Henslin James M. Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach
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Looking Toward the Future
Let’s not lose sight of one of the major changes stressed in this chapter—that for the first
time in human history huge numbers of people are becoming elderly. It is inevitable that
such a fundamental change will have a powerful impact on societies around the world, so
much so that it might even transform them. We don’t have space to explore such poten-
tial transformations, which are only speculative at the moment, so let’s try to catch a
glimpse of what is happening with the elderly themselves.
A New Model of Aging
As huge numbers of Americans move into old age, the elderly have begun not only to
challenge the demeaning stereotypes of the aged but also to develop new models of
aging. These new approaches build on the idea that old age should not be viewed as
“a-time-close-to-death,” but, rather, as a new period of life, one with its specific chal-
lenges, to be sure, but also one to be enjoyed, even celebrated. This new time of life
provides unique opportunities to pursue interests, to develop creativity, and to enhance
the appreciation of life’s beauty and one’s place in it. Let’s look at how this new model
is being applied.
Creative Aging. In the 1970s, as larger numbers of people became elderly, many said that
having endless amounts of leisure time was not their idea of how to enjoy being old.
Pioneering the view that old age is a time to embark on new learning, they promoted
free, space-available, noncredit attendance at colleges and universities, group travel to his-
torical sites around the world, and the writing of memoirs about the past.
In the second phase, which we are just entering, emphasis is being placed on mental
growth and enhancing people’s creative abilities. An example is “The Colony,” a retirement
home in Hollywood, where the emphasis is on the arts. Residents write and perform plays,
make sculptures, write and record songs, paint, and write novels (Brown 2006). Some
residents, who did none of these things during their preretirement years, have become so
good that they perform on radio and television.
Looking Toward the Future 391
More and more, the goal of the
elderly is to enjoy themselves—
and with more resources at their
disposal, more and more are
able to do so. The goal of the
Red Hat Society, with chapters
around the nation, is simply for
women to have fun.
ThinkingCRITICALLY
How Long Do You Want to Live? Approaching Methuselah
Would you like to live to 200? To 500? To 1,000?
Such a question may strike you as absurd. But with our new and still developing technol-
ogy, science may stretch the life span to limits unheard of since biblical days.
We are just at the beginning stages of genetic engineering, and ahead of us may lie a
brave new world. Technicians may be able to snip out our bad DNA and replace it with
more compliant bits. The caps at the ends of our chromosomes, the telomeres, shrink as
we age, causing the cells to die. An enzyme called telomerase may be able to modify this
process, allowing cells to reproduce many more times than they currently are able to
(Demidov 2005).
By manipulating genes, scientists have been able to extend the life span of worms by
six times. Humans have these same genes. A human life span six times longer than what
we now have would take the longest living people to over 600 (Chase 2003). We are only
peering over the edge of the future, glimpsing what might be possible. Some optimistic
geneticists predict that some people will live 1,000 years or longer (Gorman 2003; Vin-
cent 2006).
Some geneticists compare the human body to a house (Gorman 2003).A house keeps
standing not because it is built to last forever, but because people keep repairing it. In
this envisioned future of scientific advances, we will use stem cells to grow spare body
parts—livers, hearts, kidneys, fingers, and so on.As parts of our body wear out, we will
replace them.
In grade school, many of us heard stories about Ponce de Leon, an explorer from Spain
who searched for the fountain of youth. He eventually “discovered” Florida, but the fountain
of youth eluded him. In our perpetual search for immortality, could we be discovering what
eluded Ponce de Leon?
For Your Consideration
Let’s assume that biomedical science does stretch the human life span, that living to be
150 or 200 becomes common. If people retire at age 65, how could society afford to
support them for 100 years or so? People can’t work much past 70, for—and this may
be the basic flaw in this scenario of a brave new world—even with new body parts, the
392 Chapter 13 THE ELDERLY
This approach to aging is new, so we don’t know the directions it will take. But if
this emphasis continues, it will change how the younger generations view the eld-
erly—as well as how the elderly view themselves. The stereotype of despondent, dis-
engaged old people might even be replaced with a stereotype of robust, engaged,
thriving older adults (Manheimer 2005). No stereotype will encompass the reality of
the elderly, of course, as the aged differ among themselves as much as younger peo-
ple differ. Cultural differences will remain, as will those of social class. “The Colony,”
for example, with its emphasis on developing creativity, is directed toward the mid-
dle class. It seems certain that the poor, with their fewer resources, will not be affected
as directly by creative aging.
The Impact of Technology
Throughout this text, we have examined some of the deep impacts that technology is
having on our lives. To close this chapter, I would like you to reflect on how technologi-
cal breakthroughs might affect your own life as you grow older.
Looking Toward the Future 393
By the Numbers: Then and Now
world would not be filled with 200-year-olds who functioned as though they were 25.
They would be very old people, subject to the diseases and debilities that come with ad-
vanced age. If Medicare costs are bulging at the seams now, what would they be like in
such a world?
Finally, how would you answer this question: Is the real issue how we can live
longer, or how we can live better? Because of medical advances, public health, and bet-
ter nutrition, millions of today’s elderly enjoy good health.This is leading to a new view
of old age—from a time of decay and death to a time of opportunity to pursue inter-
ests and develop talents, to obtain a fresh perspectives and a growing sense of satisfac-
tion with life.
OTHER NUMBERS
Life expectancy
ZIMBABWE
YEARS
JAPAN
YEARS
Percentage of U.S.
elderly in poverty
NOW1970
%%
1900 NOW 2050
Americans age 65 and older
%%%
MEN
WOMEN
10
ASIAN
AMERICANS
20
AFRICAN
AMERICANS
Elderly Americans who are in poverty
%% %%
19 0 0
23
NOW
35
2050
39
Median age in the
United States
Annual Social
Security payments
to beneficiaries
195 0
781
MILLION
$$
NOW
720
BILLION
Life expectancy of
the average American
1900
YEARS
NOW
YEARS
M
e
di
a
n
a
g
e
i
n
t
h
e
Number of workers
paying into
Social Security for
each beneficiary
195 0
16
NOW
4
394 Chapter 13 THE ELDERLY
SUMMARY and REVIEW
Aging in Global Perspective
How are the elderly treated around the world?
No single set of attitudes, beliefs, or policies regarding the
aged characterizes the world’s nations. Rather, they vary
from exclusion and killing to integration and honor. The
global trend is for more people to live longer. P. 368.
What does the social construction of aging mean?
Nothing in the nature of aging produces any particular
set of attitudes. Rather, attitudes toward the elderly are
rooted in culture and differ from one social group to an-
other. Pp. 368–369.
What does the phrase “graying of America” mean?
The phrase graying of America refers to the growing per-
centage of Americans who reach old age. The costs of Social
Security and health care for the elderly have become major
social issues. Pp. 370–372.
The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
What factors influence perceptions of aging?
Symbolic interactionists stress that aging is socially con-
structed. That is, no age has any particular built-in mean-
ing; rather, we use cultural cues to define age. Four factors
influence when people label themselves as “old”: biological
changes, biographical events, gender age, and cultural
timetables. Cross-cultural comparisons demonstrate how
culture shapes the ways that people experience aging.
Ageism, negative reactions to the elderly, is based on stereo-
types. Pp. 372–376.
The Functionalist Perspective
How is retirement functional for society?
Functionalists focus on how the withdrawal of the eld-
erly from positions of responsibility benefits society.
Disengagement theory examines retirement as a device
for ensuring that a society’s positions of responsibility are
passed smoothly from one generation to the next. Activity
theory examines how people adjust when they disengage
from productive roles. Continuity theory focuses on how
people adjust to growing old by maintaining their roles
and coping techniques. Pp. 376–378.
The Conflict Perspective
How do the younger and the elderly compete
for scarce resources?
Social Security legislation is an example of one generation
making demands on another generation for limited re-
sources. As the number of retired people grows, there are
relatively fewer workers to support them. The Social Se-
curity Trust Fund may be a gigantic fraud perpetrated by
the power elite on the nation’s workers. Organizations
such as the Gray Panthers and the AARP watch out for
the interests of the elderly. Pp. 378–383.
Recurring Problems
What are some of the problems that today’s
elderly face?
Women are more likely to live alone and to be poor. At
any one time, about 4 percent of the elderly live in nurs-
ing homes. Nursing homes are understaffed, and neglect-
ing patients is common. Those most likely to abuse the
elderly are members of their own family. Poverty in old
age, greatly reduced through government programs, re-
flects the gender and racial–ethnic patterns of poverty in
the general society. Pp. 384–388.
The Sociology of Death and Dying
How does culture affect the way we experience death
and dying?
Like old age, death is much more than a biological event.
Industrialization brought with it modern medicine,
hospitals—and dying in a formal setting surrounded by
strangers. Kübler-Ross identified five stages in the dying
process, which, though insightful, do not characterize all
people. Hospices are a cultural device designed to over-
come the negative aspects of dying in hospitals. Suicide is
most common after age 75. Pp. 388–390.
Looking Toward the Future
What technological developments can be a wild card
in social planning for the aged?
The huge numbers of elderly who are in good health are
fostering a new view of old age—as a time of creativity
and personal development. Technological breakthroughs
may stretch the human life span. If so, it is difficult to
see how younger workers would be able to support re-
tired people for 100 years or longer. Pp. 391–393.
Summary and Review 395
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT Chapter 13
1. How does culture influence people’s ideas about the elderly
and when old age begins? Can you identify cultural changes
that are likely to affect your own perceptions of the onset
of old age and of the elderly?
2. How do the symbolic interactionist, functionalist, and conflict
perspectives on the elderly differ?
3. If you were appointed to head the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, how would you improve the
nation’s nursing homes?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
What can you find in MySocLab? www.mysoclab.com
• Complete Ebook
• Practice Tests and Video and Audio activities
• Mapping and Data Analysis exercises
• Sociology in the News
• Classic Readings in Sociology
• Research and Writing advice
Where Can I Read More on This Topic?
Suggested readings for this chapter are listed at the back of this book.
The Economy
14
Chapter
f you are like most students, you are wondering
how changes in the economy are going to affect
your chances of getting a good job. Let’s see if we can shed
some light on this question. We’ll begin with this story:
“Not Monday already,” Kim groaned as the alarm went off.
“There must be a better way
of starting the week.” With
her eyes still closed, she
pressed the snooze button on
the clock (from Germany) to
sneak another ten minutes’
sleep. In what seemed like just
thirty seconds, the alarm once again shrilly insisted that she get up
and face the week.
Still bleary-eyed after her shower, Kim peered into her closet
and picked out a silk blouse (from China), a plaid wool skirt (from
Scotland), and leather shoes (from Italy). She nodded, satisfied, as
she added a pair of simulated pearls (from Taiwan). Running late,
she hurriedly ran a brush (from Mexico) through her hair. As Kim
wolfed down a bowl of cereal (from the United States) topped with
milk (from the United States), bananas (from Costa Rica), and
sugar (from the Dominican Republic), she turned on her kitchen
television (from Korea) to listen to the weather forecast.
Gulping the last of her coffee (from Brazil), Kim grabbed her
briefcase (from India), purse (from Spain), and jacket (from
Malaysia), left her house, and quickly climbed into her car (from
Japan). As she glanced at her watch (from Switzerland), she hoped
that the traffic would be in her favor. She muttered to herself as she
pulled up at a stoplight (from Great Britain) and eyed her gas
gauge. She muttered again when she pulled into a station and paid
for gas (from Saudi Arabia), for the price had risen over the week-
end. “My paycheck never keeps up with prices,” she moaned.
When Kim arrived at work, she found the office abuzz. Six
months ago, New York headquarters had put the company up for
sale, but there had been no takers. The big news was that both a
Chinese company and a Canadian company had put in bids over
the weekend. No one got much work done that day, as the whole
office speculated about how things might change.
As Kim walked to the parking lot after work, she saw a tattered
“Buy American” bumper sticker on the car next to hers. “That’s
right,” she said to herself. “If people were more like me, this coun-
try would be in better shape.”
I
She said to herself,“If
people were more like
me, this country would
be in better shape.”
397
New York City
The Transformation of Economic Systems
Although this vignette may be slightly exaggerated, many of us are like Kim: We use a mul-
titude of products from around the world, and yet we’re concerned about our country’s
ability to compete in global markets. Today’s economy—our system of producing and dis-
tributing goods and services—differs radically from past economies. The products that
Kim uses make it apparent that today’s economy knows no national boundaries. To better
understand how global forces affect the U.S. economy—and your life—let’s begin by sum-
marizing the sweeping historical changes we reviewed in Chapter 6.
Preindustrial Societies: The Birth of Inequality
The earliest human groups, hunting and gathering societies, had a subsistence economy.
In small groups of about twenty-five to forty, people lived off the land. They gathered
plants and hunted animals in one location and then moved to another place as these
sources of food ran low. Because these people had few possessions, they did little trading
with one another. With no excess to accumulate, as was mentioned in Chapter 6, every-
body owned as much (or, really, as little) as everyone else.
Then people discovered how to breed animals and cultivate plants. The more de-
pendable food supply in what became pastoral and horticultural societies allowed hu-
mans to settle down in a single place. Human groups grew larger, and for the first time
in history, it was no longer necessary for everyone to work at producing food. Some peo-
ple became leather workers, others weapon makers, and so on. This new division of
labor produced a surplus, and groups traded items with one another. The primary so-
ciological significance of surplus and trade is this: They fostered social inequality, for
some people accumulated more possessions than others. The effects of that change re-
main with us today.
The plow brought the next major change, ushering in agricultural societies. Plowing
the land made it more productive, allowing even more people to specialize in activities
other than producing food. More specialized divisions of labor followed, and trade
expanded. Trading centers then developed, which turned into cities. As power passed from
the heads of families and clans to a ruling elite, social, political, and economic inequali-
ties grew.
398 Chapter 14 THE ECONOMY
economy a system of pro-
ducing and distributing goods
and services
subsistence economy
a type of economy in which
human groups live off the land
and have little or no surplus
The commonsense meaning of
market is a place where people
exchange or buy and sell goods.
Such old-fashioned markets
remain common in the Least
Industrialized Nations, such as
this floating one in Bangkok,
Thailand. Here people find the
social interaction every bit as
rewarding as the goods and
money that they exchange.
Industrial Societies: The Birth of the Machine
The steam engine, invented in 1765, ushered in industrial societies. Based on machines
powered by fuels, these societies created a surplus unlike anything the world had seen.
This, too, stimulated trade among nations and brought even greater social inequality.
A handful of individuals opened factories and exploited the labor of many.
Then came more efficient machines. As the surpluses grew even greater, the emphasis
gradually changed—from producing goods to consuming them. In 1912, sociologist
Thorstein Veblen coined the term conspicuous consumption to describe this funda-
mental change in people’s orientations. By this term, Veblen meant that the Protestant
ethic identified by Weber—an emphasis on hard work, savings, and a concern for salva-
tion (discussed on page 176)—was being replaced by an eagerness to show off wealth by
the “elaborate consumption of goods.”
Postindustrial Societies: The Birth of the Information Age
In 1973, sociologist Daniel Bell noted that a new type of society was emerging. This new
society, which he called the postindustrial society, has six characteristics: (1) a service sec-
tor so large that most people work in it, (2) a vast surplus of goods, (3) even more exten-
sive trade among nations, (4) a wider variety and quantity of goods available to the average
person, (5) an information explosion, and (6) a global village—that is, the world’s nations
are linked by fast communications, transportation, and trade.
Biotech Societies: The Merger of Biology and Economics
As we discussed in Chapter 6, we may be on the verge of yet another new type of so-
ciety. This one is being ushered in by advances in biology, especially the deciphering
of the human genome system. While the specifics of this new society have yet to un-
fold, the marriage of biology and economics should yield even greater surpluses and
more extensive trade. The global village will continue to expand. The technological ad-
vances that will emerge in this new society may also allow us to lead longer and health-
ier lives. As history is our guide, it also may create even greater inequality between the
rich and poor nations.
Implications for Your Life
The broad changes in societies that I have just sketched may seem to be abstract matters,
but they are far from irrelevant to your life. Whenever society changes, so do our lives.
Consider the information explosion. When you graduate from college, you will most
likely do some form of “knowledge work.” Instead of working in a factory, you will man-
age information or design, sell, or service products. The type of work you do has pro-
found implications for your life. It produces social networks, nurtures attitudes, and even
affects how you view yourself and the world. To better understand this, consider how
vastly different your outlook on life would be if you were one of the children discussed
in the Cultural Diversity box on the next page.
It is the same with the global village. Think of the globe as being divided into three
neighborhoods—the three worlds of industrialization and postindustrialization that we
reviewed in Chapter 9. Some nations are located in the poor part of the village. Their
citizens do menial work and barely eke out a living. Life is so precarious that some even
starve to death, while their fellow villagers in the rich neighborhood feast on the best
that the globe has to offer. It’s the same village, but what a difference the neighborhood
makes.
Now visualize any one of the three neighborhoods. Again you will see gross inequali-
ties. Not everyone who lives in the poor neighborhood is poor, and some areas of the rich
neighborhood are packed with poor people. The United States is the global economic
leader, occupying the most luxurious mansion in the best neighborhood and is spearhead-
ing the new biotech society.
The Transformation of Economic Systems 399
conspicuous consumption
Thorstein Veblen’s term for a
change from the Protestant
ethic to an eagerness to show
off wealth by the consumption
of goods
400 Chapter 14 THE ECONOMY
Cultural Diversity around the World
The Child Workers
N
ine-year-old Alone Banda
works in an abandoned
quarry in Zambia. Using a
bolt, he breaks rocks into powder. In
a week, he makes enough powder to
fill half a cement bag. Alone gets $3
for the half bag.
The amount is pitiful, but without
it he and his grandmother would
starve to death.
It is still a slow death for Alone.
Robbed of his childhood and breath-
ing rock dust continuously, Alone is
likely to come down with what the
quarry workers call a “heavy chest,”
an early sign of silicosis.
Some of the children who work at
the quarry are only 7 years old. As
one mother said,“If I feel pity for
them, what are they going to eat?”
(Wines 2006a).
In Ghana, 6-year-old Mark
Kwadwo, who weighs about 30
pounds, works for a fisherman. For
up to fourteen hours a day, seven
days a week, he paddles a boat and
takes fish out of nets. If Mark doesn’t
paddle hard enough, or pull in the
fish from the nets fast enough,Takyi
hits him on the head with a paddle.
Exhausted, Mark falls asleep at night
in a mud hut that he shares with five
other boys.
Mark is too little to dive, but he
knows what is coming when he is
older. His fear is that he will dive
to free a tangled net—and never
resurface.
“I prefer to have my boy home
with me,” says the mother of Kwabena, whom she
leased to the fisherman four years ago when
Kwabena was 7,“but I need the money to survive.”
Kwabena’s mother has received $66
for the four years’ work (LaFraniere
2006).
Some children work in construc-
tion (see the photo on page 232),
others in factories (Barboza 2008).
Children work as miners, pesticide
sprayers, street vendors, and house-
hold servants. They weave carpet in
India, race camels in the Middle East,
and, all over the world, work as
prostitutes.The poverty in some
areas is so severe that the few dol-
lars the children earn makes the dif-
ference between life and death. In
Ghana, where Mark works on the
fishing boat, two out of three people
live on less than $1 a day
(LaFraniere 2006).
Besides poverty, there is also a
cultural factor. In many parts of the
world, people view children differ-
ently than we do in the West.The
idea that children have the right to be
educated and to be spared from adult
burdens is fairly new in history. A
major factor shaping our views of life
is economics, and when prosperity
comes to these other countries, so
will this new perspective.
For Your Consideration
How do you think the wealthier na-
tions can help alleviate the suffering
of child workers? Before industrializa-
tion, and for a period afterwards, hav-
ing children work was also common
in the West. Just because our eco-
nomic system has changed, bringing
with it different ideas of childhood and of the
rights of children, what right do we have to im-
pose our changed ideas on other nations?
The answer to “What is the proper role of
children in an economy?” varies by social
class, culture, economic development, and
historical period. On the top is a boy work-
ing in a Pennsylvania coal mine about
1880. On the bottom is a girl working in a
rice field in Madagascar today.