MARXIST VIEWS ON CHANGES TO OLD PEOPLE

Question 1

Discuss marxists view on older people?

Answer 1

• Older people today have been regarded far more as a burden on society this is due to what marxists call structured dependency
• In an industrial capitalist society,older people are not of any productive use as they cannot contribute towards the labour market
• Leads to them being perceived as dispensable because they are no longer of use to society

Question 2

How has era of late postmodernity lead to changes in treatment of old people

Answer 2

• More common for older people to continue to be economically active.
• Due to changes to the economy,industrialisation and rise of service economy means that people can work beyond retirement
• Rise in individualism means that older people are no longer expected to conform to a specific image just because of their age
• There is a range of products and services which older people are able to access which enables them to shape their identity as they choose EG-surgery
• People today are able to stay ‘younger’ for longer, something which could potentially have a benefit on both individuals and on society as a whole

Question 3

Why do marxists believe inequalities continue to exist between older people

Answer 3

• Class inequalities exists between older people with people,e of the w/c background being more likely to suffer from health conditions after retirement.Particularly w/c men as worked in physical demanding jobs
• Gender inequalities with older women being subjected to discrimination and poor treatment when they are older
• Feminsts note that society has a tendency to objectify women and value them for their looks.Older women who are no longer regarded as ‘pleasing to the eye’ will often find themselves overlooked for things such as work

Question 4

Why do marxists believe older people suffer discrimination

Answer 4

• older people are more likely than younger people to suffer discrimination
• Older people who want to remain economically active, often find themselves overlooked for employment opportunities due to their age.This is a problem as the government raise the retirement age, people still need finance in their lives
• Older people are also discriminated against financially eg-insurance policies for houses etc
• Social discrimination with elderly people being at risk of being targeted by criminals due to being regarded as vulnerable and easy targets

Question 5

Why do marxists argue older people suffer mistreatment by public services?

Answer 5

• Rsearch carried out into hospital treatment of elderly patients found that in some cases, patients have a ‘do not resuscitate’ orders added to their medical notes without families consent.So if they went to cardiac arrest during hospital say medics would not try to save them->discrimination based on age
• Elderly patients are often denied access to certain treatments eg-heart surgery