The slow politics of dignity for the aged and dying in Australia

Wickham, G. (2015) The slow politics of dignity for the aged and dying in Australia. The Conversation, 15 June 2015 .

Abstract

Dignity is crucial to the proper operation of rights. If rights are to do what they are meant to do, they need to be deeply embedded in a country’s society and culture. It’s not enough just to have rights sitting on the books. The overwhelming majority of people in the country need to respect them at a personal level.

Without the dignity component, rights are hollow.

The contrast between rights with dignity and rights without is increasingly apparent with regard to two groups of Australians who are much in the news lately. These are those who have retired from the full-time workforce and those who are in the last stage of their lives – whether in their own homes or in some form of assisted-living accommodation.

Publication Type:	Non-refereed Article
Murdoch Affiliation:	School of Arts
Publisher:	The Conversation Media Group
Copyright:	The Author
Publishers Website:	http://theconversation.com/au
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/29694

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