Age in identity Flashcards
Postman (1982) - Disappearance of childhood
Argues that the period of childhood in the UK has been shortened because children are exposed to adult influences via technology.
Hockey and James
- Childhood as a social construction
Links old age and childhood and observe that they are socially constructed in similar ways. Both children and the elderly are victims of infantilisation rather than being treated as independent.
Featherstone and Hepworth
Critique
The media images of ageing are changing and are less likely to be derogatory towards the elderly. This could suggest that age identity is increasingly fluid and less significant.
Margaret Mead (1928) - Youth
Argued that the ‘strom and stress’ associated with youth is culturally specific and not found in all cultures, though her findings and methodology have been questioned.
Roberts (bodies)
UK culture admires youthful bodies and consider aging bodies as ugly. Older people have been socialised into this view as well before they grow old.
Stereotypes
a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.
Discrimination
the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.
Generations
age groups that live through the same historical and social events, and whose common identity and attitudes are reinforced by similar experiences of consuming cultural goods such as fashion, music, films and television programmes
Adultifciation -
is an academic term to refer to the idea that teachers, law enforcement officials and even parents view black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers.
Ageism
prejudice and discimrination based on negative stereotypes about specific age groups. It is particularly a problem for elderly people.
Empty nest syndrome
Applied as a psychological indicator of being middle-aged, it is a sense of loneliness, lack of purpose, sadness in parents once their children have left the home.
Mid-life crisis
a midlife crisis is a transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle-aged individuals, typically 45 to 55 years old.
Infantilisation
to encourage or force someone to behave like a child
Self-fulfilling prophecy
a process by which individuals are labelled in a manner predicting their future and behaviour and as they come to see themselves as they have been labelled start to live up to that prediction.
Rites of passage
Ceremonies that mark important transitional periods in a person’s life, such as birth, puberty, marriage, having children, and death. Rites of passage usually involve ritual activities and teachings designed to strip individuals of their original roles and prepare them for new roles.
