explaining age inequaltities Flashcards
functionalist - parsons 1977
organic analogy - certain age groups have values that threaten social stability
- youth is a time for growing up for adult roles
- the behaviour of youths is seen as dysfunctional, deviant
- elderly become less physically able to maintain roles
functionalist - cummings and henry 1961 disengagement theory
- aging comes with deterioration of abilities, responsiblities and roles are relieved
- the gap must be folled to maintain social stability
- retirement age maintains this stability
functionalist evaluation
- assumption of homogeneity
- ignoring negative experience of aging
- not all youth are guided by socialisation
- not all elderly abilities deteriorate
feminism - arber and ginn 1999
age affects power and status
feminism - itzin 1990 double standards
- mens status is related to employment while womens are related to reprodution
- older women therefore have lwoer ststaus regardless of wealth
- cosmeticisation: fighting visible aging
feminism evaluation
- missing true cause of inequality
- females are not a homogenous group
- males go through cosmeticisation
- cosmeticisation is not a forced process
weberian - class
those who share a market situation and life chances
- elderly do not have the required skills with technology
- upper class elderly continue to live a comfortable life
weberian - parkin 1968 negatively privileged groups
ethnic minorities are segregated through racism and ageism
- they are kept out of high paid jobs
- elderly are socially segregated in the media through invisibility and bad connotations
weberian - turner 1989 exchange theory
age discrimination is understood in terms of status
- elderly and youth have low status due to lack of material resources to attract status
interactionism - labelling
negative labelling and stigmatisation of elderly and youth leads to self fulfilling prophecy
EG cohen - moral panics
postmodernism - elderly
disparity of experience
highlighting advantages of aging
postmodernism - youth
blame media of creation of folk devils
non homogeneous group
postmodernism - old age is a positive time
laczko and phillipson 1991 - inequality is based on wealth
featherstone and hepworth 1993 - traditional explanations of age focus on imaginary boundaries of age
blaikie 1999 - fourth age filled with leisure based pursuits
postmodernism - the mask of old age powell 2001
behind apperance of aging are the same thoughts as youth
- inequalities have more to do with labelling
- soe continually re create themselves
postmodernism - globalisation
- britain is becoming more multicultural and age means different things
- gerontocracy bring the elderly high status
