{"id":5800,"date":"2019-03-18T12:06:10","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T12:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-introductiontosociology\/?post_type=chapter&p=5800"},"modified":"2024-04-25T16:37:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T16:37:53","slug":"putting-it-together-aging-and-the-elderly","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-introductiontosociology\/chapter\/putting-it-together-aging-and-the-elderly\/","title":{"raw":"Putting It Together: Aging and the Elderly","rendered":"Putting It Together: Aging and the Elderly"},"content":{"raw":"In this module you learned the impact that the \"graying of America\" is having\u00a0on the United States and globally, which is presenting numerous challenges for the elderly population and social institutions such as health care and government. You also learned about the process and challenges of aging and cultural attitudes that shape the way society views and limits the elderly.\r\n\r\nThe module explained the three theoretical perspectives on aging. Functionalist perspectives focuses on the role of elders in terms of\u00a0how the elderly disengage from society and assert this is a natural process for the elderly.\u00a0Conflict\u00a0theories concentrate on how elders, as a group, are at odds with other groups in society in terms of power and status. Conflict theories also focus on how race, class and gender continue to serve as a basis of inequality even in old age. And theories in the symbolic interactionist perspective focus on how elders\u2019 identities are created through their interactions and the changes associated with old age\u00a0have no inherent meaning.\r\n\r\nThe media plays a large role in societal attitudes towards the elderly\u2014we know that in the U.S., society typically looks at the physical processes of aging such as graying hair and wrinkled skin as\u00a0 evidence of being less-than. Ageist attitudes and biases based on stereotypes reduce elderly people to inferior or limited positions and can reduce their quality life as they internalize these false stereotypes.\r\n
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Watch It<\/h3>\r\nIn the following video, Ashton Applewhite, the author of\u00a0\u00a0\"This\u00a0Chair rocks: a manifesto of ageism,\" asks\u00a0society to reframe how society labels and values the elderly.