SOCIAL ACTION THEORIES Flashcards
Weber - market position.
If someone does not have the skills required in the marketplace, then they will suffer low status e.g. elderly and young.
Parkin - negatively privileged status groups.
The elderly are often kept out of high-status privileged groups due to social segregation.
Havinghurst - Activity Theory
Critique of disengagement theory. Arguing that inequality is more about social interaction than just age.
Statham - grandparents
Research on grandparents providing childcare may mean that continued social interaction may change the inequalities faced by some elderly who are isolated.
Turner - exchange theory
In western societies, both the elderly and the young become stigmatised, resulting in low status
Gernotocracy - Turner.
Where power and status are interlinked, the elderly will have high status. Inequality is not about economic capital but values of a society.
Interactionists - labelling
Negative labelling and stigmatisation of both the elderly and young by the media could be said to create a self fulfilling prophecy.
Victor.
If the elderly are labelled as ‘useless, lonely, dependent’ then perhaps those stereotypes will become a reality.
Cohen - moral panics.
Relevant explanation for the inequality that young people face in the media.
Social Action - criticism
Micro approach - fail to recognise the structural causes of inequality such as patriarchy and capitalism.
Activity theory - criticism.
Ignoring institutional ageism that is the basis of many laws and practices within a society.
Weberian - criticism.
Structuralists would question what conclusions can be drawn from their ideas.
Ray - labelling.
The mental capability and wellbeing of the elderly can be negatively affected by stereotypical labels and ageism.
Ray - criticism.
The Age Concern and Mental Health Foundation inquiry found that older people believed that an improvement in societal attitudes towards the elderly would improve general wellbeing.
