GROUP 1

ABAD, ALYSSA MARIE M.

ABANIS, MARITES B.
BALAIS, GLENN D.
BATIANSILA, JANETH M.
BELLO, JEAN

THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE SOCIETY

The relation between individual and society is very close. Essentially, “society”
is the regularities, customs and ground rules of antihuman behavior. These practices are
tremendously important to know how humans act and interact with each
other. Society does not exist independently without individual.

1.1 COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

1. NON-MATERIAL CULTURE
• Values
• Beliefs
• Symbols
• Language

2. MATERIAL CULTURE
• Artifacts

Symbols

• Anything that represents something else

• It is through symbols that culture is created
• It is able to be communicated to group members & future generations

Language
 • One of the most obvious aspects of culture
• Written or spoken symbols that are organized in standardized system
• Can be used to express any idea

Values

• Values held by a group help determine the character of its people

• Shared beliefs about what is good or bad, wrong or right, desirable & undesirable
• Determines the material and non-material culture they create

Norms

• Enforce cultural values

• Shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in situations
• Norms are expectations for behavior, not actual behavior

Artifacts

• Material objects
• In the simplest societies, artifacts are largely limited to a few tools
• Artifacts are much more numerous and complex in industrial societies

References:

https://open.lib.umn.edu

https://www.haikudeck.com
ABANIS, MARITES B.

1.2 CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Definitions:

– the existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within a society.

– is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the

global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, skin to cultural decay. The
phrase cultural diversity can also refer to having different cultures respect each
other’s differences. The phrase “cultural diversity” is also sometimes used to
mean the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the
world as a whole. Globalization is often said to have a negative effect on the
world’s cultural diversity.

– is a form of appreciating the differences in individuasl. The differences can be

based on gender, age, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and social status.

– also known as multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is the view that cultures, races,

and ethnicities, particularly those of minority groups, deserve special
acknowledgement of their differences within a dominant political culture
(Encyclopedia Britanica).

– is about appreciating that society is made up of many different groups with

different interests, skills, talents and needs. It also means that you recognize that
people in society can have differing religious beliefs and sexual orientations to
you.

The importance of cultural diversity can be interpreted on the basis of these related
actions:

• Recognizing that there is a large amount of cultures that exists

• Respecting each other’s differences
• Acknowledging that all cultural expressions are valid
• Valuing what cultures have to bring to the table
• Empowering diverse groups to contribute
• Celebrating differences, not just tolerating them
Some examples of cultural diversity:

• In a Workplace: Having multilingual team, having a diverse range of ages

working together, having policies that are vocally against discrimination, etc.
• In a School Setting: Having students from all over the world (at the
university of the people), being accepting of all religious practices and
traditions that students part take in, supporting students to share their
cultures with one another, etc.

The Importance of Cultural Diversity

Cultural diversity is important in every setting in life, but it can be even more pivotal when
it happens within education. Students around the world have the right to equal access of
quality education, and as such, there are many upsides that come along with it when
institutions believe in the power of diversity.

Cultural diversity in education helps to support:

1. Deep Learning
Learning happens within the curriculum and outside of it. With a diverse
student population, students have the privilege of gaining more
understanding about people and backgrounds from all over. This also
contributes to diversity of thought and perspectives that make learning more
interesting and dynamic.
2. Confidence and Growth
When students participate with people from varied cultures, it provides them
with one more confidence in dealing with things outside of their comfort
zones. It can build strength of character, pride, and confidence.
3. Preparation for the Future
If a workplace has done the necessary work, it’s bound to culturally diverse.
Attending a culturally diverse institute of education will prepare students for
their future in a workplace.
4. More Empathy
Interacting with people who have diverse practices, beliefs, life experiences,
and culture promotes empathy. While you can never fully understand
someone’s life without being them, you can learn, listen, and understand.
Benefits of Cultural Diversity
The world is naturally multicultural. Approaching cultural diversity with a mindset
and actions that embrace this fact leads to many benefits, like:
• Compassion:
Communication and understanding of differences leads to increased
compassion instead of judgment.

• Innovation:
Varied perspectives and lens of looking of the world lend to innovative
thinking.
• Productivity:
People who come together and bring their own style of working together
tend to support a more productive team.
• New Opportunities:
The diversity opens the door to new opportunities and the blending of ideas
which would otherwise have been homogeneous.
• Problem-Solving:
Challenges are layered, so having people with different backgrounds can
lead to better problem-solving with richness of opinions.

How to Support Cultural Diversity

Individuals and institutions alike have the agency to support cultural diversity. If
you’re unsure how you can take action to do so, consider these ideas:
• Interact with people outside of your culture
• Be open-minded to listen and let go of judgment
• If you see anyone who is being culturally insensitive, speak out against it
• Accept that differences are beneficial and not harmful
• Don’t force your beliefs on people with opposing views
• Advocate to hire people or work with people who are not within your same
culture
• Travel the world as much as you can to take part in cultures and understand
them from the source
• Read literature and learn from different cultures
• Absorb media and art from around the world
• Learn a new language and communicate in a friend’s native language rather
than your own

References:
• https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/what-is-cultural-diversity
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_diversity
• https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en
• https://young.scot/get-informed/national/what-is-cultural-diversity
Glenn D. Balais BSED FILIPINO 4-8
1700039
TF 9:00 – 10:30 am

Module 1: The Individual in the Society; Culture

1.3 Socialization

• The lifelong process through which humans learns all of the knowledge,
skills and attitudes needed to survive and function in society.

Components of Socialization

Primary Socialization
The process of learning how to Function in society at the most basic level.
❖ i.e. learning language, eating, hygiene, dealing with emotions and learning to
behave as a male or a female.

Secondary Socialization
The process of learning how to function in group situations
❖ i.e. in school, church, and other large social group.

Anticipatory Socialization
The process of learning how to think a head and to plan appropriate
behavior
In new situations.
❖ i.e. Applying clues we are able to act appropriately when encountering
new situations that meet society’s expectations.

Resocialization
The process by which society replaces negative aspects of a behavior with
new learnings.
❖ i.e. prison
 Agents of Socialization
The Family
For most it is the first agent

From it we learn:
❖ Language
❖ Communication skills
❖ Norms (rules of behavior)

Basic techniques for looking after ourselves

Helps us learn about our personal qualities

❖ How smart we are
❖ How loved we are
❖ How trusting we are

School
Frequently the first agent to teach formal rules.

The first place where we are looked after by officials who are not family members.

Schools have two functions: manifest and latent

Manifest Functions: (visible / obvious)

❖ Academic skills
❖ Skills that help us to prosper in society

Latent Functions: (hidden / unintended)

❖ To socialize us
❖ To teach us to co – operate with strangers
❖ To teach us to work with people we don’t like

The latent function in this case is more important

Latently we also learn:

❖ How to be neat
 ❖ How to be on time
❖ When to speak / be silent
❖ How to speak in a formal manner

Respect for authority

❖ Good for the future workplace

Acts as a building block for functioning in larger social institutions

Gender Role Education

Obvious:

❖ Use of different washroom and change rooms

❖ Separation of physical and health educations classes

Less Obvious:

❖ Different expectations for males / females

❖ Academic and Athletic

These influences can have a profound influence on later life.

Gender Education – Separating males / females in schools

Peer Group

A social group whose members are about the same age and share interest and
social position

Classic group:
❖ Teens at the same school
❖ Neighborhood friends
❖ Teams and artistic / creative groups

These groups give people the opportunity to talk about / do things that are
discouraged by the family.
❖ i.e. smoking, rebellious behavior, etc.
Sexual attitudes are expressed among peers more readily than in family or
institutional groups.

Peer pressure

Gender roles are often reinforced among these groups.

Influences include music, style, diet, social activism, violence, vandalism, etc.
Q: Which groups are worse? Guys or Girls?

The Media

❖ Movies ❖ Radio
❖ Television
❖ Printed and electronic media

Most people are exposed to the media from an early age.

Media has had an increasingly important impact on:

Our expectations from life

Our values
How we see ourselves

The media functions as a commercial operation that is designed to make money

by obtaining customers.
❖ To obtain customers, they often present an unrealistic view of life.
Example of misrepresentations in the media:
❖ Advertising tries to persuade us that we can have it all (even if we have
no money)

Gender roles are created and reinforced

(even though they are unrealistic)

The Workplace

Most people take paid employment at some point in their lives

Ideally, the following are reinforced behavior that we first learn in school:

❖ punctuality
 ❖ appropriate dress
❖ respect for authority

Eventually we also learn the following from our time in the workplace:

❖ Specialized language
❖ Procedures
❖ Rules

Codes as related to the job:

commitment, colleague/customer/competitor interaction, team – building

Religion

86% of Canadians indicate that they have some sort of religious faith
30% report weekly attendance at a religious service
For these people, religious institutions influence socialization

Religious activities communicate beliefs about:

❖ Gender Roles
❖ Sexual conduct
❖ Family
❖ Responsibility
❖ Afterlife

By focusing on the afterlife, religious raises moral questions

❖ i.e. What is a good life? How am I responsible to/for others? What is right
and wrong?

Although religious institutions do not have the same influence on people that they
had over 100 years ago, they still influence overall Canadian ideals:

❖ i.e. Gay Marriage, Abortion, Capital Punishment

Total Institutions
These institutions are intended to wipe out the results of prior socialization
These institutions include:
 ❖ Prisons
❖ Army
❖ Mental Asylums/Institutions
❖ Cults

Some are constructive and others destructive

Either destructive or constructive, their goal is the same – removing individuality
and replacing it with a common group identity.

Common methods include:

❖ Identical clothing and haircuts

❖ Enforcing strict rules about daily activities
❖ Routines (when you eat, sleep, wake up)

Asylums and Prisons

❖ Cut members off from the rest of the society

Place members under the control of officials who run institutions

Use degradations ceremonies/rituals

❖ Force members to take part in embarrassing ritual in front of others –

strip and naked in fronts of guards and inmates.

These are supposed to weaken a person’s current identity

Asylums and Prisons – 3 Characteristics

❖ Daily life closely supervised

❖ No choice regarding food, sleeping arrangements, daily activities, formal
rules and routines

1.4 Social Stratification

Sociologist use the term social stratification to describe the system of social
standing. Social Stratification refers to a society’s categorization of its
people into ranking of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth,
income, race, education, and power.
Categories group of people into a hierarchy on the basis of wealth, status,
or power.
A relatively fixed, hierarchical arrangement in society by which groups have
different access to resources, power, and perceived social worth.
Social Stratification is a term used in the social science to describe the
relative social position of persons in a given social group, category,
geographical region or other social units.

Four Basis Principles

Social stratification is based on four principles:
1. Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of
individual differences;
2. Social stratification carries over from generation to generation;
3. Social stratification is universal but variable;
4. Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs as well.

You may remember the word “stratification” from geology class. The
distinct vertical layers found in rock, called stratification, are a good way
to visualize social structure. Society’s layers are made of people, and
society’s resources are distributed unevenly throughout the layers. The
people who have more resources represents the top layers of the social
structure of stratification. Other groups of people, with progressively
fewer resources, represents the lower layers of our society.
Stratification rock

In the United States, people like to believe everyone has an equal

chance at success. To a certain extent. Aaron illustrate the belief that
hard and talent – not prejudicial treatment or societal values – determine
social rank. This emphasis on self – effort perpetuates the belief that
people control their own social standing.

However, sociologists recognize that social stratification is a society –

wide system that makes inequalities apparent. While there are always
inequalities between individual, sociologist are interested in larger social
pattern. Stratification is not about individual inequalities, but about
systematic inequalities based on group membership, classes, and the
like. No individual, rich or poor, can be blamed for social inequalities.
The structure of society affects a person’s standing. Although individuals
may support or fight inequalities, social stratification is created and
supported by society as a whole.

Factors that define stratification vary in different societies. In most

societies, stratification is an economic system, based on wealth, the net
value of money and assets a person has, and income, a person’s wages
or investment dividends. While people are regularly categorized based
on how rich or poor they are, other important factors in fluence social
standing. For example, in some culture, wisdom and charisma are
valued, and people who have them are revered more than those who
 don’t. In some cultures, the elderly are esteemed; in others, the elderly
are disparaged or overlooked. Societies’ cultural beliefs often reinforce
the inequalities of stratification.
One key determinant of social standing is the social standing of our
parents. Parents

tend to pass their social position on their children. People inherit not only
social standing but also cultural norms that accompany a certain lifestyle.
They share these with a network of friends and family members. Social
standing becomes a comfort zone, a familiar lifestyle, and an identity. This
is one of the reasons first – generation college students do not fare as well
as other students.

Other determinants are found in a society’s occupational structure.

Teachers, for example, often have high levels of education but receive
relatively low pay. Many believe that teaching is noble profession, so
teachers should do their jobs for love of their profession and the good of
their students – not for money. Yet no successful executive or entrepreneur
would embrace that attitude in the business world, where profits are valued
as a driving force. Cultural attitudes and beliefs like these support and
perpetuate social inequalities.

Recent Economic Changes and U.S Stratification

As a result of the Great Recession that rocked our nation’s economy in the
last few years, many families and individuals found themselves struggling
like never before. The nation fell into a period of prolonged and
exceptionally high unemployment. While no one was completely insulated
from the recession, perhaps those in the lower classes felt the impact most
profoundly. Before the recession, many were living paycheck to paycheck
or even had been living comfortably. As the recession hit, they were often
among the first to lose their jobs. Unable to find replacement employment,
they faced more than loss of income. Their homes were foreclosed, their
cars were repossessed, and their ability to afford healthcare was taken
away. This put many in the position of deciding whether to put food on the
table or fill a needed prescription.
While we’re not completely out of the wood economically, there are several
signs that we’re on the road to recovery. Many of those who suffered during
the recession are back to work and are busy rebuilding their lives. The
Affordable Health Care Act has provided health insurance to millions who
lost or never had it.

But the Great Recession, like the Great Depression, has changed social
attitudes. Where once it was important to demonstrate wealth by wearing
expensive clothing items like Calvin Klein shirts and Louis Vuitton shoes,
now there’s new, thriftier way of thinking. In many circles, it has become hip
to be frugal. It’s no longer about how much we spend, but about how much
we don’t spend. Think of shows like Extreme Couponing on TLC and songs
like Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop.”

System of Stratification

Sociologist distinguish between two types of systems of stratification.

Closed systems accommodate little change in social position. They do not
allow people to shift levels and do not permit social relationships between
levels. Open system, which are based on achievement, allow movements
and interaction between layers and classes. Different systems reflect,
emphasize, and foster certain cultural values
and shape individual beliefs. Stratification system include class systems
and caste system, as well as meritocracy.

The Caste System

Caste system are closed stratification system are closed stratification

system in which people can do little or nothing to change their social
standing. A caste system is one in which people are born into their social
standing and will remain in it their whole lives. People are assigned
occupations regardless of their talents, interests, or potential. There are
virtually no opportunities to improve a person’s social positions.
In the Hindu caste tradition, people were expected to work in the occupation
of their caste and enter into marriage according to their caste. Accepting
this social standing was considered a moral duty. Cultural values reinforced
the system. Caste system promote beliefs in fate, destiny, and the will of a
higher power, rather than promoting individual freedom as a value. A person
who lived in a caste society was socialized to accept his or her social
standing.
Although the caste system in India has been officially dismantled, its
residual presence in India society is deeply embedded. In rural areas,
aspects of the tradition are more likely to remain, while urban centers show
less evidence of this past. In India’s larger cities, people now have more
opportunities to choose their own career paths and marriage partners. As a
global center of employment, corporations have introduced merit – based
hiring and employment to the nation.

Caste system of India

The Class System

The class system is based on both social factors and individual

achievement. A class consists of a set of people who share similar status
with regard to factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation. Unlike
caste system, class systems are open. People are free to gain a different
level of education or employment than their parents. They can also socialize
with and marry members of other classes, which allows people to move
from one class to another.

In a class system, occupation is not fixed at birth. Though family and other
societal models help guide a person toward a career, personal choice plays
a role.

In class system, people have the option to form exogamous marriages,

unions of spouses from different social categories. Marriage in these
circumstances is based on values such as love and compatibility rather than
on social standing or economics. Though social conformities still exist that
encourage people to choose partners within their own class, people are not
as pressured to choose marriage partners based solely on those elements.
Marriages to a partner from the same social background is an endogamous
union.

Meritocracy

Meritocracy is an ideal system based on the belief that social stratification

is the result of personal effort – or merit – that determines social standing.
High levels of effort will lead to a high social position, and vice versa. The
concepts of meritocracy is an ideal – because a society has never existed
where social rank was based purely on merit. Because of the complex
structure of societies, processes like socialization, and the realities of
economic system, social standing is influenced by multiple factors – not
merit alone. Inheritance and pressure to conform to norms, for instance,
disrupt the notion of a pure meritocracy. While a meritocracy has never
existed, sociologist see aspects of meritocracies in modern societies when
they study the role of academic and job performance and the system in
place for evaluating and rewarding achievement in these areas.

Status Consistency

Social stratification systems determine social position based on factors like

income, education, and occupation. Sociologist use the term status
consistency to describe the consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual’s
rank across these factors. Caste system correlate with high status
consistency, whereas the more flexible class system has lower status
consistency.

To illustrate, let’s consider Susan. Susan earned her high school degree but
did not go to college. That factor is a trait of the lower – middle class. She
began doing landscaping work, which, as manual labor, is also a trait of
lower – middle class or even lower class. However, over time, Susan started
her own company. She hired employees. She won larger contracts. She
became a business owner and earned a lot of money. Those traits represent
the upper – middle class. There are inconsistencies between Susan’s
education level, her occupation, and her income. In a class system, a
person can work hard and have little education and still be in middle or
upper class, where in a caste system that would not be possible. In a class
system, low status consistency correlate with having more choices and
opportunities.

Summary
Stratification system are either closed, meaning they allow little change in
social position, or open, meaning they allow movement and interaction
between the layers. A caste system is one in which social standing is based
on ascribed status or birth. Class System are open, with achievement
playing a role in social position. People fall into classes based on factors
like wealth, income, education, and occupation. A meritocracy is a system
of social stratification that confers standing based on personal worth,
rewarding effort.

References:

Kohler, Nicholas. 2010. “An Uncommon Princess,” Maclean’s November 22

Retrieved January 9, 2012
(http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/11/22/an-common-princess/).
Mckee, Victoria. 1996. “Blue Blood and the Color of Money,”New York
Times, June 9

Wong, Grace. 2011.” Kate Middleton: A Family Business That Built a

Princess.” CNN Money. Retrieved December 22, 2014
(http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/14/smallbusinessmiddleton-party-pieces/)

(https://youtu.be/wLDJ2JSWbXc)
courses.lumenlearning.com
Janeth M. Batiansila BSED_Filipino S-48
TF 9-10:30

INTRODUCTION TO RACE, ETHNICITY and GENDER

RACE
Sociology definition of race; A category of people who have been singled out as
inferior or superior, often on the basis of real or alleged physical characteristics
such as skin color, hair texture, eye shape, or other subjectively selected attributes.
Race: category of persons related by common heredity or ancestry and whose
features are perceived in terms of external traits.
In modern society, some people who consider themselves “white” actually have
more melanin (a pigment that determines skin color) in their skin than other people
who identify as “black”.
Race has little meaning biologically due to interbreeding in the human
population.

HISTORICAL COMPONENTS OF RACE

Monogenism (14th-18th century) - Racial classification by origin
Polygenism (18th-19th century) – Focus on inheritance of traits/hierarchy of
races.
Evolutionism (late 19th century) – Races evolved over time, explained the
dominance of Europeans.
Race as Class, Culture (19th century) - Race was though to determine social
standing and culture.
Race as Ethnicity, Nation (19th-20th century) - racial mixing blurs fixed
categories, race used as a political strategy.

ETHNICITY
Ethnicity comes from Greek “ethnos”, meaning nation. Ethnicity is a term
describes shared culture-the practices, values, and beliefs of a group. The word
“ethnicity” is a modern origin. In America, it appears to have been used for the first
time in 1941 in W. Lloyd Warner and Paul S. Lunt’s “The Social Life of a modern
Community”.
Ethnicity is a term that describes shared culture, values and beliefs of a group.
This might include shared language, religion and traditions, among other
commonalities. Like race, the term ethnicity is difficult to describe and its meaning
has changed over time. And like race, individuals may be identified or self-identity
to ethnicities in complex, even contradictory, ways.
Main Characteristics of Ethnic Groups
• Common kin or Ancestry
• Common Language
• Shared History
• Shared Religion and Culture
• Shared Future and Destiny
• Unique cultural traits
• A sense of community
• A feeling of ethnocentrism
• A scribed membership from birth
• Tendency to occupy a geographic area

Example:
Irish American were historically united by a common faith
(Catholicism). Lived in ethic enclaves in cities like NYC and Boston,
preferred the folkways of Irish over the WASP culture, and remained in Irish
neighborhoods due to discriminations.

Racial and Ethnic differences may lead to a host of other issues.

• Stereotypes
• Prejudice
• Discrimination
• Racism

GENDER
It is a culture’s assumptions about the differences between men and
women; their ‘characters’, the roles they play in society, what they represent. -
Domosh and Seager
According to Mustapha (2009) gender refers to the social, cultural, emotional and
psychological construction of masculinity and feminity. It is what we expect men
and women to do and behave. It is about how power is used and shared.

As a result there are:

• Acceptable gender roles
• Gender stereotyping for masculinity and femininity
 • Gender stratification

Gender is a social as well as biological difference. Modernization has reduced the

inequalities but has NOT eliminated them. Even in Europe and the US equality has
not been achieved. UK, India, Pakistan & the Philippines have had female leaders-
the US has not.

GENDER INEQUALITY
• Women make 80c to the Male dollar-even accounting for time off to raise
kids.
• Over her career, the average US woman loses $1.2 m. to wage inequity.
• Every industrialized nation except US & Australia have paid parental leave
with a guaranteed job upon return.
• Women over 65 are twice as likely to be poor as men.
• Women choose jobs closer to home
 Jean A. Bello BSED_Filipino-S38
TF 9-10:30

AGING AND THE ELDERLY

• Who are the Elderly? Aging in Society

Many media portrayals of the elderly reflect negative cultural attitudes toward
aging. In North America, society tends to glorify youth, associating it with beauty
and sexuality. In comedies, the elderly often associated with grumpiness or
hostility. Rarely do the roles of older people convey the fullness of life experienced
by seniors—as employees, lovers, or the myriad roles they have in real life. What
values does this reflect?

One hindrance to society’s fuller understanding of aging is that people rarely

understand it until they reach old age themselves. (As opposed to childhood, for
instance, which we can all look back on.) Therefore, myths and assumptions about
the elderly and aging are common. Many stereotypes exist surrounding the
realities of being an older adult. While individuals often encounter stereotypes
associated with race and gender and are thus more likely to think critically about
them, many people accept age stereotypes without question (Levy et al., 2002).
Each culture has a certain set of expectations and assumptions about aging, all of
which are part of our socialization.
While the landmarks of maturing into adulthood are a source of pride, signs of
natural aging can be cause for shame or embarrassment. Some people try to fight
off the appearance of aging with cosmetic surgery. Although many seniors report
that their lives are more satisfying than ever, and their self-esteem is stronger than
when they were young, they are still subject to cultural attitudes that make them
feel invisible and devalued.
Gerontology is a field of science that seeks to understand the process of aging and
the challenges encountered as seniors grow older. Gerontologists investigate age,
aging, and the aged. Gerontologists study what it is like to be an older adult in a
society and the ways that aging affects members of a society. As a multidisciplinary
field, gerontology includes the work of medical and biological scientists, social
scientists, and even financial and economic scholars.
Social gerontology refers to a specialized field of gerontology that examines the
social (and sociological) aspects of aging. Researchers focus on developing a
broad understanding of the experiences of people
at specific ages, such as mental and physical well-being, plus age-specific
concerns such as the process of dying. Social gerontologists work as social
researchers, counsellors, community organizers, and service providers for older
adults. Because of their specialization, social gerontologists are in a strong
position to advocate for older adults.

Scholars in these disciplines have learned that aging reflects not just the
physiological process of growing older, but also our attitudes and beliefs about the
aging process. You’ve likely seen online calculators that promise to determine your
“real age” as opposed to your chronological age. These ads target the notion that
people may feel a different age than their actual years. Some 60-year-olds feel frail
and elderly, while some 80-year-olds feel sprightly.
Equally revealing is that as people grow older they define “old age” in terms of
greater years than their current age (Logan, 1992). Many people want to postpone
old age, regarding it as a phase that will never arrive. Some older adults even
succumb to stereotyping their own age group (Rothbaum, 1983).
In North America, the experience of being elderly has changed greatly over the
past century. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many U.S. households were home
to multigenerational families, and the experiences and wisdom of elders was
respected. They offered wisdom and support to their children and often helped
raise their grandchildren (Sweetser, 1984).
Today, with most households confined to the nuclear family, attitudes toward the
elderly have changed. In 2011, of the 13,320,615 private households in the
country, only about 400,000 of them (3.1%) were multigenerational (Statistics
Canada, 2012b). It is no longer typical for older relatives to live with their children
and grandchildren.
Attitudes toward the elderly have also been affected by large societal changes that
have happened over the past 100 years. Researchers believe industrialization and
modernization have contributed greatly to lowering the power, influence, and
prestige the elderly once held.
The elderly had both benefitted and suffered from these rapid social changes. In
modern societies, a strong economy created new levels of prosperity for many
people. Health care has become more widely accessible and medicine has
advanced, allowing the elderly to live longer. However, older people are not as
essential to the economic survival of their families and communities as they were
in the past. While the average person now lives 20 years longer than they did 90
 years ago (Statistics Canada, 2010), the prestige associated with age has
declined.

• The Process of Aging

As human beings grow older, they go through different phases or stages of life.
It is helpful to understand aging in the context of these phases as aging is not
simply a physiological process. A life course is the period from birth to death,
including a sequence of predictable life events such as physical maturation and
the succession of age-related roles: child, adolescent, adult, parent, senior, etc.
At each point in life, as an individual sheds previous roles and assumes new ones,
new institutions or situations are involved, which require both learning and a
revised self-definition. You are no longer a toddler, you are in kindergarten now!
You are no longer a child, you are in high school now! You are no longer a student,
you have a job now! You are no longer singled, you are going to have a child now!
You are no longer in mid-life, it is time to retire now! Each phase comes with
different responsibilities and expectations, which of course vary by individual and
culture. The fact that age-related roles and identities vary according to social
determinations mean that the process of aging is much more significantly a social
phenomenon than a biological phenomenon.
Children love to play and learn, looking forward to becoming preteens. As preteens
begin to test their independence, they are eager to become teenagers. Teenagers
anticipate the promises and challenges of adulthood. Adults become focused on
creating families, building careers, and experiencing the world as an independent
person. Finally, many adults look forward to old age as a wonderful time to enjoy
life without as much pressure from work and family life. In old age,
grandparenthood can provide many of the joys of parenthood without all the hard
work that parenthood entails. As work responsibilities abate, old age may be a time
to explore hobbies and activities that there was no time for earlier in life. But for
other people, old age is not a phase looked forward to. Some people fear old age
and do anything to “avoid” it, seeking medical and cosmetic fixes for the natural
effects of age. These differing views on the life course are the result of the cultural
values and norms into which people are socialized.
Through the phases of the life course, dependence and independence levels
change. At birth, newborns are dependent on caregivers for everything. As babies
become toddlers and toddlers become adolescents and then teenagers, they
assert their independence more and more. Gradually, children are considered
adults, responsible for their own lives, although the point at which this occurs is
widely variable among individuals, families, and cultures.
As Riley (1978) notes, the process of aging is a lifelong process and entails
maturation and change on physical, psychological, and social levels. Age, much
like race, class, and gender, is a hierarchy in which some categories are more
highly valued than others. For example, while many children look forward to
gaining independence, Packer and Chasteen (2006) suggest that even in children,
age prejudice leads both society and the young to view aging in a negative light.
This, in turn, can lead to a widespread segregation between the old and the young
at the institutional, societal, and cultural levels (Hagestad and Uhlenberg, 2006).
Each person experiences age-related changes based on many factors. Biological
factors such as molecular and cellular changes are called primary aging, while
aging that occurs due to controllable factors such as lack of physical exercise and
poor diet is called secondary aging (Whitbourne and Whitbourne, 2010).

Biological Changes
Each person experiences age-related changes based on many factors.
Biological factors such as molecular and cellular changes are called primary aging,
while aging that occurs due to controllable factors such as lack of physical exercise
and poor diet is called secondary aging (Whitbourne and Whitbourne, 2010).
Most people begin to see signs of aging after age 50 when they notice the physical
markers of age. Skin becomes thinner, drier, and less elastic. Wrinkles form. Hair
begins to thin and grey. Men prone to balding start losing hair. The difficulty or
relative ease with which people adapt to these changes is dependent in part on
the meaning given to aging by their particular culture. A culture that values
youthfulness and beauty above all else leads to a negative perception of growing
old. Conversely, a culture that reveres the elderly for their life experience and
wisdom contributes to a more positive perception of what it means to grow old.
The effects of aging can feel daunting, and sometimes the fear of physical changes
(like declining energy, food sensitivity, and loss of hearing and vision) is more
challenging to deal with than the changes themselves. The way people perceive
physical aging is largely dependent on how they were socialized. If people can
accept the changes in their bodies as a natural process of aging, the changes will
not seem as frightening.
Some impacts of aging are gender specific. Some of the disadvantages that aging
women face rise from long-standing social gender roles. For example, the Canada
Pension Plan (CPP) favours men over women, inasmuch as women do not earn
CPP benefits for the unpaid labour they perform as an extension of their gender
roles. In the health care field, elderly female patients are more likely than elderly
men to see their health care concerns trivialized (Sharp, 1995) and are more like
to have the health issues labelled psychosomatic (Munch, 2004). Another female-
specific aspect of aging is that mass-media outlets often depict elderly females in
terms of negative stereotypes and as less successful than older men (Bazzini and
Mclntosh, 1997).
For men, the process of aging—and society’s response to and support of the
experience—may be quite different. The gradual decrease in male sexual
performance that occurs as a result of primary aging is medicalized and
constructed as needing treatment (Marshall and Katz, 2002) so that a man may
maintain a sense of youthful masculinity. On the other hand, aging men have fewer
opportunities to assert the masculine identities in the company of other men (e.g.,
sports participation) (Drummond, 1998). Some social scientists have observed that
the aging male body is depicted in the Western world as genderless (Spector-
Mersel, 2006).

Social and Psychological Changes

Male or female, growing older means confronting the psychological issues
that come with entering the last phase of life. Young people moving into adulthood
take on new roles and responsibilities as their lives expand, but an opposite arc
can be observed in old age. What are the hallmarks of social and psychological
change?
In the 21st century, most people hope that at some point they will be able to stop
working and enjoy the fruits of their labour. But do people look forward to this time
or do they fear it? When people retire from familiar work routines, some easily seek
new hobbies, interests, and forms of recreation. Many find new groups and explore
new activities, but others may find it more difficult to adapt to new routines and loss
of social roles, losing their sense of self-worth in the process.
Each phase of life has challenges that come with the potential for fear. Erik H.
Erikson (1902–1994), in his view of socialization, broke the typical life span into
eight phases. Each phase presents a particular challenge that must be overcome.
In the final stage, old age, the challenge is to embrace integrity over despair. Some
people are unable to successfully overcome the challenge. They may have to
confront regrets, such as being disappointed in their children’s lives or perhaps
their own. They may have to accept that they will never reach certain career goals.
Or they must come to terms with what their career success has cost them, such
as time with their family or declining personal health. Others, however, are able to
achieve a strong sense of integrity, embracing the new phase in life. When that
happens, there is tremendous potential for creativity. They can learn new skills,
practise new activities, and peacefully prepare for the end of life.
For some, overcoming despair might entail remarriage after the death of a spouse.
A study conducted by Kate Davidson (2002) reviewed demographic data that
asserted men were more likely to remarry after the death of a spouse, and
suggested that widows (the surviving female spouse of a deceased male partner)
and widowers (the surviving male spouse of a deceased female partner)
experience their postmarital lives differently. Many surviving women enjoyed a new
sense of freedom, as many were living alone for the first time. On the other hand,
for surviving men, there was a greater sense of having lost something, as they
were now deprived of a constant source of care as well as the focus on their
emotional life.

Aging and Sexuality

Although it is difficult to have an open, public national dialogue about aging
and sexuality, the reality is that our sexual selves do not disappear after age 65.
People continue to enjoy sex — and not always safe sex — well into their later
years. In fact, some research suggests that as many as one in five new cases of
AIDS occur in adults over 65 (Hillman, 2011).
In some ways, old age may be a time to enjoy sex more, not less. For women, the
elder years can bring a sense of relief as the fear of an unwanted pregnancy is
removed and the children are grown and taking care of themselves. However,
while we have expanded the number of psycho-pharmaceuticals to address sexual
dysfunction in men, it was not until very recently that the medical field
acknowledged the existence of female sexual dysfunctions (Bryant, 2004).

Death and Dying

For most of human history, the standard of living was significantly lower
than it is now. Humans struggled to survive with few amenities and very limited
medical technology. The risk of death due to disease or accident was high in any
life stage, and life expectancy was low. As people began to live longer, death
became associated with old age.
For many teenagers and young adults, losing a grandparent or another older
relative can be the first loss of a loved one they experience. It may be their first
encounter with grief, a psychological, emotional, and social response to the
feelings of loss that accompanies death or a similar event.
People tend to perceive death, their own and that of others, based on the values
of their culture. While some may look upon death as the natural conclusion to a
long, fruitful life, others may find the prospect of dying frightening to contemplate.
People tend to have strong resistance to the idea of their own death, and strong
emotional reactions of loss to the death of loved ones. Viewing death as a loss, as
opposed to a natural or tranquil transition, is often considered normal in North
America.
• Challenges Facing the Elderly

Aging comes with many challenges. The loss of independence is one potential
part of the process, as are diminished physical ability and age discrimination. The
term senescence refers to the aging process, including biological, emotional,
intellectual, social, and spiritual changes. This section discusses some of the
challenges we encounter during this process.
As already observed, many older adults remain highly self-sufficient. Others
require more care. Because the elderly typically no longer hold jobs, finances can
be a challenge. Due to cultural misconceptions, older people can be targets of
ridicule and stereotypes. The elderly faced many challenges in later life, but they
do not have to enter old age without dignity.

Ageism
` Ageism can vary in severity. Peter’s attitudes are probably seen as fairly
mild, but relating to the elderly in ways that are patronizing can be offensive. When
ageism is reflected in the workplace, in health care, and in assisted-living facilities,
the effects of discrimination can be more severe. Ageism can make older people
fear losing a job, feel dismissed by a doctor, or feel a lack of power and control in
their daily living situations.
In early societies, the elderly was respected and revered. Many preindustrial
societies observed gerontocracy, a type of social structure wherein the power is
held by a society’s oldest members. In some countries today, the elderly still had
influence and power and their vast knowledge is respected.
In many modern nations, however, industrialization contributed to the diminished
social standing of the elderly. Today wealth, power, and prestige are also held by
those in younger age brackets. The average age of corporate executives was 59
in 1980. In 2008, the average age had lowered to 54 (Stuart, 2008). Some older
members of the workforce felt threatened by this trend and grew concerned that
younger employees in higher-level positions would push them out of the job
market. Rapid advancements in technology and media have required new skill sets
that older members of the workforce are less likely to have.
Changes happened not only in the workplace but also at home. In agrarian
societies, a married couple cared for their aging parents. The oldest members of
the family contributed to the household by doing chores, cooking, and helping with
child care. As economies shifted from agrarian to industrial, younger generations
moved to cities to work in factories. The elderly began to be seen as an expensive
burden. They did not have the strength and stamina to work outside the home.
 What began during industrialization, a trend toward older people living apart from
their grown children, has become commonplace.

Mistreatment and Abuse

Mistreatment and abuse of the elderly is a major social problem. As
expected, with the biology of aging, the elderly sometimes become physically frail.
This frailty renders them dependent on others for care — sometimes for small
needs like household tasks, and sometimes for assistance with basic functions like
eating and toileting. Unlike a child, who also is dependent on another for care, an
elder is an adult with a lifetime of experience, knowledge, and opinions — a more
fully developed person. This makes the care providing situation more complex.
Elder abuse describes when a caretaker intentionally deprives an older person of
care or harms the person in his or her charge. Caregivers may be family members,
relatives, friends, health professionals, or employees of senior housing or nursing
care. The elderly may be subject to many different types of abuse.
In a 2009 study on the topic led by Dr. Ron Acierno, the team of researchers
identified five major categories of elder abuse: 1) physical abuse, such as hitting
or shaking, 2) sexual abuse including rape and coerced nudity, 3) psychological or
emotional abuse, such as verbal harassment or humiliation, 4) neglect or failure to
provide adequate care, and 5) financial abuse or exploitation (Acierno, 2010).

• Theoretical Perspectives on Aging

Functionalism
Functionalists analyze how the parts of society work together to create a
state of equilibrium. They gauge how each part of society functions to keep society
running smoothly. How does this perspective address aging? Structural
functionalists argue that each age performs a specific function in society. Much of
the focus in this approach is on how the elderly, as a group, cope with the functional
transition of roles as they move into the senior stage of life. How do individuals
adapt to the different roles, norms, and expectations of old age, and to their
changing physical and mental capacities?
Functionalists find that people with better resources who stay active in other roles
adjust better to old age (Crosnoe and Elder, 2002). Three social theories within
the functional perspective were developed to explain how older people might deal
with later-life experiences.

Critical Sociology
 Theorists working the critical perspective view society as inherently
unstable, based on power relationships that privilege the powerful wealthy few
while marginalizing everyone else. According to the guiding principle of critical
sociology, the imbalance of power and access to resources between groups is an
issue of social justice that needs to be addressed. Applied to society’s aging
population, the principle means that the elderly struggle with other groups — for
example, younger society members — to retain a certain share of resources. At
some point, this competition may become conflict.
For example, some people complain that the elderly get more than their fair share
of society’s resources. In hard economic times, there is great concern about the
huge costs of social security and health care. They argue that the medical bills of
the nation’s elderly population are rising dramatically, taking resources away from
the needs of other segments of the population like education. For example, while
funding for education is cut back, funding for medical research increases.
However, while there is more care available to certain segments of the senior
community, it must be noted that the financial resources available to the aging can
vary tremendously by race, social class, and gender.
There are three classic theories of aging within the critical perspective.
Modernization theory (Cowgill and Holmes, 1972) suggests that the primary cause
of the elderly losing power and influence in society are the parallel forces of
industrialization and modernization. As societies modernize, the status of elders
decreases, and they are increasingly likely to experience social exclusion. Before
industrialization, strong social norms bound the younger generation to care for the
older. Now, as societies industrialize, the nuclear family replaces the extended
family. With increasingly precarious employment, the struggle
to earn a living means that people often have to move away from family to work
and the work itself consumes increasing time and energy that might be spent
looking after family members. Societies become increasingly individualistic, and
norms regarding the care of older people change. In an individualistic industrial
society, caring for an elderly relative is seen as a voluntary obligation that may be
ignored without fear of social censure.
The central reasoning of modernization theory is that as long as the extended
family is the standard family, as in preindustrial economies, elders will have a place
in society and a clearly defined role. As societies modernize, the elderly, unable to
work outside of the home, have less to offer economically and are seen as a
burden. This model may be applied to both the developed and the developing
world, and it suggests that as people age they will be abandoned and lose much
of their familial support since they become a nonproductive economic burden.
Another theory in the critical perspective is age stratification theory (Riley,
Johnson, and Foner, 1972). Though it may seem obvious now, with our awareness
of ageism, age stratification theorists were the first to suggest that members of
society might be stratified by age, just as they are stratified by race, class, and
gender. The value of a person (i.e., their status or prestige in society) is determined
by their age, an ascribed rather than an achieved characteristic. Because age
serves as a basis of social control, different age groups have varying access to
social resources such as political and economic power. In this model, the
privileges, independence, and access to social resources of seniors decreases
based simply on their position within an age-category hierarchy. The elderly
experience an increased dependence as they age and must increasingly submit
to the will of others because they have fewer ways of compelling others to submit
to them. Moreover, within societies stratified by age, behavioural age norms,
including norms about roles and appropriate behaviour, dictate what members of
age cohorts may reasonably do. For example, it might be considered deviant for
an elderly woman to wear a bikini because it violates norms denying the sexuality
of older females. These norms are specific to each age strata, developing from
culturally based ideas about how people should “act their age.”
In addition, women’s earnings do not increase at the same rate as men’s in the
latter half of their careers so more women enter retirement age with considerably
less financial resources than men (Garner, 1999). In 2007, the low-income rate for
senior, single, unattached women was 14%. About 123,000 senior women living
on their own lived in poverty compared to 44,000 men (Townsend, 2009).
Finally, many senior women today were socialized in their experience as daughters
and wives to grant the decision-making power to men, especially in the area of
financial decision making. When they outlive their spouses, they are often
suddenly burdened with decisions and tasks with which they they have had no
experience. This can be profoundly disempowering, particularly when adult
children feel they need to step in and take over. As feminist critique is not simply
about drawing attention to the injustice of women’s position in society, the question
then becomes, how can senior women be empowered to develop new roles,
recognize their strengths, and see themselves as valuable human beings (Garner,
1999)?

References:

courses.lumenlearning.com>chapter
socialsci.libretexts.org>Sociology
opentxtbc.ca>chapter13-aging-and-elderly