13.1 Who Are the Elderly? Aging in Society

The social study of aging uses population data and cohorts to predict social concerns related to aging populations. In the United States, the population is increasingly older (called  the graying of the United States ), especially due to the baby boomer segment. Global studies on aging reveal a difference in life expectancy between core and peripheral nations as well as a discrepancy in nations preparedness for the challenges of increasing elderly populations.

13.2 The Process of Aging

Old age affects every aspect of human life: biological, social, and psychological. Although medical technology has lengthened life expectancies, it cannot eradicate aging and death. Cultural attitudes shape the way our society views old age and dying, but these attitudes shift and evolve over time.

13.3 Challenges Facing the Elderly

As people enter old age, they face challenges. Ageism, which involves stereotyping and discrimination against the elderly, leads to misconceptions about their abilities. Although elderly poverty has been improving for decades, many older people may be detrimentally affected by the 2008 recession. Some elderly people grow physically frail and, therefore, dependent on caregivers, which increases their risk of elder abuse.

13.4 Theoretical Perspectives on Aging

The three major sociological perspectives inform the theories of aging. Theories in the functionalist perspective focus on the role of elders in terms of the functioning of society as a whole. Theories in the conflict perspective concentrate on how elders, as a group, are at odds with other groups in society. And theories in the symbolic interactionist perspective focus on how elders identities are created through their interactions..

Introduction to Aging and the Elderly

  • supercentenarians: people 110 of age or older
  • centenarians: people 100 years old or older

Section 13.1  Who Are the Elderly? Aging in Society

  • gerontology: a field of science that seeks to understand the process of aging and the challenges encountered as seniors grow older
  • social gerontology: a specialized field of gerontology that examines the social (and sociological) aspects of aging
  • cohort: a group of people who share a statistical or demographic trait
  • life expectancy: the number of years a newborn is expected to live
  • baby boomers: people in the United States born between approximately 1946 and 1964
  • dependency ratio: the number of nonproductive citizens (young, disabled, elderly) to productive working citizens
  • filial piety: deference and respect to one s parents and ancestors in all things

Section 13.2  The Process of Aging

  • life course: the period from birth to death, including a sequence of predictable life events
  • geriatrics: a medical specialty focusing on the elderly
  • primary aging: biological factors such as molecular and cellular changes
  • secondary aging: aging that occurs due to controllable factors like exercise and diet
  • grief: a psychological, emotional, and social response to the feelings of loss that accompanies death or a similar event
  • thanatology: the systematic study of death and dying
  • physician-assisted suicide: the voluntary use of lethal medication provided by a medical doctor to end one s life
  • hospice: healthcare that treats terminally ill people by providing comfort during the dying process

Section 13.3  Challenges Facing the Elderly

  • senescence: the aging process, including biological, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual changes
  • ageism: discrimination based on age
  • gerontocracy: a type of social structure wherein the power is held by a society s oldest members
  • elder abuse: the act of a caretaker intentionally depriving an older person of care or harming the person in their charge

Section 13.4  Theoretical Perspectives on Aging

  • disengagement theory: a theory which suggests that withdrawing from society and social relationships is a natural part of growing old
  • activity theory: a theory which suggests that for individuals to enjoy old age and feel satisfied, they must maintain activities and find a replacement for the statuses and associated roles they have left behind as they aged
  • continuity theory: a theory which states that the elderly make specific choices to maintain consistency in internal (personality structure, beliefs) and external structures (relationships), remaining active and involved throughout their elder years
  • modernization theory: a theory which suggests that the primary cause of the elderly losing power and influence in society are the parallel forces of industrialization and modernization
  • age stratification theory: a theory which states that members of society are stratified by age, just as they are stratified by race, class, and gender
  • exchange theory: a theory which suggests that we experience an increased dependence as we age and must increasingly submit to the will of others, because we have fewer ways of compelling others to submit to us
  • subculture of aging theory: a theory that focuses on the shared community created by the elderly when they are excluded (due to age), voluntarily or involuntarily, from participating in other groups
  • selective optimization with compensation theory: a theory based on the idea that successful personal development throughout the life course and subsequent mastery of the challenges associated with everyday life are based on the components of selection, optimization, and compensation
  • gerotranscendence: the idea that as people age, they transcend limited views of life they held in earlier times

Section 13.1 Who Are the Elderly? Aging in Society

Studying Aging Populations
Phases of Aging: The Young-Old, Middle-Old, and Old-Old
The Graying of the United States
Baby Boomers
Aging around the World

Section 13.2 The Process of Aging

Biological Changes
Social and Psychological Changes
Aging and Sexuality
Death and Dying

Section 13.3 Challenges Facing the Elderly

Poverty
Ageism
Mistreatment and Abuse

Section 13.4 Theoretical Perspectives on Aging

Functionalism
Conflict Perspective
Symbolic Interactionism

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19.1 The Social Construction of Health

Medical sociology is the systematic study of how humans manage issues of health and illness, disease and disorders, and healthcare for both the sick and the healthy. The social construction of health explains how society shapes and is shaped by medical ideas.

19.2 Global Health

Social epidemiology is the study of the causes and distribution of diseases. From a global perspective, the health issues of high-income nations tend toward diseases like cancer as well as those that are linked to obesity, like heart disease, diabetes, and musculoskeletal disorders. Low-income nations are more likely to contend with infectious disease, high infant mortality rates, scarce medical personnel, and inadequate water and sanitation systems.

19.3 Health in the United States

Although people in the United States are generally in good health compared to less developed countries, the United States is still facing challenging issues such as a prevalence of obesity and diabetes. Moreover, people in the United States of historically disadvantaged racial groups, ethnicities, socioeconomic status, and gender experience lower levels of healthcare. Mental health and disability are health issues that are significantly impacted by social norms.

19.4 Comparative Health and Medicine

There are broad, structural differences among the healthcare systems of different countries. In core nations, those differences include publicly funded healthcare, privately funded healthcare, and combinations of both. In peripheral and semi-peripheral countries, a lack of basic healthcare administration can be the defining feature of the system.

19.5 Theoretical Perspectives on Health and Medicine

While the functionalist perspective looks at how health and illness fit into a fully functioning society, the conflict perspective is concerned with how health and illness fit into the oppositional forces in society. The interactionist perspective is concerned with how social interactions construct ideas of health and illness.

Section 19.1  The Social Construction of Health

  • medical sociology: the systematic study of how humans manage issues of health and illness, disease and disorders, and healthcare for both the sick and the healthy
  • stigmatization of illness: illnesses that are discriminated against and whose sufferers are looked down upon or even shunned by society
  • contested illnesses: illnesses that are questioned or considered questionable by some medical professionals

Section 19.2  Global Health

  • social epidemiology: the study of the causes and distribution of diseases

Section 19.3  Health in the United States

  • mortality: the number of deaths in a given time or place
  • morbidity: the incidence of disease
  • medicalization: the process by which aspects of life that were considered bad or deviant are redefined as sickness and needing medical attention to remedy
  • anxiety disorders: feelings of worry and fearfulness that last for months at a time
  • mood disorders: long-term, debilitating illnesses like depression and bipolar disorder
  • personality disorders: disorders that cause people to behave in ways that are seen as abnormal to society but seem normal to them
  • disability: a reduction in one s ability to perform everyday tasks; the World Health Organization notes that this is a social limitation
  • impairment: the physical limitations a less-able person faces
  • stigmatization: the act of spoiling someone's identity; they are labeled as different, discriminated against, and sometimes even shunned due to an illness or disability
  • stereotype interchangeability: stereotypes that don t change and that get recycled for application to a new subordinate group

Section 19.4  Comparative Health and Medicine

  • public healthcare: health insurance that is funded or provided by the government
  • private healthcare: health insurance that a person buys from a private company; private healthcare can either be employer-sponsored or direct-purchase
  • underinsured: people who spend at least 10 percent of their income on healthcare costs that are not covered by insurance
  • individual mandate: a government rule that requires everyone to have insurance coverage or they will have to pay a penalty
  • socialized medicine: when the government owns and runs the entire healthcare system
  • universal healthcare: a system that guarantees healthcare coverage for everyone
  • epidemiology: the study of the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases
  • sick role: the pattern of expectations that define appropriate behavior for the sick and for those who take care of them
  • legitimation: the act of a physician certifying that an illness is genuine
  • commodification: the changing of something not generally thought of as a commodity into something that can be bought and sold in a marketplace
  • medicalization of deviance: the process that changes  bad behavior into  sick behavior
  • demedicalization: the social process that normalizes  sick behavior

Section 19.1 The Social Construction of Health

The Cultural Meaning of Illness
The Social Construction of the Illness Experience
The Social Construction of Medical Knowledge

Section 19.2 Global Health

Health in High-Income Nations
Health in Low-Income Nations

Section 19.3 Health in the United States

Health by Race and Ethnicity
Health by Socioeconomic Status
Health by Gender
Mental Health and Disability
 Mental Health
 Disability

Section 19.4 Comparative Health and Medicine

U.S. Healthcare
Healthcare Elsewhere

Section 19.5 Theoretical Perspectives on Health and Medicine

Functionalism
Conflict Perspective
Symbolic Interactionism

Click Here for Chapter 19.