater understanding and collaboration that could lead to such improvements.