Chapter 12: Stratification by Age Flashcards
Age Stratification
It is understandable that all societies have some system of age stratification that associates certain social roles with distinct periods in life.
- Some of this age differentiation seems inevitable; it would make little sense to send young children off to war, or to expect most older citizens to handle physically demanding tasks, such as loading freight at shipyards.
- However, as is the case with stratification by gender, in the United States age stratification goes far beyond the physical constraints on human beings at different ages
Minority or Subordinate status: Age
Older people experience unequal treatment in employment and may face prejudice and discrimination.
Older people share physical characteristics that distinguish them from younger people. In addition, their cultural preferences and leisure-time activities often differ from those of the rest of society.
Membership in this disadvantaged group is involuntary.
Older people have a strong sense of group solidarity, as is reflected in the growth of senior citizens’ centers, retirement communities, and advocacy organizations.
Older people generally are married to others of comparable age.
Gerontology
- The scientific study of the sociological and psychological aspects of aging and the problems of the aged.
- Gerontologists rely heavily on sociological principles and theories to explain the impact of aging on the individual and society.
- They also draw on psychology, anthropology, physical education, counseling, and medicine in their study of the aging process. Two influential views of aging—disengagement theory and activity theory—can best be understood in terms of the sociological perspectives of functionalism and interactionism, respectively.
Functionalist Perspective
- After studying elderly people in good health and relatively comfortable economic circumstances, Elaine Cumming and William Henry (1961) introduced their disengagement theory
- In keeping with the functionalist perspective, disengagement theory emphasizes that passing social roles on from one generation to another ensures social stability.
- According to this theory, the approach of death forces people to drop most of their social roles—including those of worker, volunteer, spouse, hobby enthusiast, and even reader.
- Younger members of society then take on these functions. The aging person, it is held, withdraws into an increasing state of inactivity while preparing for death.
Disengagement Theory
which implicitly suggests that society and the aging individual mutually sever many of their relationships.
-older people find satisfaction in withdrawal from society,
Interactionist Perspective
Often seen as an opposing approach to disengagement theory, activity theory suggests that those elderly people who remain active and socially involved will be best adjusted.
-Proponents of this perspective acknowledge that a person age 70 may not have the ability or desire to perform various social roles that he or she had at age 40. –Yet they contend that old people have essentially the same need for social interaction as any other group.
- The improved health of older people—sometimes overlooked by social scientists—has strengthened the arguments of activity theorists.
- Illness and chronic disease are no longer quite the scourge of the elderly that they once were.
- The recent emphasis on fitness, the availability of better medical care, greater control of infectious diseases, and the reduction of fatal strokes and heart attacks have combined to mitigate the traumas of growing old.
- As we saw at the beginning of the chapter, Captain Sully Sullenberger is certainly both physically and mentally fit.
Activity Theory
suggests that those elderly people who remain active and socially involved will be best adjusted.
Labeling Perspective
- “the elderly”? Labeling theorists, who study the way reality is constructed through our culture and social interactions, have noted that recently, our society has begun to reconsider what makes a person old.
- As early as 1975, social scientists were suggesting that old age should be defined not in terms of how old one is, but in terms of how long one can be expected to live.
- As life expectancy lengthens, then, the age at which one is labeled old rises.
- Some have suggested that the threshold of old age should begin in the last 10 or 15 years of a person’s expected life.
Conflict Perspective
- Conflict theorists have criticized both disengagement theorists and activity theorists for failing to consider the impact of social structure on aging patterns.
- Neither approach, they say, questions why social interaction must change or decrease in old age. In addition, they often ignore the impact of social class on the lives of elderly people.
-The privileged upper class generally enjoys better health and vigor and less likelihood of dependency in old age. Affluence cannot forestall aging indefinitely, but it can soften the economic hardships people face in later years. –Although pension plans, retirement packages, and insurance benefits may be developed to assist older people, those whose wealth allows them access to investment funds can generate the greatest income for their later years.
- In contrast, the working class often faces greater health hazards and a greater risk of disability; aging is particularly difficult for those who suffer job-related injuries or illnesses.
- Working-class people also depend more heavily on Social Security benefits and private pension programs.
Aging Worldwide
Today the world’s population is evenly divided between those people who are under age 28 and those who are over age 28. By the middle of the 21st century, the median age will have risen to 40. Even though the United Nations held the first world assembly on aging in 1982, few people gave much thought to this prospect of whole populations—that is, nations—growing older until the 1990s. By 2015, the world had more than 617 million people age 65 and over. They constituted 8.5 percent of the world’s population. By 2050, nearly twice that proportion, or 16.7 percent of the world’s population, will be over 65.
Aging, Japanese Style
- Indeed, Japan is struggling to confront the challenges posed by the world’s most rapidly aging population.
- For generations, Japanese families have lived with and cared for their aging parents and grandparents.
- But this tradition of living under the same roof with one’s elders is fading as more and more couples and even single adults strike out on their own. Hence the need for the wired hotpots.
Compared to the United States and Canada, Japan is less well equipped to deal with this social phenomenon. Assisted living, in-home services, and nursing homes are all much less common in Japan than they are in North America.
The aging of Japan’s workforce has forced government officials to reexamine the nation’s policy toward immigrant workers.
- Although work opportunities dried up during the global economic downturn, the government does not want to lose this small group of immigrants, given Japan’s looming labor shortage.
- So policymakers are devising programs that will allow immigrant workers to stay and will encourage their countrymen to join them when Japan’s economy rebounds.
Role Transitions: Midlife crisis
The next transitional period, the midlife transition, typically begins at about age 40. Men and women often experience a stressful period of self-evaluation, commonly known as the midlife crisis, in which they realize that they have not achieved basic goals and ambitions and have little time left to do so.
Conflict Perspective
- Conflict theorists have criticized both disengagement theorists and activity theorists for failing to consider the impact of social structure on aging patterns.
- Neither approach, they say, questions why social interaction must change or decrease in old age. In addition, they often ignore the impact of social class on the lives of elderly people.
-The privileged upper class generally enjoys better health and vigor and less likelihood of dependency in old age. Affluence cannot forestall aging indefinitely, but it can soften the economic hardships people face in later years. –Although pension plans, retirement packages, and insurance benefits may be developed to assist older people, those whose wealth allows them access to investment funds can generate the greatest income for their later years.
- In contrast, the working class often faces greater health hazards and a greater risk of disability; aging is particularly difficult for those who suffer job-related injuries or illnesses.
- Working-class people also depend more heavily on Social Security benefits and private pension programs.
Aging Worldwide
Today the world’s population is evenly divided between those people who are under age 28 and those who are over age 28. By the middle of the 21st century, the median age will have risen to 40. Even though the United Nations held the first world assembly on aging in 1982, few people gave much thought to this prospect of whole populations—that is, nations—growing older until the 1990s. By 2015, the world had more than 617 million people age 65 and over. They constituted 8.5 percent of the world’s population. By 2050, nearly twice that proportion, or 16.7 percent of the world’s population, will be over 65.
Aging, Japanese Style
- Indeed, Japan is struggling to confront the challenges posed by the world’s most rapidly aging population.
- For generations, Japanese families have lived with and cared for their aging parents and grandparents.
- But this tradition of living under the same roof with one’s elders is fading as more and more couples and even single adults strike out on their own. Hence the need for the wired hotpots.
Compared to the United States and Canada, Japan is less well equipped to deal with this social phenomenon. Assisted living, in-home services, and nursing homes are all much less common in Japan than they are in North America.
