SOC246H1 Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Document Summary
as urbanization drew younger people to the cities, the extended family household was destroyed. as industrialization moved from the household to the factory, parents lost the ability to teach their skills to their children. as mass education increased rates of literacy, the aged were no longer the repositories of wisdom. the veneration of the aged was replaced by a cult of youth. Isolated from their families and pushed out of the labor force, the aged were forced to spend their final days in institutions. In non-western cultures the elderly are often accorded great respect and esteem: e. g. Traditional chinese culture a high value on old age. the veneration of the old is linked to confucian values: the parent should treat the child with nurturance, and the child should treat the parent with absolute obedience.
