Chapter 2 (midterm)

Question 1

Social gerontolgy

Answer 1

• sub field

- focuses on the social side of aging

Question 2

3 areas of gerontology study

Answer 2

1) biomedicine
2) Physiological studies
3) Socioeconomic - environmental studies

Question 3

Bengtson & Schaie ways theory is valuable

Answer 3

1) allows for the integration of new knowledge with old information
2) provides framework for the explanation of findings
3) predicts outcomes in future research
4) provides practical information for the development of social programs

Question 4

Micro-level theories

Answer 4

focus on individuals and their actions. They are used to explain phenomena such as as the relationship between adult and children and their parents, change in memory with age, and the effect of negative attitudes on an older person’s self image.

Question 5

Macro-level theories

Answer 5

explain phenomena such as the effect of industrialization on older peoples social status etc.

Question 6

Critiques of Micro level theory

Answer 6

• focus too much on peoples action and interactions

Question 7

Critiques of Macro level theory

Answer 7

• say that this approach tends to minimize people’s ability to act and overcome the limits of social structures

Question 8

3 perspectives of macro and micro theories

Answer 8

1) Interpretive Perspectives
2) Functionalist Perspectives
3) Conflict Perspectives

Question 9

Interpretive Perspective

Answer 9

• Focuses almost exclusively on the micro level
• looks at how people define situations
• how they create social order
• people have agency, people are diverse

Question 10

Functionalist Perspective

Answer 10

• holds that social order is based on consensus, cooperation, and shared norms and values
• that all parts of society serve a role or function to keep society in a state of balance

Question 11

positivistic world view

Answer 11

based on the belief that knowledge is built by studying observable facts and their relationship to one another

Question 12

age stratification theory

Answer 12

focuses on the movement of age cohorts over the life course.

Question 13

Age cohort

Answer 13

a group of people born in the same period of time

Question 14

Age grades

Answer 14

• a concept used in age stratification theory

- to describe periods of life defined by society

Question 15

life Course Perspective

Answer 15

• bridges the micro and macro levels
• begins with the idea that life unfolds from birth to death
• made up of 5 principles
• age stratification theory

Question 16

5 principles of the life course theory

Answer 16

1) people develop and age at every stage of life
2) the historical conditions and peoples environment influence their experiences and opportunities in life
3) the impact of life transitions vary, depending on when they take place in a persons life
4) people live interdependently
5) individuals shape their lives through action and by making choices

Question 17

When do MDD and anxiety typically first show

Answer 17

adolescence and or young adulthood

Question 18

transitions

Answer 18

changes in social status or roles such as marriage, divorce or widowhood

Question 19

trajectories

Answer 19

long term patterns of stability and change that often include many transitions

Question 20

non normative events

Answer 20

unexpected events such as illnesses, lay offs, accidents, sudden changes in health and death of a child

Question 21

normative history graded events

Answer 21

shape the lives of many age cohorts, such as the great depression

Question 22

normative age graded events

Answer 22

socially sanctioned events that occur most often at a certain age like marriage, retirement

Question 23

age status a-synchronization

Answer 23

someone for whom major life events come early or late

Question 24

Conflict Perspective

Answer 24

holds that society consists of conflicts between dominant and subordinate social groups

Question 25

political economy theory

Answer 25

• focuses on conflict and change in social life
• it traces this conflict to the struggle between social classes
• part of conflict perspective

Question 26

Interlocking systems of oppression

Answer 26

macro level connections linking systems of oppression such as race, class, and gender

Question 27

Cumuaitive advantage & disadvantage theory

Answer 27

says that advantages and disadvantages earlier in life accumulate and are magnified over the life course

Question 28

Feminist approach

Answer 28

• view gender as a defining characteristic in social interaction and life experiences
• as well as in the process and experiences of aging

Question 29

Narrative gerontology

Answer 29

seeks to understand the “inside” of aging by examining the narratives of life stories that people tell in order to organize and make sense of their lives, and their experiences of aging

Question 30

Moral Economy theory

Answer 30

focuses on shared values and norms that shape popular beliefs in the legitimacy of certain practices and policies

Question 31

Critical gerontology

Answer 31

theoretical approaches that look back ‘within’ theory and research to critically examine and question the underlying and taken for granted assumptions about aging

Question 32

4 themes that shape critical gerontology

Answer 32

1) aging and politics of redistribution
2) gender and aging
3) aging, identity and post modernism
4) aging and surveillance

Question 33

Post-Modern theory

Answer 33

contrasts contemporary society with society in the recent past

Question 34

Age effects

Answer 34

on a persons life are related to physical decline or change due to aging

Question 35

Period or Environmental Effects

Answer 35

• on a persons life are due to the time of measurement

- historical, environmental, war

Question 36

cohort effects

Answer 36

are related to the time of the persons birth

Question 37

sequential designs

Answer 37

look at a series of cross sectional studies during a longitudinal study

Question 38

meso level theory

Answer 38

at the level of organizations

Question 39

Disengagement theory

Answer 39

• cumming and henry
• what is normative for older people
• letting younger people come in and take their roles
• functionalist

Question 40

Continuity theory

Answer 40

• atchley
• similar to activity theory
• thought roles needed to be meaningful
• continue loved activities
• functionalist

Question 41

Activity Theory

Answer 41

• Neugarten, Havinghurst and Tobin
• opposite of disengagement theory
• can replace old activities with new ones
• busier = more satisfied