Module 1 Flashcards
What is gerontology?
The scientific study of old age and the problems that come with it etc. Also looks at the social processes and policy of aging.
What can gerontologists help us to do?
Understand our population and how the specific segment of older age groups fits with the others. Helps us understand that age happens throughout life.
What is the life course perpsective?
Considers timing, order, and sequence of life events. The interplay between individuals, cohorts, and social structures. Helps bridge both micro/macro perspectives. Life unfolds in a social, historical, and cultural context.
What is the idea of the sociological imagination?
The idea that exploring inequality requires us to look beyond the individual and talk about social shaping (structure). Link between personal struggles and larger scale issues. Societal organization and agency.
What are social structures?
Recurring patterns of social interaction through which people are related to each other (institutions or social groups). Product of human action and interaction, asks how much agency do we really have?
What is the relationship between agency and structure?
Both can exist at the same time, Agency and structure influence each other bidirectionally. Personal problems and public dimensions.
What is lifespan?
The fixed, finite, maximum limit for survival of a species.
What is life expectancy?
The average number of years a person can expect to live at birth or any other age.
Who was the oldest person ever and how old was she?
Madame Jeanne Calment, aged 122 (SUPER CENTARIAN)
What are some examples of how life expectancy varies based on gender, culture, geographic region, race, education, habits, cohorts etc?
For Indigenous peoples, LE is around 78 for women and 73 for men. With homeless populations LE is around 34-47 years.
At what point will the lifespan become unfixed?
When somebody passes Mme Clement (122 + 64 days(
What age group is the young-old age category?
65-74
What age group is the old-old age category?
75-84
What age group is the oldest age category?
80 or 85+
When will Canada have rapid ageing until, and why will this happen?
2031, this is when the last of the baby boomers will hit age 65+.
What accounts for the greatest change in the age of the population?
The Baby Boom (1946-64)
What are the 3 causes of population aging?
1) Mortality rate decrease
2) Fertility rate decrease
3) Migration
What is mortality rate, and what is the mortality rate decrease?
The number of deaths per 1000 people in a population. If LE grows, then mortality rate decreases. LE increases due to sanitation, healthcare, and a drop in infant mortality.
What is fertility rate, and what is the fertility rate decrease?
Average number of births per woman during their normal childbearing years (14-49). The replacement rate to maintain a stable population is 2.1 births per woman, and Canada’s has been below that since 1971. Number of babies being born not enough for current pop to replace itself.