Component 3: Age Inequalities Flashcards
What are the functionalist explanations of age inequality?
- Age is a threat to social stability
- Youth is a transitory stage from childhood to adulthood
- The elderly and disengagement theory
Who argues that age is a threat to social stability?
Parsons
Who argues the elderly and disengagement theory?
Cummings and Henry
Would functionalists argue that there is social mobility for young and older groups in the contemporary UK?
For younger people when they get to the right age yes, but for older people no
What are the new right explanations of age inequality?
- Old age inequality is the result of biology
2. Youth in the underclass
Who argues old age inequality is the result of biology?
Saunders
Who argues youth in the underclass?
Would the new right argue that there is social mobility for all age groups in the contemporary UK?
Yes, I’d you work hard when you’re younger
What are the Marxist and neo Marxist explanations of age inequality?
- The young and the old are part of the reserve army of Labour
- Age inequality legitimises authority
- Black youth
Who argues the young and the old are part of the reserve army of Labour?
Engels
Who argues age inequality legitimises authority?
Gramsci
Althusser
Phillipson
Who argues black youth?
Hall
Gilroy
What does Hall argue?
That the labelling of black youth as nuggets stigmatises black young men as folk devils and diverse attention from the realities of capitalism
Would Marxists argue that there is social mobility for all age groups in the contemporary UK?
No,however it’s not just age it’s age and class
What are the social action theory explanations of age inequality
- The lower market position and status of the elderly and young people
- Labelling theory
Who argues the lower market position and status of the elderly and young people?
Weber
Who argues labelling theory?
Cohen
Would social action theory argue that there is social mobility for all age groups in the contemporary UK?
No
What are the feminist explanations of age inequality?
- The gendered experience of old age and ageism
- The age double standard and cosmeticisation
- The control of social women
Who argued the gendered experience of old age and ageism
Crenshaw
Gender pay gap
Who argues the age double standard and cosmeticisation?
Itzin
Wolf
What does Crenshaw argue?
Ageism is imbedded within society and women experience it in terms of the interplay between gender, race and class
What does Itzin argue?
Women face a double standard because whilst men’s status is directly related to employment, women’s status is linked to their reproductive cycle
What does Wolf suggest?
That older women have to try and retain sexual attractiveness by remanning young in order to be treated as the equals of men
Who argues the social control of women
Heidensohn
McRobbie
Oakley
What does Heidensohn argue?
That women of all ages face greater social controls over their behaviour in the public and private spheres, especially in terms of their roles as wives and mothers
What does Oakley argue?
That differential socialisation teaches girls to care for others and this has a long term impact on women as when in old age they are more likely to be in poverty due to their lifetime of economic dependence on men
What are the postmodernist explanations of age inequality?
- The ageing or greying of the population
2. Positive ageism and the grey pound
Who argues the ageing or greying of the population?
Zombie category - Beck
Who argues positive ageism and the grey pound?
Blaikie
What does Blaikie argue?
That consumer culture is responsible for changing age related stereotypes
