sociology 36 hours

SOC 1020 Lecture Six

Prof. D. Fasenfest AGING Perhaps one of the most profound changes in the last 100 years is the role that the aged play in our society. Two things happened following the industrial revolution. The first is that life expectancy increased dramatically. Prior to the mid-1800s, the chance of seeing your fifth birthday was 10%. Antibiotics and childhood immunizations did not exist. Not only was surviving childhood a gamble, but adults also fought to survive in these times. A cut that we would have stitched up and lathered in Neosporin, healing within a few days, could likely and often did turn into a serious fatal blood infection. The flu killed people by the thousands. In 1918 a flu epidemic that began in Kansas swept the world and at the end 100 million people were dead. In 1952 nearly 60,000 Americans had polio, 21,000 were paralyzed and 3,000 died. Needless to say, when these diseases are around people die at a younger age. When they are controlled, people live longer. Infants born in 1850 had a life expectancy of between 38 and 42 years. Children born in 2007 can expect to live well into their 70s. So now we have a society that not only has more old people, but they are living to much older ages than in previous generations. (See http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html ) Complicating this change in general demographics is the Baby Boom generation. This is the generation born between roughly 1943 and 1964 (there is some debate on when the baby boom ended, some marking it as early as 1960). The Baby Boom was a time after WWII when more babies were born than we should have expected. Since the youngest of the baby boomers just applied for Social Security, we will have more people in or approaching old age than any other earlier generation. The predictions for 2020 are that we will have 2 people on social security of every person in the labor market. This is often referred to as the “graying of America”. Another thing that has happened to the aged in society is that they are no longer revered for their wisdom and skills. When a culture is dependent upon an oral history older individual are important. They are the only link to the past and hold an honored position. Also, they are able to assist with childcare and light manual tasks in the home and so they remain productive. In these societies there may actually be a gerontocracy, where the elders have the wealth, prestige and power in society. In our society, we no longer refer to the aged as elders…we refer to them as elderly. The status of age is no longer an honored title, but rather an adjective that implies frailty and dependence. Because people live to older ages, health issues make the old in our society dependent. By age 85, 50% of individuals have Alzheimer’s. Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke are just a few other things that plague the very old in our society. This means that families will be faced with choices: put the senior in a nursing facility though that may be expensive, or care for them at home though that may be too stressful. We have a society with a sandwich generation, adults caring for young dependent children at the same time they are caring for old dependent parents. The age of the population has grown to the point that we now break our older generations into three categories. The young old are those individuals between 65 and 74. These people typically

enjoy good health, many may still be in the labor force, and they live independently. The older old are those between 75 and 84. These people may still remain healthy and independent but are less likely to be working and more likely to require some support services. Finally, the oldest old, those over 84, are likely to be in declining health and require many support services. Aging is more problematic for women than for men. Women tend to live longer than men. As men age, they are likely to have an acute illness, like a heart attack, from which they do not survive. Women typically have chronic illnesses, like glaucoma and diabetes, things that reduce the quality of life and increase dependency but that are not fatal. So not only do women live longer, but their health problems in old age are likely to be greater. Women are also likely to live in poverty as they age. Many women in earlier generations did not work full time and so they receive spousal benefits from Social Security. When their spouse dies, they get a pay cut. Unfortunately, poverty for the elderly in our society is so bad that the nation was scandalized in the early 90s when reports found that this group had been forced to add dog and cat food to their diet in order to stretch their food budgets. Non-whites have a lower life expectancy in general than do whites. Non-white females live longer than non-white males. The health outcomes are lower for non-whites for a variety of reasons. This group tends to be impoverished more than their white counterparts. The history of poverty likely means that health care and prevention throughout the life span has been inadequate and so there is a higher rate of chronic illnesses in the non-white population (diabetes, high blood pressure, etc). Along with the reduced prestige associated with the elderly in society, we actually are encountering the phenomenon of ageism. Ageism refers to the discrimination against individuals due to their age. We see this in several ways. First, it is extremely hard for a 50-year-old to get a first job (or even a new job if unemployed) if they are on the job market, unless they are applying for a job where age is associated with tenure and experience. An entry or mid-level job is likely to go to a younger applicant (if nothing else they can be hired at a lower wage because younger applicants tend to have less work experience). Recently widowed or divorced women entering the labor force for the first time find it very hard to get work, and when they do it is at a level well below the lifestyle they had experienced when they had a working husband. Ageism also reaches into the community. Prior to Reagan’s first term in office, we had mandatory retirement. At 65, you left your job, even if you were still able to work and wanted to be productive. Reagan was older when elected than the mandatory retirement age, and so he pushed Congress to pass a bill to eliminate mandatory retirement. You can work as long as you want as long as you are able to do your job. On the surface, this seems like a very good thing, given that life expectancy was increasing. However, one thing that retirement did was to get one generation to leave the labor force thereby creating job vacancies for the next generation to fill. When people stopped retiring, jobs got harder to find for younger workers (consider that the average age of auto workers in Michigan is very close to retirement age since few new workers have been hired for a long time). This created tension and anger for younger workers with fewer openings in the market as they finished school. Ageism works both ways. The older generation is society is typically frightened or threatened by the younger generation. There is always the perception that the younger generation is out of control and destroying the culture.

Finally, the growing tensions between the generations have led to elder abuse. There are many theories about the causes of elder abuse. Is the stress on the sandwich generation so great that rage is driving abuse in previously non-abusive families? Elder abuse is hard to detect for a variety of reasons. As we age, our skin gets thinner which makes us prone to injury. A fall that would have bruised in younger years now may break an arm. A bump that would have gone unnoticed may now leave a nasty bruise or torn skin. The elderly are often clumsy due to poor eyesight or reduced strength and lose their footing so falls are frequent and damaging. Also, elders are less likely to tell anyone that they are being abused due to shame or guilt. They may feel responsible for creating a stressful situation. Can adult children be held responsible for their parent? Yes, they can. Is this legal? Hard to say. A few years ago, a man with Alzheimer’s was found in an airport. He was dressed in all new clothes and had no identification. He didn’t remember his name. An investigation revealed that he had been living with his daughter who had tried unsuccessfully to get her sibling to help out with his care. She had finally gotten to her breaking point, dressed her father in new clothes and dropped him off the airport, telling him that his son would meet him there. She believed that he would be discovered quickly and without identification would be placed in a state assisted nursing home. Problem solved. She was prosecuted for abandonment and neglect. Why she was prosecuted? Certainly, what she did was unethical to be sure. However, the law holds that we are legally responsible for our children until they reach 18years of age. There is no corresponding law that makes us responsible for our parents as they age. If this is the case, shouldn’t the brother who didn’t help also be held accountable? One of the things scientists are starting to consider is the fact that human development has been gradual, and in the “modern” era it has taken millennia for humans to extend their life-spans. 200 years ago a long life was into a person’s 40s, and 100 years ago most people thought living to 50 was a good thing. Retirement set at 65 was cynical because by the beginning of the 20th Century people lived into their late 60s and employers (the system was created in Prussia) were confident most people would not have many years with a pension. Today we live well into our 790s and 80s and one of the major worries of financial advisors is that people may well outlive their pensions and savings plans. But another, more ominous fact looms for us. The human brain evolved gradually as our body clock developed, as we lived longer. But the sudden increase in life expectancy—made possible by better diets and medical care—may put stress on our most important organ. We can get hip replacements, heart and vital organ transplants and surgically reroute our blood vessels in our extremities as the circumstance requires, but we can’t replace or repair our brain. Some speculate the rapid increase in deteriorating brain function associated with dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and a raft of other ailments may simply be the product of having outlived the functional life of our brain organ! As we approach a wave of Baby Boomers retiring analysts speculate that we will see a major change in social policy and societal views—much like the changes that were wrought first as these people were young adults and were part of the Student Movement for change, then as young people supporting the Women’s and Civil Rights Movements that changed the laws of the

land, and later as the spearhead of the Sexual Revolution we had so much fun discussing the last lecture! By the 1980s and 1990s this generation fueled the great Consumer Society as we experienced rising income and expectations, spending madly on homes, cars and luxury goods. Today, as this generation can look over the fence at their imminent retirement we are embroiled in a discussion about heath care, medical insurance, and the desire for our later years to continue to provide for the quality of our day to day existence. Long gone are the days of looking forward to a gold watch and a rocker on the front porch!