THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCT OF AGING:
Age and how people of a certain age are treated is a socially constructed belief that is different for every society.

EXAMPLES THAT DEMONSTRATE:
Tiwi tribe off the coast of Australia- they "cover up" their female elderly. Elder males make the decision

GERONTOCRACY: A society (or some other group) run by the elderly

Abkhasians of Georgia (Russia)- they have one of the longest life spans on the planet 100 + years and people their continue to be active members of their society.

Eskimo- Aging members do a voluntary death (put themselves on an iceflow) or leave their tribe, because they are not able to pull their own weight.

THE GRAYING OF THE GLOBE:
Industrialization across the globe has caused for our world population to live longer lifespans. In short- people are living longer due to better conditions of living.

Chart on page 363

LIFE EXPECTANCY: The number of years that an aver person at any agae, including newborns, can expect to live

GRAYING OF AMERICA: Refers to the growing percentage of older people in the U.S. population

LIFE SPAN: The maximum length of life of a species; for humans, the longest that a human has ever lived.

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE:
How does your culture tell you that you are a certain age?

FOUR ASPECTS OF AGING THROUGH SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST:

BIOLOGY/PHYSICAL: Signs of old aging: wrinkles, baldling, aches and pains. However, these occur at different times for different poeple.

PERSONAL HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY: Life events that have an impact on the self-concept.

GENDER AGE: The relative value placed on men's and women's age.

TIMETABLES: The age at which your society/culture labels you as entering "old age"

AGEISM: Prejudice, discrimination, and hostility directed against people because of their age; can be directed against any age group, including youth.

THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE: Analyzing how parts of society work together.

AGE COHORT: People born at roughly the same time who pass through the life course together

To help understand the functionalist perspective on aging we will look at three theories of retirment:

DISENGAGEMENT THOERY: The view that society prevents the disruption by having the elderly vacate (or disengage from) their positions of responsibility so the younger generation can step into their shoes.

ACTIVITY THEORY: The view that satisfaction during old age is related to a person's amount and quality of activity

CONTINUITY THEORY: The focus of this theory is how people adjust to retirement by continuing aspects of their earlier lives.

THE CONFLICT PERPESCTIVE: The idea that power and competition the main aspect of culture. This can be seen when looking at the aging population.

Examples:
Social Security- it was formed because their were competing interests groups for the resources of the jobs.

Intergenerational Conflict: The young saying the the elderly are taking too many resources (Social Security and Medicare)


DEPENDENCY RATIO: The number of workers required to support each dependent person- those 65 and older and those 15 and younger.

Isolation & Gender: The elderly are as isolated as people believe (as a whole). Women experience the isolation of widowhood because they live longer.

Nursing Homes: Understaffed, Dehumanization and Death- Reference book for more information.

Elder Abuse: It takes many forms- physical, mental, neglect.

Elderly & Poverty: Elderly people no longer income in the same way they did when they were working- Social Security, Retirement, Savings...

LANGUAGE OF DEATH: Linguistics show that we avoid the use of the word "death" and dying"

INDUSTRIALIZATION OF DEATH: Removed death/dying from our homes and made is a business

PROCESS OF DYING: The coping process of knowing you are going to die.
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Negotiation
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

ADJUSTING TO DEATH: When death is expected it is easily adjusted to, when it is sudden it is harder.