theories of aging

SOCIAL THEORIES ON AGEING

Arun Paul, MPhil in Social Work

Mahatma Gandhi University

[email protected]

When do we become old? Discussion Topic

• How does a society decide when old age begins?

“We are born with old souls and as we live our souls get younger and that constitutes the comedyof life. We are born with young bodies and our bodies get older and that constitutes the tragedy of life'.”

Social Theories on Aging

• Social theories and concepts about aging are multiple lenses used to better understand how we age.

– Social theories on aging examine the relationship between individual experiences and social institutions e.g., aging and retirement; aging and institutional care; aging and government policy etc.

– All have limitations, and some can be considered more than others when attempting to understand social changes in aging.


Before 1961 60’s-70’s 80’s 90’s -present

Role Disengagement Symbolic Interaction

Social Phenomonology

Activity Continuity Age Stratification

Feminist

Moderinization Social Exchange

Social Justice

Political Economy of Age

Life Course

Social Theories of Aging

• Role Theory: Our place in society– Criticism

• There is great variation in terms of how older persons manage their aging experience.

• Older people are not simply adrift in a sea of anomie, but continue to grow, find meaning, learn and participate.

• Not all cohort members experience a role-less role that persists through aging.


• Role Theory (Rosow):

– The hypothesis: Our roles define who we are, determine our self concept and affect our behavior

– Roles become more vague with aging and therefore there is a decrease in self concept.

– Because people are not socialized to ageing, this results in role loss and uncertainty accompany the aging


• Activity Theory: Engagement (Havinghurst)

– Activity theory is a widely supported opposing theory to disengagement in old age.

– This theory argues that actively engaged older persons have greater life satisfaction• Empirical research has found more support for

activity theory than disengagement theory.


• Activity Theory: Engagement– Life long patterns of interaction, health, personality,

work, influence activity level in aging.– Family, gender, education, sex and occupational

background influence activity level in aging.– Most important is to understand the source of

disengagement i.e., voluntary or involuntary i.e., reversible or irreversible.


• Disengagement Theory (Henry and Cumming)

– Hypothesis is: because of inevitable declines with age, people become decreasingly involved with the outer world and become more interior in anticipation of death.

– One positive is that it sets up the transition of power from old to young.


• Disengagement Theory– Criticism

• This perspective did not explain the variation, creativity and types of activity that many elderly experience during aging.

• It also did not address the severe distress experienced by those elderly forced to withdraw from social contact.


• Continuity Theory– As persons age they maintain a consistent

pattern of behaviors and adapt in ways that are consistent with past behaviors

– Life satisfaction is determined by how consistent current behaviors are with those of one’s lifetime experiences• (Atchley, 1972, Havinghurst, and Tobin, 1968)


• Continuity Theory– The hypothesis is: central personality traits

become more pronounced with age or

they are retained without many changes– People are more likely to age successfully if

they maintain their preferred roles and methods of adapting to life’s changes


• Modernization Theory: An early perspective (Durkeim and Weber)

– Identifies 4 factors that stimulated economic advancement.• Urbanization• Mass education• Technological changes and improvement• Advances in growth in economic production


• Modernization Theory: Loss of power– As a consequence of this advancement the

argument states that in traditional societies elderly played active and vital roles while in modern industrial societies elderly lost position, status and power.

– With post modernism and related social changes other theories are more important in understanding the role of elderly as a group.


• Modernization Theory: Loss of power– Modernization has resulted in a decline in

small, socially cohesive, traditional communities.

– Individualization vs group support weakens the position of elderly.

– Modernization stimulates diversification in beliefs.


• Modernization Theory: Limitations– Most useful in understanding a specific time period

during which societal beliefs about production of goods and family participation in the distribution of income changed thus shifting the role that elders played in maintaining and supporting the family and society’s economic vitality. Atchley (1993) contends that Modernization Theory is most useful in understanding social change prior to WWII.

Role, Activity, Modernization, Disengagement, Continuity: Which apply?

• Mrs. Marta Rau came to the US in the early 1920’s with her family. She was a midwife in eastern Germany and came from a middle class family. Her father was a doctor and mother a school teacher. Establishing a livelihood was difficult in the US for her husband. He went to work in the copper mines of northern Minnesota and she worked as a midwife while raising the 6 children and a small farm. Although she had studied nursing in her homeland and was a bright woman the fact that her English was “broken” and that their income in the US was small, she struggled socially and economically. As an older woman, she came to live with her daughter and son who ran a family grocery. Marta helped in the store, cooked and helped with her grandchildren. She maintained a strong sense of her ethnicity and taught her children to speak German and Polish. However, she felt angry and frustrated with the small community where she lived because there were social circles she could never enter. Her entire focus became her daughter’s family and business. She worked long hours and enjoyed stocking shelves and cleaning. Although she was proud to be an American, she never felt that the younger members of the village acknowleged her as an American and that they were rude, without taste and too modern. Even now, she continues to work in the store, but has become increasingly angry at the people areound her and will not even talk to customers who go to the store. She has become more traditional in her values of her culture of origin and also more isolated. She had always been vivacious.


• Symbolic Interactionism– Hypothesis is: interactions of factors like

environment, relationship with others can affect how people experience aging.

– Emphasis is on reciprocity with the social and physical world as a measure of how we age.

– Self concept is affected by how people interact within their social world i.e., define us and react to us.• Can you give a case example of the above theory?


• Age Stratification Theory– This is a move away from the individual with a

focus on understanding groups of older persons

– Examination of the relationship between older people and historical events in their lives.• Focus on structural, demographic and historical

characteristics tell us how different age groups respond to social change.


• Social Exchange Theory– Hypothesis is: individual status is defined by the

balance between the contributions that people make to society and the costs to support them.

– Variables that impact what society defines as “contribution” are affected by age, gender, social class, education and ethnicity.• Can you given a case example of the above theory?


• Political Economy of Age– Hypothesis is: Social class and the economic

infrastructure detrermine one’s access to resources.

– The dominant group in a society tries to hold on to their position by perpetuating inequalities.

– Lack of social infrastructure support for elderly of lower social economic status.• Can you think of a case example that reflects the

above theoritcal perspective on aging?


• Life Course – The hypothesis is: The aging experience is

shaped by multiple, complex forces i.e., history, cultural meanings, socio economic status, cohort group, social contexts.

– There is a diversity of role and role changes across the life span which are very dynamic and multidirectional.

– From beginning to end of life we develop and change.


• Social Phenominology and Social Constructionists– The hypothesis is: Each one of us construct

our own social experience and reality.– Thus the “reality” of aging is subject to

change in definition depending on who is doing the defining.• Give an example of the above theory as it pertains

to an individual older person’s experience of life.


• Feminist Perspective– The hypothesis is: The experiences of women are often

ignored in understanding the human condition.– Research that supports womens’ experience in aging

especially those conditions which have the greatest impact on the lives of women.• Why is the feminist perspective important as a social theory of

aging?


• Social Justice Theory: An alternative– Identifies the type of support elderly are entitled to by

virtue of their contribution related sacrifices/responsibilities made on behalf of society.

– Argues that the process of modernization cost the elderly as a social category and that programs developed to return their status to them are based on social justice theory.• What are some examples of social policy in aging

that is based on the social justice theoretical perspective?


• Social Justice Theory: An alternative– This perspectives offers a more pragmatic

explanation of how older people were identified as a social category needing support and assistance.

– Social Justice Theory (“just due” theory) • Does not focus on what elderly contribute or the

position they hold.• Focus is on the contribution that elderly have made

to society over a lifetime.

Social Theories on Ageing

• Sick Role Theory (Parsons)

– Sick Role-Medical Term=the social aspects of falling ill and the privileges and obligations that accompany it

– HYPOTHESIS: the individual who has fallen ill is not only physically sick, but now adheres to the specifically patterned social role of being sick.

Social Theories

• Sick Role Theory– two rights of a sick person and two obligations

• Rights: – The sick person is exempt from normal social

roles – The sick person is not responsible for their

condition

Social Theories

• Sick Role Theory• Obligations:

– The sick person should try to get well – The sick person should seek technically

competent help and cooperate with the medical professional

Social Theories

• Labeling Theory (Howard S. Becker)

– that deviance is not inherent to an act,– but instead focuses on the linguistic tendency

of majorities to negatively label minorities or those seen as deviant from norms. The theory is concerned with how the self-identity and behavior of individuals may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them

Discussion

theories of aging

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