SOC102H1 Chapter Notes -Life Table, Dependency Ratio, Feminist Theory
Document Summary
Ageism all types of prejudice or discrimination against members of society based on an individual"s age, whether old or young. For the good of society and for themselves, elderly people finally give up their positions and withdraw to the edges of society, where they begin to prepare for their eventual death. Retirement is beneficial because it opens up a spot in the workforce, recognizes the retiree"s contribution, and allows out-dated ideas to be replaced by newer one. This is natural and crucial to society"s effectiveness. When elderly people disengage, then, it is often because of other people"s wishes, not their own: different age groups hold different interests, and each competes against the others to enlarge its share of society"s resources. So the young and old have less power and less access to the resources they want: many assumptions about aging lead directly to the financial dependence of elderly people on the rest of society.
