Abstract:

An examination of how the mentally infirm elderly in Canada have been affected by the recent trend toward deinstitutionalization & privatization. Potential idealist & materialist explanations for this trend are discussed, drawn largely from the works of "revisionist historians" of social control, eg, D. Rothman, Michel Foucault, M. Ignatieff, & A. T. Scull. Current population projections indicate a continued aging of the population & increasingly high costs of caring for the elderly; a concurrent decrease in public expenditures for social welfare programs is expected to seriously increase the tax burden for the declining employed population. Advantages & disadvantages of public protective services & some solutions based on private sector involvement are discussed, with reference to current U.S. programs.