Midterm Flashcards
Social Structure
A relatively stable pattern of social interactions
Gerontology
The discipline that systematically studies aging
Prejudice
Being biased against someone or something; a negative judgement formed beforehand without knowledge of the facts.
Discrimination
Unfair treatment of a person or group based on prejudice
Stereotypes
An exaggerated and often prejudiced view of a type of person or group of people
Elderspeak
Simplified speech like baby talk that some people use when they speak to older people; it stems from stereotyping older people as slow-witted
Ageism
Prejudice against older people
Anti-Aging Industry
The multibillion dollar worldwide market for products that claim to reduce or reverse the effects of aging.
Intergenerational Equity
A call for balanced support of older and younger people through public policy and public expenditures
Society For All Ages
Promotes the well being and contributions of older people in all aspects of life, recognizes their valuable contributions, and reflects the goals of elimination of ageism of all sectors; a society for all ages has five core principles: dignity, independence, participation, fairness and security.
Social Gerontology
A subfield within the wider field of gerontology; it focuses on the social side of aging, while other subfields study the physical and biological aspects of aging.
Micro Level Theories
Focus on individuals and their interactions; they are used to explain phoneme such as the relationship between adult children and their parents, changes in memory with age, and the effect of negative attitudes on older people’s self-esteem.
Macro Level Theories
Examine social structures or structural elements as they influence experiences and behaviours
Interpretive Perspective
Focuses almost exclusively on the micro level of social life; it looks at how people define situations, how they create social order, and how they relate to one another in daily life.
Functionalist Perspective
Holds that social order is based on consensus, cooperation, and shared norms and values, and that all parts of society serve a role or function to keep society in a state of balance or equilibrium; structural functionalism predicts that when social change, society will attempt to create an orderly transition to a new, stable state.
Positivist Worldview
Based on the belief that knowledge is built by studying observable facts and their relationship to one another.
Age Stratification Theory
Focuses on the movement of age cohorts over the life course and on “the role of social structures in the process of individual aging and the stratification by age in the society”
Age Cohort
A group of people born in the same period of time
Age Grades
A concept used in age stratification theory to describe periods of life defined by society, such as childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.
Life Course Perspective
A functionalist approach that bridges the micro and macro levels of analysis by incorporating social interaction and social structure within its framework; begins with the idea that life unfolds from birth to death in a social, cultural, and historical context; looks at the impact of social institutions, historical periods and events, personal biography, life cycle stage, life events and resources on the older person
Transitions
Changes in social status or social roles
Trajectories
Long term patterns of stability and change that often include many transitions
Non Normative Events
Unexpected events such as illness, layoffs and accidents
Normative History Graded Events
Shape the lives of many age cohorts, such as The Great Depression of the 1930s or World War 2
Normative Age Graded Events
Socially sanctioned events that occur most often at a certain age, like marriage or retirement
Age Status A-synchronization
Someone for whom major life events come early or late- a teenaged mother or a newlywed octogenarian- may feel out of sync with the age status system in Canada
Conflict Perspective
Holds that society consists of conflicts between dominant and subordinate social groups
Political Economy Theory
Focuses on conflict and change in social life; it traces this conflict to the struggle between social classes and to the resulting dominance of some groups in society and the subordination of others.
Interlocking Systems of Oppression
Macro levels connections linking systems of oppression such as race, class and gender
Cumulative Advantage & Disadvantage Theory
Says that advantages and disadvantages earlier in life accumulate and are magnified over the life course
Feminist Approaches
View gender as a defining characteristic in social interaction and life experiences, as well as in the process and experience of aging; gender is seen as socially constructed, with men being more advantaged than women in society
Narrative Gerontology
Seeks to understand the “inside” of aging by examining the narratives or life stories that people tell in order to organize and make sense of their lives, and their experiences of aging
Moral Economy Theory
Focuses on shared values and social norms that shape popular beliefs in the legitimacy of certain practices and policies; this theory complements political economy theory
Critical Gerontology
Theoretical approach that look “within” theory and research to critically examine and question the underlying and “taken for granted” assumptions about aging.
Post Modern Theory
Contrasts contemporary society with society in the recent past. For example, older people today can take on many roles in retirement, whereas in the past they had limited options after they retired.
Age Effects
On a person’s life are related to a physical decline or change due to the aging process
Period or Environmental Effects
On a person’s life are due to the time of measurement; this would include historical, social, or environmental effects, such as ongoing war, changes in health habits, or changes in healthcare policies that have different influences on different age cohorts.
Cohort Effects
Related to the time of the person’s birth
Cross Sectional Research Design
Studies people from many age groups at one point in time.
Longitudinal Research Design
Looks at a single group of people at two or more points in time
Time Lag Comparison Design
Examines different groups of people of the same age at different points in time
Sequential Design
Researchers look at a series of cross sectional studies during a longitudinal study.
Evidence Based Practice
Promotes the use of research findings in the delivery of services to older people.
Population Aging
Demographers, experts who study population change, use at least three measures of population aging: (1) The number of older people in a population,(2) The median age of a population, (3) The proportion of older people in a population
More Developed Regions
Following the UN classification, more developed countries comprise of all Europe and North America, plus Australia, Japan and New Zealand
Less Developed Regions
Developing regions and countries are classified as less developed
Least Developed Regions
Consist of 49 countries with especially low incomes, high economic vulnerability and poor human development indicators.
Birth Rate
The number of live births per 1,000 women in a population
Fertility Rate
The average number of children that would be born alive to a woman during her lifetime if she were to pass through all of her childbearing years conforming to the age specific fertility rates of a given year
Median Age
Half the population is older and half is younger than the median age.
Death Rate
The number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population
Infant Mortality Rate
The death rate of children less than one year old
Demographic Transition
Occurs when a population changes from a high birth rate/high death rate condition to a low birth rate/low death rate condition.
Baby Boom
The sharp rise in the fertility rate in Canada from about 1946 to the early 1960s.
Baby Bust
The sharp drop in the fertility rate from the mid 1960s on
Age Specific Birth Rate
The number of births in a given age group per 1,000 women in that age group.
Prospective Aging
Allows demographers to compare populations with different life expectancies, and to compare one society at different points in time as life expectancy increases; one measure of prospective aging uses a number of years of remaining life expectancy as the start of old age.
Old Age Security Pension
Canada’s basic retirement income program, which supplements the income of nearly all of the country’s older people
Guaranteed Income Supplement
An income supplement program for the poorest older people
Allowance
An income supplement program for spouses
Apocalyptic Demography
The use of demographic facts to project the high cost of an aging population and predict that population aging will lead to economic and social crisis
Crude Dependency Rate
Are based solely on the number of people in each age group
Overall Dependency Ratio (Or Rate)
The combined total number of people age 19 and under and people age 65 and over divided by the number of people age 20 to 64
Elderly Dependency Ratio
The number of people age 65 and over divided by the population age 20 to 64
Youth Dependency Ratio
The number of people age 0 to 19 divided by the population age 20 to 64
Demographic Determinism
The assumption that population dynamics determine the future of social relations and social institutions.
Ethnicity
Variously defined as country of birth, birthplaces of ancestors, cultural heritage or self identification with an ethnocultural group
Minority Groups
In Canada, those ethnocultural groups that have not originated in Northern and Western European countries
Visible Minority
Non European in origin and/or not white in skin tone; curiously, Canada’s official definition of visible minority excludes the Indigenous population
Culture
Shared language, beliefs, values, customs and practices
Multiple Jeopardy Theory
The hypothesis that there is a compounding of disadvantages associated with age, race, ethnicity and gender
Buffering Theory
Holds that a culture that values seniors and provides meaningful roles for them tends to protect them to a degree from losses and social devaluation in later life.
Life Course Perspective
Begins with the idea that life unfolds from birth to death in a social, cultural, and historical context; this perspective looks at the impact of social institutions, historical periods and events, personal biography, life cycle stage, life events and resources on the minority older person.
Filial Piety
The culturally defined obligation, highly valued in Asian cultures, of adult children to their aging parents, requiring adult children to support their parents in their old age.
Cultural Enclaves
Areas in a city or region where particular ethnocultural groups tend to congregate geographically and socially.
Institutional Completeness
The presence in a community of a wide range of economic, social and religious institutions, including the availability of services, agencies and programs
Gentrification
In migration into older urban neighbourhoods by new (often wealthy residents) that tends to drive up property values and displace former residents.
Maximum Life Span
The maximum number of yers a member of a species can live
Life Expectancy
The number of years at birth an average member of a population can expect to live
Chronic Health Problems
Long term illnesses such as arthritis, rheumatism, hypertension, diabetes and heart disease
Epidemiological Transition
The transition a society makes when it moves from a high rate of acute illness to a high rate of chronic illness; Canada has made this transition.
Activities of Daily Living
Activities performed daily, such as bathing, moving from a bed or chair, dressing, getting to and using the toilet, eating or walking.
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living
Home management activities such as using the phone, cooking, shopping, managing finances and doing light housework.
Hypokinesia
Physical problems due to lack of movement
Disability Free Life Expectancy
The years of life remaining that are free of any disability
Dependence Free Life Expectancy
The number of years of remaining life that a person will live in a state free of dependence on others for daily tasks
Compression Of Morbidity Hypothesis
The idea that severe chronic illness would occur for a short time near the end of life
Rectangularization or Squaring Of The Survival Curve
The change over time in survival curves resulting in a right angle or square shape, leading researchers to conclude that a finite life span exists.
Successful Aging
Characterized by a low chance of disease and disability, high mental and physical functioning, active engagement in social relations and productive activity
Selective Optimization with Compensation
Those who age successfully use the SOC method: They select activities that optimize their ability, and when they can no longer engage in an activity, they compensate for losses by setting new priorities.
Functional Disability
A limitation in the performance of normal daily activities due to illness or injury.
Narrative Gerontology
Looks at the larger patterns & trends using statistical data. Qualitative work. Stories and making sense of what it is like to grow old
Critical Gerontology
The role of critical gerontology is to cast a critical eye on society and the field of gerontology itself.
Paradigm
Family’s of theories
Age Cohort
Group of people born around the same time
Age Grades
Socially constructed term. Adolescence/Young adulthood or older adults, youths. Term for certain age groups.
Social Policy
Where our public administrations are engaged in actions that impact the health and well being of people
Policy
Set of principles, protocols, prevalent in organizations
Ageism
Prejudice against older people
Gerontology
A discipline that systematically studies aging
Life Span Development
Refers to the idea that what happens early in life will affect you later in life
Agency
Your ability to make choices and have control over your life
Timing & Social Location
When events happen to you it will have an impact on you
Linked Lives
Interconnections that we have with people
Ethnicity
Culture, race, religion, the country you came from
Culture
Norms, beliefs, values, traditions
Multiple Jeopardy Theory
If you are a visible minority, then you have a number of challenges ahead of you. Characteristics that cause discrimination against you
Buffering Theory
The idea that if you have family support then you will be able to buffer those discrimination or problems that you would have
The Life Course Perspective
Looks at differences between and within a minority group, cultural subgroups, and age cohorts among minority groups.
