Social Inclusion and Exclusion among the Oldest-Old in a Changing Communal Kibbutz

The communal kibbutz enables the elderly people a considerable continuity in employment, housing, social activities, economic security and high level health and nursing services. These conditions enable old people to age successfully, compared to elderly people in the cities. However, this picture has changed during the last years and the conformity of the kibbutz towards the society around it. Getting old in a kibbutz is not continual as it's used to be in all life areas.

This presentation focuses on the oldest-old (80+) self-presentations and experiences living in a changing-communal kibbutz. The research field focuses upon 37 kibbutz members in a single kibbutz (a case study). The analysis of their self-presentation drew on material gathered from their life stories and observations of their pattern of behaviors. This is a longitudinal study conducted in 2 stages followed them to the end of their lives. 

The findings show that life in the kibbutz under the above conditions mentioned for them permits a considerable continuity in all life spheres. These conditions provide socio-cultural material and psychological resources which assist the oldest-old in coping with the limitation of age without the necessity of constantly having to contend with problems of existence and survival. Backstage, hidden from public view, one sees their aging, their hurt feelings, their exclusion and pain related to their place in the kibbutz which is no longer is a home.

Towards the ends of their days, a picture emerges of a period of loss, without pride in the fact of their survival. The transition to a nursing home framework marks a breaking point at which the struggle is not only against a decline in the ability to function, but more directly with in-place procedures and with a tea, of professional caregivers who do not support any presentation of autonomous identity.