Chapter 13 Henslin’s Sociology: A Down To Earth Approach The Elderly Chapter 13 Henslin’s Sociology: A Down To Earth Approach

Aging in Global Perspective How are the elderly treated around the world? No single set of attitudes, beliefs, or policies regarding the aged characterizes the world’s nations. Rather, they vary from exclusion and killing, to integration and honor. The global trend is for more people to live longer.

What does the social construction of aging mean? Nothing in the nature of aging summons forth any particular set of attitudes. Rather, attitudes toward the elderly are rooted in society and differ from one social group to another.

What does the term "graying of America" mean? The phrase graying of America refers to the growing proportion of Americans who reach old age. Since the costs of Social Security and health care for the elderly have become a social issue, sentiment about the elderly seems to be shifting

The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective What factors influence perceptions of aging? Symbolic Interactionists stress that, by itself, reaching any particular age has no meaning. They identify four factors that influence when people label themselves as "old": Biological changes Biographical events Gender age Cultural timetables.

Cross-cultural comparisons… Examples: The traditional Native Americans, Tiwi, and Eskimos—demonstrate the role of culture in determining how individuals experience aging. Ageism, negative reactions to the elderly, is based on stereotypes, which, in turn, are influenced by the mass media

The Functionalist Perspective How is retirement functional for society? Functionalists focus on how the withdrawal of the elderly from positions of responsibility benefits society. Disengagement theory examines retirement as a device for ensuring that a society’s positions of responsibility will be passed smoothly from one generation to the next. Activity theory examines how people adjust when they disengage from productive roles. Continuity theory focuses on how people adjust to growing old by continuing their roles and coping techniques.

The Conflict Perspective Is there conflict among different age groups? Social Security legislation is an example of one generation making demands on another generation for limited resources. As the dependency ratio, the number of workers who support one retired person, drops, workers may become resentful. The Social Security Trust Fund may be a gigantic fraud perpetrated by the power elite on the nation’s elderly. The argument that benefits to the elderly come at the cost of benefits to children is fallacious. Organizations such as the Gray Panthers and the AARP recognize the potential for conflict between age groups.

Problems of Dependency What are some of the problems that today’s elderly face? Women are more likely to live alone and to be poor. At any one time, about 4 percent of the elderly live in nursing homes. Because of widespread abuse, the U.S. Congress passed a bill of rights to protect nursing home residents. The most common abusers of the elderly, however, are members of their own family. Poverty in old age, greatly reduced through government programs, reflects the gender and racial-ethnic patterns of poverty in the general society.

The Sociology of Death and Dying How does culture affect the meaning—and experience—of death and dying? Like old age, death is much more than a biological event. Industrialization, for example, brought modern medicine, hospitals, and the custom of dying in a formal setting surrounded by strangers.

The Dying Process Kübler-Ross identified five stages in the dying process, which, though insightful, do not characterize all people. Hospices are a cultural device designed to overcome the negative aspects of dying in hospitals. Suicide shows distinct patterns by age, sex, and method. It is possible that science will increase the human life span. ******