Age Inequality: Functionalist Explanations of Age Inequality Flashcards
Which theory do Functionalists create to explain age inequality?
Disengagement theory
What is disengagement theory?
Where elderly people start to detatch themselves from their jobs
How will elderly people start to detatch themselves from their jobs?
They will reduce their working hours
Which Functionalists created the concept of disengagement theory?
Cumming and Henry
What will elderly people eventually do with their jobs?
They will retire
According to Cumming and Henry, how is disengagement beneficial to wider society?
Young people can take up the roles the elderly have left
How would Postmodernists criticise disengagement theory?
They would say it is a generalisation
According to Cumming and Henry, how is diesngagement beneficial to elderly people?
It helps with their wellbeing
Which Postmodernist says elderly people can choose to act young?
Blaikie
What form of culture does Blaikie argue is present in postmodern societies?
Consumer culture
According to Blaikie, what does consumer culture offer to elderly people?
It gives them opportunities to keep healthy
Name 2 things that elderly people might use in consumer culture to stay healthy
Eating healthy foods, Doing workout programs
What does Eisenstadt say the period of transition from childhood to adulthood is like?
It is limbo
According to Blaikie, what will elderly people be able to do with work if they are slowing down ageing processes?
They can work longer
What does Parsons argue about the amount of deviant acts committed by young people compared to other age groups?
Young people commit more deviant actions
Why do Functionalists say there is age inequality for young people?
It is difficult for young people to transition from childhood to adulthood
According to Parsons, which system teaches young people not to act in deviant ways?
Rewards and Sanctions system
According to DfE (2020), what percentage of lessons were truanted in?
4.6% of lessons were truanted in
Name a deviant action young people may do with their lessons in school
Truant in their lessons
What does it mean if the childhood to adulthood transition is limbo?
It is stressful
According to Eisenstadt, what do young people test with their behaviours in youth cultures?
They test the boundaries in society
According to Eisenstadt, why do young people join youth cultures?
To let off steam
What would Interactionists say Functionalists ignore with the media?
They ignore how the media can negatively report on young people
Which moral panic did Cohen study?
Mods and rockers moral panic
What was the reality with the fights the mods and rockers had together?
They were only small fights
What did the media do in their reports of mods and rockers fighting in newspapers?
They sensationalised the behaviour
What did the media create around the mods and rockers?
A moral panic
How did the public feel about young people after the mods and rockers moral panic?
They became fearful of young people
