Institutional organization of elderly care services and aging (the case of Kütahya)

The period of aging is not only a period in which the mental, physical and social decline in individuals but also social status and role losses are experienced. It is based on knowledge of experience with status, respect and authority attributed to old age in traditional societies. With the modernization process, industrialization, urbanization and migration from rural to urban areas have increased and the woman has been in working life. Along with increasing life expectancy thanks to medicine and technology, it has been also observed the increase in the rate of elderly population. In addition to these transformations, with the formation of the nuclear family, it might be difficult to care of the elderly people in the family. These changes and transformations might cause aging to be perceived as a social problem. In the current modern society, as the traditional ties begin to dissolve, elderly people might be perceived as a burden. That is why, it requires professional care for elderly people and the solutions are being sought for phenomenon of aging in the institutional area. In this study which is based on researching the management of aging and old age phenomenon in the institutional area in current society, it is aimed to determine the changes that affect the elderly people from entering the family environment and entering into a different structure at the institutional level. In this context, nowadays it has been evaluated the change in social values, perceptions and perspectives of aging with a sociological approach. With the perceptions of older people themselves, their place in the institution and society with social reflections of old-age issues are examined. As the parallel to the developments in the world, with increasing population, our country takes place in the classification of elderly societies. In this context, the importance of the concept of aging in social structure requires to analize the issues related to subject for the future. Keywords: Institutional Organization, Social Change, Aging, Elderly Care, Sociology of Aging