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age theoretical views - Coggle Diagram
age theoretical views
functionalism
- certain age groups have norms & values that could threaten social stability, eg rebellious youth
- focus on society's role of managing these issues, as well as the cause of inequality
parsons (1956) = bridge analogy
- youth is a bridge from childhood to adulthood
- allows mistakes to be made & shows young people how to grow into functional adults
statham (2011)
- some elderly people become less physically able to maintain their roles in society, specifically in the working world
- therefore, new roles are acquired - they have become an invaluable source of free childcare for many families as grandparents
- these new roles lead to further cohesion & solidarity in society
cummings & henry (1961) = disengagement theory
- starts with the idea that all people will die & with ageing, people's abilities are likely to deteriorate
- as this happens, there's a mutual need for individuals to be relieved of some of their responsibilities
- disengagements help to manage possible social instability from the gap created from people leaving their roles
- eg = a retirement age allows a managed disengagement
evaluation
- views always look on the bright side, largely ignoring the negative experience of ageing
- homogeneity assumed is criticised, as not all elderly deteriorate at the same age
marxism
- age inequalities seen as the product of the structure of capitalism
- youth = both an asset & issue to needs of capitalism
- elderly benefit capitalism by providing free childcare, so young & able can work
reserve army of labour
- a necessary part of capitalism
- the unemployed or under-employed are a secondary source of labour, but can also be applied to young & elderly, who can be used at boom times for temporary or flexible labour
- there's a growing market of zero-hour contracts, which are more likely to be taken up by those in reserve (unemployed youth or elderly post-retirement)
political economy theory
- focuses on inequality as meeting the needs of the economy
- phillipson (1982) = places the elderly in a negative position as a burden to the economy
- capitalism needs to continually renew its workforce to ensure greater profit by using young workers which may be more productive
- elderly are therefore institutionally marginalised & this happens through institutionalised dependency
- so inequality faced by elderly meets the needs of capitalism
gramsci
- bourgeoisie maintain authority via creating a false class consciousness where the elderly don't realise they're being exploited
- concessions they receive (pension) means they don't realise their exploitation
weberianism
- to understand someone's social position & the complex nature of inequality, you have to look at class, status & party
- looks at the importance of a person's market situation (members of a social class receiving similar economic rewards), which could be used to explain the low status of both the young & the elderly
- lack skills = suffer low status
parkin (1968)
- some suffer in negatively privileged status groups
- elderly are often socially segregated from high-status privileged groups
turner (1989) = exchange theory
- argues age discrimination is best understood in terms of status
- both the elderly & the young have low status as they lack material resources required to attract status, so are dependent upon others
evaluation
- don't recognise structural causes of inequality eg patriarchy & capitalism
- ignores the institutional ageism that is the basis of many laws & practices
mckingsley
- old age triggers a loss of status
- without a strong market and work situation, there will inevitably be a weakening of status & power
feminism
- looks at the relationship between age & gender & inequality
arber & ginn (1991)
- factors such as age will affect women's power & status
- older women face inequalities that older men don't
itzin (1990)
- women face a double standard
- men's status is directly related to employment, whereas women's is directly linked to their reproductive cycle
- in a patriarchal society, women's status devalues after childbearing age
daly (1979)
- women are made to comply with many global practices eg genital mutilation
- expected to conform to certain physical standards
evaluation
- ignores the fact that females are not a homogenous group & factors such as wealth & social class fragment their life chances
- assuming patriarchy is the cause of inequality may lead to missing the true cause of inequality, eg poverty
postmodernism
- some look at disparity of experience of the elderly, while others actually disagree that old age is a time of inequality highlighting advantages of ageing
- youth inequality is argued to be blamed on the media for the creation of a 'youth culture'
- made up of lots of micro studies
polemus (1997) = youth is a non-homogenous group that shops at the 'supermarket of style', from which they can pick & choose when constructing their identity
laczko & phillipson (1991) = found that inequality faced by some elderly was due to wealth & not ageing itself - consumer culture shows stereotypes of elderly may be changing (grey pound)
globalisation
- as britain becomes more multi-cultural, ageism changes
- some cultures are a gerontocracy, where their age brings the elderly high status
- may mean cause of inequality rests largely on culture & norms and values within a society