The sociology of ageing

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Ricca Edmondson
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Course Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Life Course Development ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Mutual Care ◽  
Theoretical Analyses

This chapter begins with an overview of the contrasting phenomena that need to be reconciled within the sociology of ageing. It stresses respects in which ageing itself is a social phenomenon, arguing that they reveal deep social ambiguities and contestations in connection with the human life-course. It then examines both threats and resources associated with globalized aspects of contemporary ageing, before interrogating contributions by successive theoretical analyses of what ageing involves. The chapter explores the decisive impacts of welfare states on the circumstances of ageing and their connections with the social distribution of family and caring roles. It continues with a discussion of generational and gender relations before examining wider environments for life-course development and their connections with familial and other forms of mutual care. Lastly, it addresses issues relating to social exclusion and ageism, before exploring aspects of social meaning connected with later life and their potential for enhancement.

The sociology of ageing

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricca Edmondson
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Course Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Life Course Development ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Mutual Care ◽  
Theoretical Analyses

This chapter begins with an overview of the contrasting phenomena that need to be reconciled within the sociology of ageing. It stresses respects in which ageing itself is a social phenomenon, arguing that they reveal deep social ambiguities and contestations in connection with the human life-course. It then examines both threats and resources associated with globalised aspects of contemporary ageing, before interrogating contributions by successive theoretical analyses of what ageing involves. The chapter explores the decisive impacts of welfare states on the circumstances of ageing, and their connections with the social distribution of family and caring roles. It continues to a discussion of generational and gender relations before examining wider environments for life-course development and their connections with familial and other forms of mutual care. Lastly, it addresses issues relating to social exclusion and ageism, before exploring aspects of social meaning connected with later life, and their potential for enhancement.

scholarly journals Introduction: Development, Young People, and the Social Production of Aspirations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Huijsmans ◽  
Nicola Ansell ◽  
Peggy Froerer
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Course Development ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Production ◽  
The Social ◽  
Life Course Development ◽  
The Life Course

AbstractIn this editorial introduction to the Special Issue Youth, Aspirations and the Life Course: Development and the social production of aspirations in young people’s lives, we put the work presented in this collection in conversation with the wider literature on development, youth and aspirations. Aspiration we define as an orientation towards a desired future. We elaborate on our conceptualisation of aspirations as socially produced and reflect on the methodological challenges in researching young people’s aspirations in development. While mindful of the various critiques of aspiration research we argue that aspirations constitute fertile terrain for theorising the temporal dynamics of being young and growing up in contexts of development.

The Social Context and Resources of the Unmarried in Old Age

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pat M. Keith
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Social Resources ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Role Transitions ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Life Course

A model of singleness in later life was developed to show how the social context may influence the personal and social resources of older, unmarried persons. The unmarried (especially the divorced) will be an increasing proportion of the aged population in the future, and they will require more services than will the married. Role transitions of the unmarried over the life course, finances, health, and social relationships of older singles are discussed with implications for practice and future research.

Ageing and gender

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-68
Author(s):  
Chris Gilleard ◽  
Paul Higgs
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Social Imaginary ◽  
Financial Assets ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Bonding Capital

This chapter begins by considering the distinction between sex and gender. The latter constitutes the source of the social division between men and women considered as social beings. It serves as both a reflection of division and inequality and a source of difference and identity. The chapter then explores the framing of this division in terms of patriarchy and the inequalities that are organised by and structured within the relations of work and of social reproduction. It focuses next upon the consequences of such a division, first in terms of both financial assets and resources and then in terms of social relational capital, drawing upon Putnam’s distinction between bridging and bonding capital. It then considers other sources of difference that become more salient in later life, in terms of health illness and longevity. The chapter ends with the role of gender in representing later life, and the role of later life in representing gender. It concludes by distinguishing between gender as a structure shaping third age culture, and gender as a constituent in the social imaginary of the fourth age.

scholarly journals WEALTH PROFILES AND VARIATIONS BY GENDER AND RACE: A GROWTH-MIXTURE MULTIGROUP COMPARISON

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S733-S733
Author(s):  
Yu-Chih Chen ◽  
Nancy Morrow-Howell
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Dispersion Model ◽  
Latent Class Model ◽  
Growth Mixture Modeling ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Growth Mixture ◽  
And Gender

Abstract Wealth is fundamentally affected by various life course characteristics. However, little is known about the role of life course factors in shaping wealth trajectories in later life. This study explored how the longitudinal profiles of wealth varied by gender and race (white and non-white populations). Data came from the 2004-2014 Health and Retirement Study with 16,189 older adults aged 51 and older. With corrections for clustered effect within household, this study used growth mixture modeling (GMM) to identify the longitudinal patterns of wealth, and how these profiles varied by these two important life course attributes. The model began with a separate GMM model for race and gender to investigate the optimal latent class model. These results were combined using multi-group approach to incrementally examine the gender and race invariance using configural (same form), structural (same trajectory mean), dispersion (same trajectory variance), and distributional (same latent class size) test. Results identified four distinct wealth profiles—Stable high, Low and increasing, Stable low, and High but decline—for each race and gender category. The multigroup GMM analyses revealed that the wealth profiles varied by gender and race, but the degrees of variation differed a great deal, with results supporting a dispersion model for gender but a configural model for race. Results indicate that race has a stronger effect in shaping wealth development compared to gender. The findings suggest that understanding wealth disparities in later life could be facilitated by examining how wealth varies by gender and race.

Social Identity in Later Life: A Situational Approach to Understanding Old Age Stigma

1987 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Luken
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Social Stigma ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Social Category ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender

Social identity it a product of emergent definitional processes occurring in socially defined situations. This article presents a situational approach to understanding an aspect of social identity in later life—the social stigma of old age. Social stigma is conceptualized as an attribute which is perceived to be discrediting, incongruent with expectations, and non-pivotal in regard to the cluster of attributes associated with a specific social category. A typology of situations, based on their potential for producing the stigmatization of old age, is presented. Additionally, stigmatization in these situations is influenced by the following: commitment and legitimation, generational contacts, performance norms, and gender. Implications of a situational approach to the investigation of old age are discussed.

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