SOC 201 Lecture Notes - Senescence, Ageism, Old Age
Document Summary
Age: the length of time that a being or thing has lived or been in existence. Aging: the combined biological, psychological, and social effects of growing older. Ageism: discrimination based on perceived or real age. Gerontology: the study of biological, psychological, and social aspects of aging. Social gerontology: the study of the social aspects of aging. More people lived to become part of the elderly population. Young workers were just as skilled as older workers. Old age began to be viewed as a social problem. Pension programs, such as social security in 1935 and medicare in 1965, were part of the social efforts to address aging as a social problem. More elderly may rely on social security. Graying of america elderly is 17% of our population. Life expectancy: age at which half of a given birth group is expected to be living (and half is expected to have died)
