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SOCIOLOGYRichard T. Schaefer

Stratificationby Age

13

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13. Stratification by Age

• Aging and Society • Explaining the Aging Process • Role Transitions Throughout the Life Co

urse • Age Stratification in the United States • Social Policy and Age Socialization

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Aging and Society

– “Being old” is master status that commonly overshadows all others in U.S.

– Once people labeled “old,” this designation has major impact on how others perceive them and how individuals view themselves

• Age stratification varies from culture to culture

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Aging and Society

– Experience unequal employment treatment

– Share physical characteristics– Membership is involuntary– Strong sense of group solidarity– Generally married to others of

comparable age

• Properties of minority or subordinate groups

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Explaining the Aging Process

• Increase in life expectancy led to referring to people in their 60s as the “young old”

Gerontology: Scientific study of the sociological and psychological aspects of aging and problems of the aged

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Explaining the Aging Process

– Disengagement Theory• Society and aging individuals mutually

sever many of their relationships• Interactionist Approach

– Activity Theory• Elderly persons who remain active and

socially involved are best-adjusted• The Conflict Approach

– Elderly victimized by social structure• Social roles relatively unchanged but devalued

• Functionalist Approach

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Explaining the Aging Process

Table 13-1. Theoretical Perspectives on Aging

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Role Transitions Throughout the Life Course

• Midlife Crisis: A period during which adults realize that they have not achieved basic goals and ambitions and have little time left to do so• The Sandwich Generation– Adults who simultaneously try to

meet the competing needs of their parents and of their own children

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Role Transitions Throughout the Life Course

Figure 13-1. Developmental andTransitional Periods in Adulthood

Source: D. Levinson 1996:18

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Role Transitions Throughout the Life Course

• Adjusting to Retirement– Rite of passage

• Marks critical transition from one phase of a person’s life to another

Pre-retirementNear phaseHoneymoon phaseDisenchantment phaseReorientation phaseStability phaseTermination phase

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Role Transitions Throughout the Life Course

Figure 13-2. Retirement Expectations

Source: AARP 1999

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Role Transitions Throughout the Life Course

• Death and Dying– Kubler-Ross research greatly

encouraged open discussion of the process of dying

– Functionalists see those who are dying as fulfilling distinct social functions.•Hospice care: “Good death” by

improving dying person’s last days• Studies in U.S. suggest people are

breaking through historic taboos about death

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Age Stratification in the United States

• The “Graying of America”– In 1900, 4.1% of the population of the

United States was age 65 or older.– By 2010, 13% of the population of the

United States will be age 65 or older.• Highest proportions of older people in

Florida, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Iowa, West Virginia, and Arkansas

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Age Stratification in the United States

Figure 13-3. Actual andProjected Growth of theElderly Population ofthe United States

Source: Bureau of the Census 1975; 2004a

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Age Stratification in the United States

Figure 13-4. Twenty-Eight Floridas by 2030

Source: Bureau of the Census 2005a

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Age Stratification in the United States

• Wealth and Income– Typical older person has standard of

living higher than in the nation’s past

• Ageism– Prejudice and discrimination based on

a person’s age

• Competition in the Labor Force– Older workers face discrimination in

the labor force

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Age Stratification in the United States

• The Elderly: Emergence of a Collective Consciousness– Awareness of the social power of the

elderly is growing• AARP is third largest volunteer

organization in the U.S.• Formation of organizations for elderly

homosexuals

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Social Policy and Age Socialization

• The Right to Die Worldwide– The Issue

• Physician-assisted suicide one aspect of larger debate in U.S.

•Euthanasia: act of bring about the death of a hopelessly ill and suffering person

• Public opinion on euthanasia divided

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Social Policy and Age Stratification

• The Right to Die Worldwide– The Setting

• Many societies practiced senilicide: killing the old because of extreme difficulties in providing basic necessities

• Public policy in U.S. does not permit active euthanasia

• Greater tolerance for passive euthanasia

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Social Policy and Age Stratification

• The Right to Die Worldwide– Sociological Insights

• Informal norms seem to permit mercy killings

– Conflict theorists ask questions about the values raised by such decisions

– Critics of euthanasia charge supporters of ageism and other forms of bias

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Social Policy and Age Stratification

• The Right to Die Worldwide– Policy Initiatives

• In the industrialized world, euthanasia is widely accepted only in the Netherlands.

• Medical and technological advances cannot provide answers to complex ethical, legal, and political questions.