unit 1A - topic 10 - age identities Flashcards
define age identity
how you see yourself and how others see you based on your age, and the cultural expectations attached to it
social construction 🏗
differ according to time, place, culture
Jennifer HOCKEY 🏑 and Alison🎵 JAMES 1993
older generation INFANTILISED 👶
Spoken to differently, others (family) control their lives: role reversal as children care for parents
ESPECIALLY IN CARE HOMES 🏡
Some rejected 🙅♀️, but most internalised it, self fulfilling prophecy: LEARNED HELPLESSNESS 😦
Arber and Ginn
older generations CONTRIBUTE significantly to ECONOMY: UNPAID WORK
— caring for grandkids 👦 ☺️
— volunteering 🙋 for charities
— loans, emotional + practical support 🏠
STILL PLAY ESSENTIAL ROLE IN SOCIETY
Roberts (age)
government policies influence our view of age.
changes to law PROLONG youth’s dependence on parents, cannot achieve full ‘adulthood’
e.g. school 🏫 age increased. housing/unemployment benefits 💰 unavailable to under 18s.
‘lengthy transition’ to adulthood
Goffman (age)
‘stigma’ — ppl see themselves negatively ☹️ when others have a perception of them (age-based)
MASTER STATUS - identity that transcends all other aspects of identity, defining characteristic by which someone is judged.
e.g. ageism: youth used as scapegoat for society’s problems, labelled ‘snowflakes’ or ‘yobs’
—> individuals may gain master status and internalise any stigma
postmodernism on age identities
more CHOICE on how to display age identity. pic n mix 🍬
—> e.g. young people knit 🧶, old people may shed ‘mask of the old’
Mike FEATHERSTONE + HEPWORTH 1989
Old ppl 🧓 expected to conform to STEREOTYPES of old e.g. retirement, decreasing activity 😴.
increasing 📈 number of people defy this and choose lively activities (exotic holidays etc).
Depends on CONSUMER POWER: middle class can do this, working class can’t and suffer poverty and limitations 🚫💰
Philipson et al 2000
SHIFT in old people’s community.
Family —> personal communities in friends 👯♀️ and media 📱
- many named friends and neighbours as ppl they were close to
- media strong influence as they watch TV a lot 📺
Old ppl still active, but within a NARROWER SOCIAL WORLD
Unpaid work - helps society, reinforces self worth 🫡
OLD AGE CAN B A TIME OF OPPORTUNITY 😆
Berry 🍓🫐
DIGITAL DIVIDE in age.
— only 8% over 55 have profile page 📱🙋
— only 1/4 of over 60s had bought something online 💻💳
FOUR factors impacting internet usage: CUSP
- COST 💸
- UNINTERESTED 😐
- SKILL LACK 🤷❓
- PHYSICAL DISABILITY 🤚😖
OLDER PPL MARGINALISED BC OF DIGITAL DIVIDE?
cult of youth
phenomenon in western societies since 80s — increasing obsession w being youthful
old age pitied 😕
beauty products advertised as “age defying” 💄
MUST PRESERVE YOUTH as if more precious than gold ⚱️🥇⭐️
Gannon (age)
women DOUBLY DISADVANTAGED in age, bc of patriarchy
declining 📉 status: no longer physically attractive 💄 (cult of youth?), can’t produce children 🧒
Marxism on age
YOUTH R EXPLOITED
—> zero hour, minimum wage jobs. e.g. esti still has to buy lunch even with her extremely low wages 🙄
—> old ppl have accumulated wealth but young people cant get on property ladder 🪜
Age identity of youth made harder by CAPITALISM 😕
