Howell 1

Social Diversity Paper

Isabella Howell

PSY 1100: General Psychology

Elaine Isbell

November 14, 2021

 Howell 2

I researched by looking for the difference in experiences for the elderly in the United

States and China. Looking through many articles I was a little surprised by how differently

elderly people are treated as well as the attitudes toward the social group. After researching I

found that in the United States, younger generations did not respect their grandparent or parents

as much as in China. On the other hand, in China, the elderly are left by their children and are

not taken care of as much as in the United States.

Based on the article from Pew Research, “Growing Old in America: Expectations vs.

Reality” (Taylor et al, 2009). Many old or elderly people felt that they tried to stay connected

with their children, felt religion was important to them, and they feel young. People in this social

group also help their children with many things like childcare, money, and other related ways to

help. However, people especially from my generation are not super respectful of older people

because some think that they are not “with the times.” The elderly tend not to want to rely on

their children and possibly grandchildren for care, whether financial or otherwise.

In China, respecting the elderly is key in their culture. As the article, “Isolated and

abandoned: the harsh reality of old age in rural China” (Rivers, 2019). said, “Children and

grandchildren are supposed to financially support their older relatives.”(Rivers, 2019). Despite

this, the old peoples’ children leave them go out into cities to find better jobs to make more

money, however, they still do not even make nearly enough to be financially able to provide for

themselves and their parents because of the cost of living. Thus, leaving the elderly to financially

provide for themselves and not rely on their children to take care of them. This is becoming an

increasingly bad problem throughout China because of their “aging population.” While the

respect for the elderly in China is immense, the following generation is not able to provide for

and give back to their parents.

 Howell 3

I interviewed my grandfather, Douglas Howell, about being part of the Silent Generation,

but closer to the age of most Baby Boomers. He told me about how his current experiences of

being considered elderly. He talked about what he does day to day and that he is able to do many

things because of retirement, like taking walks and doing side jobs for something to do. About

how he thinks that your attitude towards your generation is what makes it good or bad to be in.

My grandfather also told me that members of his generation do not want to be a burden to their

relatives. He then went on to speak about what people associate with older people including

things like, sickness, death, grumpiness, and that they do not understand technology, along with

many other things.

According to my grandfather, he feels that seeing technology evolve greatly has been an

advantage to being in his generation and having free Medicare as well as social security. There

were many saddening disadvantages to currently being in his generation, he stated, “Every few

months I have another friend pass away.” He also talked about now that he is “old” despite the

fact that he feels young, he cannot do everything he used to do. With hurt knees and back, he can

no longer run, play tennis, walk long distances, or enjoy all the activities he used to participate

in. His concerns for his generation are that they sometimes have strong opinions and are not

always kind to everyone. The hopes he has are that they are able to live the rest of their lives

peacefully and to be able to show everyone kindness, despite the stereotypes of their unchanging

opinions for certain matters.

Overall, he thought that his experience in his social group, being the “Silent Generation”,

was positive. He is one example of how the stereotypes about elderly people are not all true.

Interviewing my grandfather, I now know a lot more than I did about his generation and have a
 Howell 4

new perspective about how attitude is really what someone feels about their own generation as

well as other generations.

People from my generation, Gen Z, tend to make and believe stereotypes about elderly

people, creating a divide between the two generations. I myself have stereotypes of them that

come to mind when elderly people come into the conversation. However, I chose this topic

because I wanted to know more about the experiences elderly people have as a social group.

Interviewing someone from a different social group really gave me the perspective of someone in

a different age group rather than what my generation thinks of them.

I now see that despite people of my generation thinking that elderly people are mean,

often critical, and not open-minded, they have a whole perspective on life that I had not

previously thought about. After hearing my grandfather talk about how most of his friends,

whether from church, high school or college, are all passing away. He loses many friends every

single year, which is something I could not even begin to imagine is like. Elderly people get sick,

cannot do everything they once were capable of, and they lose friends all the time.

After all of my research and interviewing my grandfather, I have very much learned a lot

about his social group and that elderly people are actually some of the strongest people, even

though most would view them as weak. I now think that elderly people should be respected not

only because they are older than us, but that they are constantly facing loss and still stay as

positive as they humanly can. We can respect them by being compassionate and helping them

not to feel like a burden because they are not, they have just as much worth and value as young

people. I learned a lot about the generation of the elderly, and I am glad I had this opportunity to

research and interview someone from a different social group than my own.
 Howell 5

Works Cited

Rivers, M. (2019). Isolated and abandoned: the heartbreaking reality of old age in rural China.

from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/07/asia/china-elderly-people-new-year-

intl/index.html

Taylor, P et al. (2009). Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality. from

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2009/06/29/growing-old-in-america-

expectations-vs-reality/