Different by Culture

Abstract

Abstract. This article suggests that the term “culture” can explain the heterogeneity of age(ing) in nursing homes as well as (dis-)similarities opposed to organizational parameters (e.g., size, location, ownership). It introduces an analytical tool for the systematic analysis of culture which encompasses 15 thematic dimensions grouping as conceptualizations of age(ing), social relationships, and care. Two nursing homes from an explorative project in Bavarian nursing homes are used for illustrating the tool’s possible applications: systematic description, explanation, and comparisons of locally effective cultures; determining ambivalences’ manifestations and sources. The article ends with a discussion of underlying implications of the findings for theory and praxis and the benefits and weaknesses of this study, connected with the hope to broaden the perception of nursing homes which are more than organizations designed to house older people safely; they are also culturally shaped places of social life.