“The Golden Years? You've got to be kidding...(Nelson)” Ageism is the main influence for how older people view the aging process. Despite stereotypes, today, for the first time in history, most people can expect to live into their sixties and beyond. A longer life represents an important opportunity, not only for older people and their families, but also for societies as a whole. Additional years provide the chance to pursue new activities such as further education or a long-neglected passion, while continuing to make valuable contributions to family and community. The stereotype of depressed lonely old people is a pervasive one, but it is not supported by the facts. Throughout my interview I noticed that, despite health issues, Ms. Nelson …show more content…
You can't turn on the radio, television or visit your news homepage without being bombarded with multiple advertisements of miracle products promising to make every crease and fold and lump vanish. Women receive a great deal of pressure from society to maintain a youthful and vibrant appearance. However, as men begin to exhibit signs of aging through grey hair and various facial wrinkles they are often viewed as properly aging. It cannot be a surprise that because of the way we celebrate youthful appearances, we are quick to reject the aging process that we are all bound to face. In fact, at this very moment we are aging. One's age is often a sensitive topic and is very much a part of the aging process and how we embrace it. In the interview Mrs. Nelson expressed great concern for how others view her. She stated, “everyone views me as not mattering anymore or as being too fragile to handle (Nelson).” In general, individuals have a hard time dealing with getting older and it is completely understandable. Their roles personally and professionally shift, children begin their own lives and families, responsibilities change and so do their bodies. These life changes can be very challenging for someone and no matter when it happens it seems to sneak up. One of the most interesting aspects of the aging process is perception. Here, perception relates to how a person perceives themselves and what age they feel like. When asking someone who is older than you what age they feel like they are, very few people will respond that they feel like their actual chronological age. When speaking to Mrs. Nelson she claimed to be feeling older than her age because she was losing sight and is not able to get around as well as she could years ago (Nelson). It is can be the job of social workers to get them
With healthcare in the United States advancing so rapidly, there are new ways to treat just about any kind of illness every day. With being able to treat illnesses in new ways, and also the advancement of medical equipment, comes the possibility of a lot more people living up into their 90’s, and maybe even getting to reach 100. The aging population, which keeps growing every so rapidly, will be using up a lot more sources as the years go by. This means, that we need to educate more doctors and nurses, etc., and also make more living facilities for older adults. The question that comes up in my mind, is when is “old” actually”. Most people stereotypically consider ages 75 and older old, but that doesn’t mean they are actually “old”, does it?
Desjarlais, R., & Throop, C. J. (2011). Phenomenological approaches in anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology, 40, 87-102. doi: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-092010-153345.
Prominent musician, Celine Dion, once said, “There’s no such thing is aging, but maturing and knowledge. It’s beautiful, I call that beauty.” To many, growing old is just a natural, beautiful part of life. It is inevitable. It is inescapable. The functionalist perspective of sociology states that the elderly perform a function in order to keep society running with ease. Functionalists focus on the disengagement theory and how people tend to disengage from society as they approach death. Symbolic interactionists focus on how environmental factors and relationships with others affect the aging experience, focusing on the activity theory and the continuity theory (Carl, 2011, p. 220). Conflict theorists focus on the discrepancies that arise between different age groups. They also focus on the economical side of aging and the issues that may arise due to an active elderly population (Carl, 2011, p. 221).
The term “ageism” is not easily understood by most of the population because of its acceptance as normal behavior due to the ingrained attitudes that most people develop in their youth, but health care workers must fully embrace the term within their profession in order to avoid becoming a contributor to the historical prevalence of prejudices and discrimination. The term ageism is defined by Klein and Liu (2010) as “the discrimination of individuals based solely on age” (p. 334). “Ageism is a social construct that is internalized in the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals” (Klein & Liu, 2010, p. 334). Robert Butler, a well-known gerontologist, coined the term “ageism” citing that the discrimination and prejudice associated with this term is often based on the lack of a person’s experience with older people (Ferrini & Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). Ferrini and Ferrini (2013) refer to the strong influence that cultural beliefs and attitudes as well as a person’s current age influence the perception of aging (p. 6). Everywhere within society there are influences that encourage ageist attitudes such as media conveyances through movies, books, television, greeting cards, magazines and the Internet (Ferrini and Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). These negative connotations related to growing older begin to influence all people at a very young age and therefore impact their attitudes as they make career decisions. This has directly impacted the number of health care providers who specialize in geriatrics as well as the attitudes of those who do provide services for older adults. These false perceptions and negative attitudes are currently impacting the q...
Aging is a sensitive topic for many, with ageism being incredibly prevalent, as it has such a negative connotation that is attached to it (Hooyman, Kawamoto, & Kiyak, 2015). What does it mean to age in society today, when the baby-boomer population is starting to reach their old-old age status? (Hooyman et al., 2015). In order to break down stereotypes and understand what exactly it means to age within our current day society, I interviewed a married couple of 29 years, whom wished to remain anonymous, regarding their views on aging. The gentleman is sixty-three years old, and his wife is in her fifties. She was not the main focus on my interview, the gentleman was, but his wife was able to chime in and provided me with her two-sense every once in a while.
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...
Chicago Harry Okeke Psych 236-02: Psychology of Women Prof. Edna Pressler, Ph.D. Report 1 October 6, 2016. “Get involved 2.4 “Media Advertisement and Double Standard of Aging” Ageing is something that everyone will eventually experience if they are fortunate to live a long life. The process of ageing comes with various negative and positive outlooks. In western culture, ageing for both genders is particularly condemned. In the media in particular, the process of ageing for men and women varies greatly.
Theories concerned with ageing are constructed in an attempt to objectively satisfy the inquiries that arise after studying ageing and to provide evidence based clarifications. In the context of this essay, they allow troubleshooting regarding issues around the type of support would be expected to be needed by Betty and her son. Bengtson et al, (1999) accepts the potential pragmatism of the theories nevertheless he argues that they can be generalised and unimaginative. The controversy regarding theorising ageing becomes especially relevant when they are applied in isolation failing to address that “the science and positivism are severely limiting… for understanding aspects of ageing.” Bengtson et al (1999)
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
Late adulthood should be a time in a person's life where they feel fulfilled. They can look back on their memories and be happy with the way they have lived their life. Now, too many elderly people are not satisfied and look at this stage as depressing. Most fear death of either a loved one or for themselves. This topic is interesting to me because elderly people should make the best of their last stage of life. This topic discusses about getting older, the life changes that they go through physically, emotionally, and mentally. We should know more about it so that we can help our family and friends get through one of the best, yet toughest part of our mortal life.
Increased life expectancies have many reconsidering whether the fountain of youth is merely a legend. For many families, longer life spans have allowed them to spend more time with loved ones, time that may not paint the picture imagined.
The Elderly individuals face problems like Ageism. The older society is not given the same options in treatment as the younger society. The Elderly who battle cancer do not receive chemotherapy like the younger generation. Some people believe that doctors are genuinely worried about their patients and others believe that age discrimination is the reason of treatment discrepancy (Dockter & Keene, 2009).
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
The look that everyone strives for is youthful and attractive. In the movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Benjamin was born with wrinkles, looking like an eighty-year-old man. Many people did not find him attractive but he could do nothing about it. He knew he was growing up in reverse. As he grew “young”, his wrinkles started to disappear, he could walk better, his gray hair was turning into a more brownish color. Everything you would think about aging, he was going through it in reverse. What was happening to him was the complete opposite of how people usually age. Once people start to hit their middle aged years, signs of aging will visually start to appear such as a few gray hairs, wrinkles. Many people will never forget the day they see their first gray hair or wrinkle (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2015). My sister just turned thirty a few months ago and for most people that is a huge milestone in their lives. Prior to her birthday, she noticed one strand of gray hair, she showed me and I could not see it but she definitely did. It is things like this that make aging the worst thing. Getting gray hair is natural, but today’s society says different. Gray hair is bad, wrinkles are not okay. You do not get Botox? You want to have wrinkles than? There is so much pressure on everyone to stay young and continue to have that youthful look when they