Survey Research and the Politics of Old Age Welfare in a Period of System Crisis

• In Event: 066 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 08. Political Economy

Abstract

In this paper we build an argument about the history of the political support for programs for the elderly, question the role of social science survey research in perpetuating limits on possible alliances that could help such programs, and propose an alternative role for survey research. We begin by questioning the stance of a noted gerontologist, who emphasizes a form of normative ideological struggle – basically, free market individualism vs. a communitarian “compassionate ageism” – over elderly-program support that fails to consider a political-structural aspect of ideology. This aspect is the assumption, well-delineated by political scientists, that the foundations of political life are constituted by relations among competitive interest groups mediated by political parties contesting for state influence, known as interest group liberalism. We show how early social scientists such as Bentley (1967/1908), by promoting a skewed interpretation of interest group politics that deliberately downplayed social movements, set up a depleted conception of the political. Now that neoliberalism has placed the interest group liberalism paradigm under sustained assault and the inadequacies in its party system are becoming more apparent, the ways in which interest group liberalism and the associated “catch-all” major parties and organizations (such as the AARP) have shaped the study of politics must be more thoroughly recognized. Drawing on the political thematics of the Occupy movement as inspiration, we suggest how survey research methods might respond to, and support instead of obscure, developing changes in political life relevant to maintaining “safety net” programs for the elderly.

Authors

• Irene Padavic, Florida State University

• William R. Earnest, Independent Scholar