Sociology of the Family: the Elderly/the Aging.
Be nice to your kids they'll choose your nursing home
Aging may be seen on a biological, social, or psychological level, all of which vary within and across societies. This paper will concentrate on the biological aspect of aging; the elderly. Physical aging is inevitable, and today there are around 34 million Americans over the age of sixty-five. By the year 2030, it is expected that there will be around 80 million elderly Americans. Today most of these American elders manage to live independent lives, however, poverty and high medical bills, physical and social isolation, inequality and discrimination (ageism), are all perfectly present. With the life expectancy of human beings increasing with time, the elderly are a large and rapidly growing group that can be examined from a sociological perspective in relation to the family. Analyzing the latter as an institution and a unit of socialization, while keeping the relationship between the nuclear family and industrial capitalism, allows the elderly in a family to be viewed from economic, social, and political perspectives. Globalization and social change jeopardize the traditional roles of the elderly in a family and in many societies or cultures (where respect and care for them may vary as well). There are many theories of aging: functionalist/disengagement theories (suggesting that the elderly should pull out from their social roles making room for the younger people); activity theory (suggests the importance of elderly being engaged with society for health and vitality); conflict theory (suggest how social institutions result in inequality among the elderly); etc. Basic sociology concepts to explore relating to the elderly include alienation, civil rights, community, culture, freedom, discrimination, equality, freedom, etc. Another area to touch on deals with the aspect of life-long learning, which refers to older-adult learning (geragogy), as well as the possible changes to come, socially, economically, and politically, based on the baby-boomer generation moving into the elder stage. Questions to consider: what is the significance or role of elders in society? What is perceived as right/normal in terms of aging? Who makes what choices when it comes to the elderly (for example in terms of nursing homes)? When did nursing homes become popular and what kinds of consequences/roles to they play? My initial plan for this research paper was to be base it entirely on secondary sources (books, articles, etc.), and I do believe that there is enough documentation, studies, statistics, and research available on sociology of the elderly. However, I am still considering combining it with primary research, which would include interviews with friends and family members.
Books & Article:
Newman, L.
A Woman Like Me
WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly - Volume 37, Numbers 3 & 4, Fall/Winter 2009, pp. 173-175
Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R. Introduction to Sociology (5th ed.) Chapter 12
Article by Daniel Greenfield, Socialized Medicine’s Logic of Killing the Elderly
Article by Tara Parker-Pope on Health, How to Choose A Nursing Home, NY Times Sun. Oct. 17, 2008
Other topics considered:
1) Disabilities
2) Inbreeding
Jorien,
ReplyDeletePerhaps something to consider within the parameter of your research would be the shift in parental roles in aging. As parents age, there is often increased reliance on their children for such things as financial and emotional support, thereby reversing the normative roles of parent to child. It would be interesting to look at how this role transformation plays into ideas of intimacy, ecspecially with regards to gender (daughters v. sons, mothers, v. daughters). It also may be interesting to consider your questions within a socio-economic framework; for example, looking at differences in care along class divides with special notice to those who can't afford nursing homes - who takes care of them?
As for resources, it would be interesting to gain an "insider" view on the topic by looking at the CARP website and magazine to see what they've determined as "newsworthy" and relevant on the issues you've raised. Additionally, if you do decide to use primary interviews, it would interesting to talk to nursing home aides, social workers or nurses to gain a third party view.
Becca
Hi Jorien,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would be very interesting for you to look at the shifts in the parental roles as parents age. I have worked with seniors quite a bit and I find that as a parent becomes a senior there is a slow shift in which their children take on the role of the parent. If you did choose to look at this in your paper you might also want to explore "burn out" experienced by the children who are now taking care of their parents. This is becoming a very large problem in society because children and mostly in my experience women take over the role of care-keeper of their elderly parents while still trying to maintain their normal life which usually includes full time employment and their own family. The added pressure of taking care of their parents often leads to "Burn out" in which the child now turned caretaker can no longer handle the emotional or physical strain of taking care of their parents and maintaining their normal lives.
Jessica