Chapter 3
Chapter 3
p. 93
social happiness and joy only when she was allowed truly to be herself—a little girl (Erderly, 2013).
reproduction The experiences of Caitlyn Jenner and Coy Mathis—and the public response (whether
The process whereby supportive or critical) from observers worldwide—¡Ilústrate the importance and complexities
societies have structural of socialization to everyday life. Sociologists are interested in the processes through which
continuity over time. a young child such as Coy learns to become a member of society, complying with (or reject-
Social reproduction is an ing) society’s ever-evolving expectations for how one should act, think, feel, and even dress.
important pathway through
Social institutions—such as schools in Coy’s case or sports in Jenner's case—and social actors
which parents transmit or
produce valúes, norms, encourage conformity to contemporary social norms through praise and discourage noncon-
and social practices among formity through punishment and disapproval. Yet social institutions change over time, and
their children. the forces that socialize children shift accordingly. Try to imagine how Jenner's classmates
and parents might have reacted if she had identified and dressed as a girl when she
was a young child in the early 1950s. Contrast this with the support that Coy received from
resocialization her parents and most of her classmates in the 2010s. The study of socialization embodies a
The process of learning core theme of the "sociological imagination," that our lives are a product of both individual
new norms, valúes, and
biographies and sociohistorical context (Mills, 1959).
behaviors when one joins
a new group or takes on Socialization is the process whereby infants become self-aware, knowledgeable
a new social role or when persons, skilled in the ways of their culture and historical time period. The socialization of
one's life circumstances young persons contributes to the phenomenon of social reproduction—the process whereby
change dramatically. societies have structural continuity over time. During socialization, especially in the early years,
children learn the ways of their parents and ancestors, thereby carrying on their valúes, norms,
FAMILIES
Because family systems vary worldwide, the range of family contacts that an infant
experiences also varíes widely across cultures. The mother tends to be the most important
individual in a child’s early life, but the nature of the relationships established between
mothers and their children is influenced by the form and regularity of their contact.
In modern societies, most early socialization occurs within a small-scale or nuclear
family context. Most American children spend their early years within a domestic unit
comprising one or two parents and perhaps one or two other children, although the
proportion of children growing up in two-parent households is lower now than it has been
in prior decades (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2015J). In many other cultures, by contrast,
aunts, úneles, and grandparents are often part of a single household and may also serve as
caretakers for very young infants. Even within U.S. society, family contexts vary widely.
Some children are brought up in single-parent households; some are cared for by one
biological and one nonbiological parent (for example, a divorced parent and a stepparent
or parents in a same-sex relationship). The majority of mothers are now employed outside
the home and return to their paid work shortly after the births of their children. Despite
these variations, families typically remain the major agent of socialization from infancy
Families are a key site
of social reproduction. to adolescence and beyond.
Children model the behavior The centrality of family as an agent of socialization has changed throughout history.
of their parents. In this In most traditional societies, the family into which a person was born largely determined
way. valúes and behaviors the individual’s social class position for the rest of their life. In modern societies, the
are reproduced across
social class or región into which an individual is born affect patterns of socialization, but
generations.
they are less deterministic and may be counterbalanced by social relations outside
one’s family. Children pick up ways of behaving from their parents but also from others in
/\ their neighborhood or community. Patterns of child rearing and discipline, together with
contrasting valúes and expectations, are found in different sectors of large-scale societies.
SCHOOLS
Schools are another important socializing agent. Schooling is a formal process: Students
pursue a clearly defined curriculum of subjects. Yet schools are agents of socialization in
more subtle respects. Students must be punctual, stay quiet in class, obey their teachers,
and observe rules of discipline. How teachers react to their students, in turn, affects the
students’ views and expectations of themselves. These expectations also become linked to
later job experiences when students leave school. Peer groups are often formed at school,
and the system of keeping children in classes according to age reinforces their impact.
Another key mechanism through which schools socialize children is the hidden hidden
curriculum, which refers to the subtle ways in which teachers expose students with curriculum
different social identities—boys, girls, and those with fluid gender identities; middle class Traits of behavior or
versus working class; and Black versus White—to different messages and curricular mate- attitudes that are learned
at school but not included
rials. In Chapter 12, we delve more fully into the ways that schools socialize children,
in the formal curricu
often unwittingly perpetuating race, class, and gender inequalities.
lum; for example, gender
differences.
PEER RELATIONSHIPS
Another socializing agency is the peer group. Peer groups consist of individuáis of a
peergroup
similar age. The family’s importance in socialization is obvious because the experience of
A group composed of indi
the infant and young child is shaped more or less exclusively within it. It is less appar-
viduáis of similar age and
ent, especially to those of us living in Western societies, how significant peer groups are.
social status.
Children over age 4 or 5 usually spend a great deal of time in the company of friends
the same age. Given the high proportion of working parents whose young children play
together in day-care centers and preschool, peer relations are more important than ever
before (Corsaro, 1997; Harris, 1998).
Peer relations are likely to have a significant effect beyond childhood and adolescence.
Informal groups of people of similar ages, at work and in other situations, are usually
of enduring importance in shaping individuáis’ altitudes and behavior. Peer groups also
play an important role in changing norms, with contemporary peer groups upholding
or promoting behaviors that might not have been supported in earlier generations.
WORK
Across all cultures, work is an important setting within which socialization processes
opérate, although it is only in industrial societies that large numbers of people go to
places of work sepárate from the home. In traditional communities, many people farm
the land cióse to where they live or have workshops in their dwellings. “Work” in such
communities is not as clearly distinct from other activities as it is for most members of
the workforce in the modern West. In industrialized countries, joining the workforce
ordinarily marks a much greater transition in an individuáis life than beginning work
in traditional societies does. Over the past two decades, however, rising numbers of
workers have begun to carry out their jobs at home, fueled in part by email and the
Internet, although the overall numbers are still modest. About 5 percent of U.S. workers,
numbering more than 8 million, worked exclusively at home in 2017—a steep increase
over the 3 percent rate in 2000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019b). As many as one in
four do at least some paid work at home, with the option of working at home more com-
mon among professional and managerial workers (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016).
Ihe work environment often poses unfamiliar demands, perhaps calling for major
adjustments in a person’s outlook or behavior. In addition to mastering the specific tasks
of their job and internalizing company policies and practices, many workers also need
to learn how to “feel” on the job. Sociologist Arlie Hochschild (1983) has documented
the ways that workers, especially women workers, learn to feel and then display
socially acceptable emotions at work. For instance, flight attendants learn to keep a
calm and cool demeanor, even when dealing with a surly passenger or flying through
extreme turbulence. Health care workers, morticians, firefighters, and soldiers must also
Social Roles
Through socialization, individuáis learn about social roles—socially defined
expectations for a person in a given social position. The social role of doctor, for
example, encompasses a set of behaviors that should be enacted by all individ
ual doctors, regardless of their personal opinions or outlooks. Because all doctors
share this role, it is possible to speak in general terms about the professional behav-
ior of doctors, regardless of the specific individuáis who occupy that position.
Some sociologists, particularly those associated with the functionalist school,
regard social roles as fixed and relatively unchanging parts of a society’s cul
ture. According to this view, individuáis learn the expectations associated with
social positions in their particular culture and perform those roles largely as they
have been defined. Social roles do not involve negotiation or creativity. Rather,
they prescribe, contain, and direct an individual’s behavior. Through socialization,
individuáis internalize social roles and learn how to carry them out.
This view, however, is mistaken. It suggests that individuáis simply take
on roles rather than creating or negotiating them. Socialization is a process in
which humans can exercise agency; we are not simply passive subjects waiting to
be instructed or programmed. Individuáis come to understand and assume social
roles through an ongoing process of social interaction.
Identity
The cultural settings in which we are born and mature to adulthood influence our behav
ior, but that does not mean that humans lack individuality or the freedom to make choices.
Some sociologists do tend to write about socialization as though this were the case.
But such a view is fundamentally flawed—socialization is also at the origin of every
social roles
person’s individuality and freedom. In the course of socialization, each of us develops a
Socially defined expecta
sense of identity and the capacity for independent thought and action.
tions of an individual in a
given status or occupying
Identity is a multifaceted concept—it relates to the understandings people hold about
a particular social position. who they are and what is meaningful to them. Some of the main sources of identity inelude
In every society, individu gender, sexual orientation, nationality or ethnicity, and social class. Sociologists typi-
áis play a number of social cally speak of two types of identity: social identity and self-identity (or personal identity).
roles, such as teenager,
Social identity refers to the characteristics that other people attribute to an individ
parent, worker, or political
ual. These can be seen as markers that indicate who the individual is. At the same time,
leader.
they place that individual in relation to other individuáis who share the same attributes.
Examples of social identities inelude student, parent, lawyer, Catholic, Asían, dyslexic, and
social identity married. Nearly all individuáis have more than one social identity, reflecting the many
The characteristics that dimensions of humans’ lives. A person could simultaneously be a parent, an engineer,
other people attribute to an a Muslim, and a city council member. Although this plurality of social identities can be
individual. a potential source of conflict, most individuáis organize meaning and experience in
their lives around a primary identity that is fairly continuous across time and place.
Gender Socialization
As we learned in the case of Coy Mathis, gender influences every aspect of daily life. How
children dress and speak, the toys they play with, the activities in which they engage,
and how others view children are all powerfully shaped by gender. Yet, the norms and
expectations about how one “should” behave as a boy or girl must be, in part, learned.
Agents of socialization play an important role in how children learn gender roles. Let's
now turn to the study of gender socialization: the learning of gender roles through gender
social factors such as the family and the media. socialization
The learning of gender
REACTIONS OF PARENTS AND ADULTS roles through social fac
Sociologists have conducted many studies on the degree to which gender differences tors such as schooling, the
media, and family.
are the result of social influences. Classic studies of mother-infant interaction show
differences in the treatment of boys and girls even when parents believe their reactions to
both are the same. Adults asked to assess the personality of a baby give different answers
according to whether they believe the child to be a girl or a boy. In one experiment,
five young mothers were observed while interacting with a 6-month-old named Beth.
They tended to smile at her often and offer her dolls to play with. She was seen as “sweet"
with a “soft cry.” The reaction of a second group of mothers to a child the same age, named
Adam, was noticeably different. The baby was likely to be offered a train or other “male"
toys to play with. Beth and Adam were actually the same child, dressed in different clothes
(Will, Self, and Datan, 1976).
GENDER LEARNING
Gender learning by infants is almost certainly unconscious. Before a child can accu-
rately label itself as either a boy or a girl, it receives a range of preverbal cues. For instance,
male and female adults usually handle infants differently. The cosmetics women use
contain scents different from those the baby might learn to associate with males.
Systematic differences in dress, hairstyle, and so on provide visual cues for the infant
in the learning process. By age 2, children have a partial understanding of what gender
is. They know whether they are boys or girls, and they can usually categorize others
accurately. Not until age 5 or 6, however, does a child know that everyone has gender
and that sex differences between girls and boys are anatomically based.
Parents play a pivotal role in gender learning, often unintentionally. Children's ear-
liest exposure to what it means to be male or female comes from their parents. From the
time their children are newborns, parents interact with their daughters and sons differ
ently. They may dress their sons in blue and daughters in pink or speak to girls in softer
and gentler tones than they do with boys. One classic study found that parents have
different expectations for their sons and daughters as early as one day after they are born,
where infant girls are described as “soft” and “pretty” and boys as “energetic” and “strong"
(Rubín et al., 1974). It's not surprising, then, that as children become toddlers, parents
(especially fathers) engage in more rough-and-tumble play with boys and hold more
give-and-take conversations with girls (Lytton and Romney, 1991). Even parents who
are sensitive to gender-equity issues and who challenge the notion of the male/female
dichotomy may send subtle messages related to gender—messages that the developing
child internalizes. Sex-role stereotypes and subtle messages about appropriate gendered
behavior are so powerful that even when children are exposed to diverse attitudes
and experiences, they may revert to stereotyped choices—especially in sociocultural
and historical contexts that adhere to gendered social roles and expectations (Haslett
et al., 1992).
The "pink is for girls, blue ¡s for boys" mantra is still surprisingly and grow (or shave off) a beard or mustache. The hair salón
common among toy makers today. Stroll down any aislé at a clientele are a hodgepodge of men and women, boys and girls,
major toy store (or type "toys for girls" and "toys for boys" into and clients whose gender is ambiguous. As Mathilda Engman,
an Amazon search), and it's olear that girls’ toys are still fifty the head of consumer products at Toca Boca, explained, hair
shades of fuchsia, while boys' toys typicatly come in more "mas- salons are traditionally thought of as "very targeted toward girls,
culine" colors like blue, gray, or btack. But some app developers glamour, looks, and beauty. Ours is the opposite—it’s about the
are working hard to fight this gender divide with fun activities creativity of cutting hair and styling hair.... Characters have that
that eschew and even challenge the gender binary. quirkiness so that they’re inviting for everyone” (Miller, 2016).
Take, for example, the app Robot Factory, which you might Other apps are designed to show boys and girls that they can
have played with when you were younger. This game allows choose whatever career they like rather than sticking with gen-
children to make their own robots by dragging different parts and dered options. For instance, the app Little Farmers shows both
limbs onto a body; imaginative users can build insects, animáis, male and female characters using big machinery and farm equip-
extraterrestrials, or humans. Robot Factory is extremely popular, ment, while the Cool Careers Dress Up app allows users to choose
but that wasn’t always the case. The first iteration of the app was outfits for women doctors, astronauts, scientists, and Computer pro-
very different from the final product. The original design included grammers rather than just fashion models (Gudmundsen, 2017).
only body parts for "traditionaf'-looking robots (similar to Star Experts believe that children's apps present a unique oppor
Wars droids). When the designers tested the app with children, tunity to challenge the gender binary in ways that other toys can-
they were surprised to learn that both boys and girls referred to not. The "packaging” of computer-based games—the tablet or
the robots as "he." Troubled by this, the designers went back to the smartphone—is gender neutral, unlike the pink and blue boxes
drawing board and gave the children myriad new options to make that line the shelves of brick-and-mortar toy stores, says Jess
robots of all shapes, sizes, genders, and breeds and expanded the Day of Let Toys Be Toys, a British-based initiative aimed at pro-
color palette from gray to all the hues of the rainbow. moting gender fluidity in children’s toys and technologies. Others
Their reinvention was a hit with boys and girls alike. According to believe the key to having apps that appeal to boys and girls alike,
Raúl Gutiérrez, CEO of Tinybop, the company behind Robot Factory, and that promote gender inclusiveness, is having more apps
when children played with the redesigned app, they made robots designed by women and nonbinary persons. According to a 2017
that looked like boys, girls, and children of ambiguous gender. survey of game developers, fully 74 percent ¡dentify as men and
Another app designed to appeal to both boys and girls—and to 21 percent as women; 5 percent identify as transgender, androg-
challenge the gender binary in the process—is Toca Hair Salón. ynous, or nonbinary or do not specify (Gough, 2019). Initiatives
The app is set in a multicolored hair salón, and children have the like Girls Who Code aim to encourage more girls to become
opportunity to cut and style customers' hair however they like. interested in Computer programming and app design. As app
They can shave it off, straighten curts, give a perm or an updo, designers become more diverse, so too will the apps themselves.
>
Children’s toys, picture books, and televisión programs
also tend to follow stereotypical patterns. Both Online and brick-
and-mortar stores usually categorize their products by gender,
whether toys or shoes or umbrellas. Even toys that seem neutral
in terms of gender are not always so in practice. For example,
toy kittens and rabbits might be thought of as appropriate for
girls, whereas lions and tigers are seen as more appropriate
for boys. Similarly, boys are typically expected to dress up like
ninjas or superheroes for Halloween, whereas girls are expected
to dress up like princesses or other highly “feminine” characters.
But these stark gender divides are historically bound.
Cultural analyses have found that the “blue is for boys, pink
is for girls” divide is a twentieth-century social construction.
«M*. In the nineteenth century and early decades of the twenti-
eth century, boys and girls wore similar colors, mostly white
(Paoletti, 2012). However, in the postwar era in the United
States, the pink-blue gender divide emerged, and it persisted
on and off throughout the late twentieth century. Yet the
trend appears to be coming full circle, with retailers and shop-
pers alike abandoning this convention. For example, in 2015,
Target, the nation’s largest retailer, stopped dividing their toy
sections into “boy" and “girl” sections and also discontinued
In her “Pink & Blue project, photographer JeongMee
the pink- and blue-colored walls previously used to draw
Yoon records girls’ obsession with the color pink. What are
the implications of the gender-typed packaging and color attention to gender-typed toys. Recognizing that nearly every
coding that we see in children’s toys and clothing? product for children is gender typed, Target management also
stopped dividing up other departments by gender, such as
bedding. Boys and girls might be equally likely to want a Star
Wars or a Dora the Explorer comforter (Luckerson, 2015). The
notion that gender-neutral toys are healthy for all children is
rapidly spreading, with more and more manufacturers abandoning gender-typed colors
and designs of their toys.
Similarly, children’s books and televisión shows teach important, though subtle, les-
sons about gender. Scholarly analyses of children's books and TV shows find that girls are
highly underrepresented. More recent research suggests a slight change but notes that
the bulk of children’s literature remains the same (McCabe et al., 2011). Children’s books
feature many more men and boys as lead characters than women and girls. Even when
characters are animáis, they tend to be male (McCabe et al., 2011).
Although there are exceptions, analyses of children’s televisión programs and video
games match the findings about children's books. In the most popular cartoons and games,
most leading figures are male, and males domínate the active pursuits (Leaper and Bigler,
2018). Similar images appear in commercials advertising children’s foods and toys. For
instance, researchers recently examined the ways that boys and girls are portrayed in chil
dren's programming on three networks: Disney Channel, Cartoon NetWork, and Nickelodeon
(Hentges and Case, 2013). Boy characters outnumbered girls three to two, and there was
some evidence that characters were depicted behaving in stereotypical ways, where boys
were more likely to be aggressive “rescuers” and girls were more likely to show affection.
Childhood
In modern societies, childhood is a clear and distinct stage of Ufe between infancy and ado-
lescence. Yet the concept of childhood, like so many other aspects of social Ufe today, has
come into being only over the past two or three centuries. In earlier societies, young people
moved directly from a lengthy infancy into working roles within the community. French
historian Philippe Aries (1965) argued that “childhood," conceived of as a sepárate phase of
development, did not exist in medieval times. In the paintings of medieval Europe, children
are portrayed as little adults, with mature faces and the same style of dress as their elders.
Until the early twentieth century, in the United States and most other Western coun-
tries, children were put to work at what now seems a very young age. There are countries
in the world today, in fact, where young children are engaged in full-time work, some-
times in physically demanding circumstances (for example, in coal mines). According to
the International Labor Organization, more than 152 million child laborers—one in every
ten children globally—are working today (U.S. Department of Labor, 2018). The ideas
that children have distinctive rights and that child labor is morally wrong are quite recent
developments that have not yet been achieved worldwide.
Because of the prolonged period of childhood that we recognize today, modern soci
eties are in some respects more child centered than traditional ones. Parents are viewed
as the solé protectors of their children, and parents who behave in ways that may be con-
sidered hurtful to their children are judged harshly. For instance, not all the parents at
Eagleside Elementary were supportive of Kathryn and Jeffrey Mathis’s decisión to allow
Coy to identify as a girl.
This Madonna and Child,
It seems possible that, as a result of changes currently occurring in modern societies,
painted in the thirteenth
century by Duccio di
the sepárate character of childhood is diminishing. Some observers have suggested that
Buoninsegna, depicts the children now grow up too fast. Even small children may watch the same televisión pro-
infant Jesús with a mature grams and use the same apps as adults, thereby becoming much more familiar early on
face. Until recently. children with the adult world than preceding generations did.
in Western society were
viewed as little adults.
The Teenager
The idea of the teenager also didn't exist until the early twentieth century, when compul-
sory education and child labor laws were enacted in Western countries. Prior to that time,
teenagers were not required to attend school, so adolescence was a time for working in
distinct ceremonies that signal a person’s transition to adulthood, the process of psycho- significance of race.
Young Adulthood
Young adulthood, also referred to as “emerging adulthood,” is typically defined as roughly
ages 20 to 30 (Arnett, 2000). This period is considered a transition between the carefree
years of childhood and adolescence and the responsibilities of marriage, parenthood, and
home ownership that often accompany mid-adulthood. Part of the reason for the emergence
of this distinctive life course stage is that scholars have observed a “delayed transition to
adulthood" among young people in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Particularly among more affluent groups, people in their early twenties take the time to
travel; go to college or gradúate school; explore sexual, political, and religious affiliations; try
out different careers; and date and live with several romantic partners. The importance of
this postponement of the responsibilities of full adulthood is likely to increase, given the
extended period of education and career exploration many people now undergo.
Although it is difñcult to pinpoint precisely when one makes the “transition to adult
hood” one team of researchers identified five benchmarks of adulthood: leaving one's
parents’ home, finishing school, getting married, having a child, and achieving financial
independence. In 1960, fully 65 percent of men and 77 percent of women had achieved all
five benchmarks by age 30. By contrast, only 25 percent of men and 39 percent of women
had done so in 2010 (Furstenberg and Kennedy, 2013: Furstenberg et al., 2004). These
statistics clearly show that today the transition to adulthood is delayed and that some
benchmarks historically considered signifiers of adulthood, such as becoming a parent,
may now be less central to one's identity as an adult (Figure 3.1).
60
midlife is distinct from other life course
stages in that there is not an “ofñcial” or
40
legal age of entry. For example, American
youth become legal adults at age 18, whereas
20
age 65 is generally believed to signify the
transition to oíd age. One’s entry to mid
0
Living on Ever Living with In the Owns a life, by contrast, tends to be signified by
their own married a child labor forcé home the social roles one adopts (or relinquishes).
While some scholars believe that meno-
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2016b.
pause, or the loss of reproductive potential,
signáis women's transition to midlife, others
believe that for both men and women, midlife is marked by transitions such as the “empty
nest” stage.
Midlife is also a psychological turning point where men and women may assess
their past choices and accomplishments and make new choices that prepare them for the
second half of life. Keeping a forward-looking outlook in middle age has taken on par
ticular importance in modern societies. Most people do not expect to be doing the same
thing their whole lives, as was the case for the majority in traditional cultures. For example,
midlife persons today are more likely than ever to divorce, a phenomenon that has been
called “gray divorce.” One of the reasons why some people in their fifties and sixties end
their marriages is that they recognize that they have many years of life ahead, and they
choose to leave behind unsatisfying marriages in favor of singlehood or new romantic
partnerships (Brown and Lin, 2012).
Later Life
Oíd age has been reinvented in recent decades, as older adults have come to comprise
an increasingly large share of the population both in the United States and worldwide.
In 1900, just 4 percent of the U.S. population was age 65 or older. By 2018, that pro-
portion exceeded 15 percent (Carr, 2019). The same trend is found in all industrially
advanced countries. Alongside these population shifts, the social roles of older adults
have shifted as well.
Surviving until the life course stage of “eider" in a traditional culture often marked
the pinnacle of an individuáis status. Older people were normally accorded a great deal of
respect and had a say over matters of importance to the community. Within families, the
authority of both men and women typically increased with age. In industrialized societ
ies, by contrast, older people tend to lack authority within both the family and the wider
community.
80
70
ac5
5 60
in
| 50
-j
I 40
te
ui
CD
| 30
z
20
10
0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050
i----------- ,----------- '
Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2011a; Vespa, Armstrong, and Medina, 2018. projected
ways. The most recent theories have been more multifaceted, focusing on the ways in
which older persons actively create their lives within specific institutional contexts
(Bengtson and Settersten, 2016).
THE FIRST GENERATION OF THEORIES: FUNCTIONALISM
The earliest theories of aging reflected the functionalist approach that was dominant
in sociology during the 1950S and 1960S. They emphasized how individuáis adjusted to
changing social roles as they aged and how those roles were useful to society. The earliest
theories often assumed that aging brings with it physical and psychological decline and
that changing social roles have to take this decline into account (Hendricks, 1992).
Talcott Parsons, one of the most influential functionalist theorists of the 1950S,
argued that U.S. society needs to find roles for older persons consistent with advanced
disengagement age. He expressed concern that the United States, with its emphasis on youth and its avoid-
theory ance of death, had failed to provide roles that adequately drew on the potential wisdom
A functionalist theory of and maturity of its older citizens. Moreover, given the graying of U.S. society that
aging that holds that it is was evident even in Parsons’s time, he believed that this failure could well lead to older
functional for society to
people becoming discouraged and alienated from society. To achieve a "healthy matu
remove people from their
traditional roles when they
rity,” Parsons (1960) argued, older adults need to adjust psychologically to their changed
become elderly, thereby circumstances, while society needs to redefine the social roles of older persons.
freeing up those roles for Parsons’s ideas set the foundation for disengagement theory, the notion that it is func-
others. tional for society to remove people from their traditional roles when they become older,
thereby freeing up those roles for other, younger persons (Cumming and Henry, 1961; Estes,
Individuáis pass through a number of key transitions during the course of their lives. The transition to adulthood, often
indicated by benchmarks such as getting married and having children, is being delayed today, especially in high-income
countries. In many northern and western European nations, young adults have their first child before marriage while in
cohabitating relationships.
Mean age at first marriage' Mean age at first birth* Life expectancy at birth*
Uzbekistán
Poland
United States
Israel
30.3 (2018)
31.6 (2018)
Netherlands
33.5 (2018)
Iceland
34.0 (2018)
Sweden
like other Americans, they are diverse with respect to health: Although some suffer from
mental and physical disabilities, most lead active, independent lives.
Health Problems
The prevalence of chronic disabilities among the older population has declined in recent
years, and most older adults rate their health as reasonably good and free of major disabilities
(Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, 2016). Still, older people suffer from
more health problems than most younger people, and health difficulties often increase with
advancing age. In 2015, nearly one-third of all people age 65 and older who live independently
reported suffering from arthritis, 29 percent had heart disease, and 27 percent had diabetes
(Administration on Aging [AOA], 2018). The percentage of people needing help with daily
activities increases with age: Only 4 percent of adults between the ages of 65 and 74 report
needing help with personal care, yet this figure rises to 9 percent for people between
75 and 84 and to 20 percent for people over 85 (AOA, 2018).
The world population ¡s aging rapidly, or "graying." In 2019, nearly 9 percent of the global population was over 65;
that proportion ¡s expected to rise to 12 percent by 2030. Graying is the result of two long-term trends: people having
fewer children and living longer.
27.9%
Hispanic
Source: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population División, 2019a; United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
Population División, 2019b.
Paradoxically, there is some evidence that the fastest-growing group of the elderly pop-
ulation, the oldest oíd (those 85 and older), tend to enjoy relative robustness, which partially
accounts for their having reached their advanced age. This is possibly one of the reasons why
health care costs for a person who dies at 90 are about one-third of those for a person who dies
at 70 (Angier, 1995). Unlike many other Americans, persons age 65 and older are fortúnate in
having access to public health insurance (Medicare) and, therefore, medical Services.
Nearly all (93 percent) of older Americans are covered to some extent by Medicare
(AOA, 2018). But because this program covers about half of the total health care expenses of
individuáis age 63 and older, 62 percent of older people supplement Medicare with another
type of insurance (Barnett and Berchick, 2017). The rising costs of prívate insurance have
unfortunately made this option impossible for a growing number of older adults. On aver-
age, older Americans paid $5,994 out of pocket for health care in 2016—an increase of
38 percent since 2006. Despite Medicare, health care costs still compose 13.1 percent
of older adults' total expenses (Administration for Community Living, 2018).
When older adults become physically unable to care for themselves, they may move
into assisted-living facilities, long-term care facilities, or nursing homes. Only about 1 per-
cent of people age 65 to 74 Uve in institutional settings such as nursing homes, a figure that
rises to 3 percent among people 75 to 84 and to 9 percent for those over 85 (AOA, 2018).
Because the median cost of a private room in a nursing home is now over $102,200 a year
(Genworth, 2019), the nonpoor older people who require such institutionalization may
find their lifetime savings quickly depleted.
Even if the problems of social isolation, prejudice, physical abuse, and declining health
affect only a relatively small proportion of all older persons, the raw numbers of people
facing these challenges will increase as the large baby boom cohort enters oíd age. The baby
boom cohort refers to the 75 million people born between 1946 and 1964 in the United
States; the oldest boomers turned sixty-five in 2011. This large population will present
unforeseen challenges for government-funded programs, such as Social Security and
Medicare, while reinventing the very meaning of oíd age. The baby boom cohort is more
educated than any generation that has come before it; American society will no doubt
benefit by incorporating rather than isolating future cohorts of older adults and drawing
on their considerable reserves of experience and talent.
Eider Abuse
Mistreatment and abuse of older adults may take many forms, including physical, sexual,
emotional, or financial abuse; neglect; or abandonment. Eider mistreatment is very dif-
ficult to measure and document. Older adults who are embarrassed, ashamed, or fearful
of retaliation by their abusers may be reluctant to report such experiences. As a result,
official prevalence rates are low. Worldwide, it is estimated that 15.7 percent of older adults
experience some form of abuse in a community setting (Yon et al., 2017; WHO, 2018).
One national survey of older adults (2008) found that 9 percent of older adults reported
verbal mistreatment, 3.5 percent reported financial mistreatment, and less than 1 percent
reported physical mistreatment by a family member. Women and persons with physical
disabilities were most likely to report abuse.
It is widely believed that abuse results from the anger and resentment that adult
children feel when confronted with the need to care for their infirm parents (King, 1984;
Steinmetz, 1983). Most studies have found this to be a false stereotype, however. Most
mistreatment is perpetrated by someone other than a member of the elder’s immediate
Social Isolation
One common stereotype about older adults is that they are socially isolated. This is not true
of the majority of older people: Four out of five older persons have living children, and the
vast majority can rely on their children for support, if necessary (Federal Interagency Forum
on Aging-Related Statistics, 2013). More than nine out of ten adult children say that main-
taining parental contact is important to them, including the provisión of financial support if
it is needed (Suitor et al., 2011). The reverse is also true: Many studies have found that older
parents continué to provide support for their adult children, particularly during times of
difñculty, such as divorce. Most older adults have regular contact with their children and Uve
near them; about 85 percent of older persons live within an hour of one of their children.
However, relatively few live with their children. Most older adults prefer to remain indepen-
dent and reside in their own homes. They want “intimacy at a distance" (Gans and Silverstein,
2006). However, social isolation was an especially acute problem during the 2020 pandemic.
Despite its subjective nature, loneliness is a serious problem for many older adults; it is
linked to sleep problems, poor cardiovascular health, and elevated blood pressure, each of
which carries long-term consequences for mortality risk (Cacioppo et al., 2002). Loneliness
also may be a particularly serious social problem for older adults in future generations.
Smaller families and increased rates of divorce and childlessness among future cohorts
of older adults may create a context where older persons maintain objectively fewer
relationships (Manning and Brown, 2011). More important, however, some have argued
that current cohorts of midlife adults have unrealistically high expectations for what
their social relationships should provide (e.g., one's partner should be one’s “soul mate”);
if these lofty expectations go unfulfilled, then older adults may report higher levels of
emotional loneliness as well (Carr and Moorman, 2011).
In 2018,34 percent of older women and 21 percent of men lived alone (Administration
for Community Living, 2018). Women are more likely than men to live alone, in part
because they are more likely to outlive their spouses; in 2018, 32 percent of older women
and only 11 percent of older men were widowed. Women are also less likely than men to
remarry following widowhood or divorce. So, while 70 percent of older men are married,
the same can be said of only 46 percent of older women (Administration for Community
Living, 2018). Part of the reason why older women are less likely than men to remarry
is the highly skewed sex ratio among older adults. In 2018, there were 123 older women
for every 100 older men; for those 85 or older, this ratio increases to 189 women for
every 100 men (Administration for Community Living, 2018). The fact that women outlive
men means that older women are more likely to experience problems of isolation.
The mere presence of social relationships does not ward off loneliness. An estimated
29 percent of older married persons report some symptoms of loneliness; this pattern
is particularly common among persons whose spouses are ill, who have a dissatisfy-
ing (or nonexistent) sexual relationship, or who have infrequent or conflicted conversa-
tions (AARP, 2012; de Jong Gierveld et al., 2009). As de Jong Gierveld and Havens (2004)
Prejudice
ageism Discrimination on the basis of age, or ageism, is now against federal law. The Age
Discrimination or Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) proteets job applicants and employees
prejudice against a person 40 years of age and older from discrimination on the basis of age in hiring, firing, promo-
on the basis of age. tion, and pay. Nonetheless, prejudices based on false stereotypes are common. Older adults
are frequently seen as perpetually lonely, sad, infirm, forgetful, dependent, senile, old-
fashioned, inflexible, and embittered (Palmore, 2015).
There are a number of reasons for such prejudice. The American obsession with
youthfulness, reflected in popular entertainment and advertising, leads many younger
people to disparage their elders, frequently dismissing them as irrelevant. The new infor-
mation technology culture undoubtedly reinforces these prejudices because youthful
ness and Computer abilities seem to go hand in hand. In the fast-paced world of Twitter
and Snapchat, young people may come to view older adults as anachronistic. These stereo
types are harmful, especially if they transíate into discriminatory or ageist treatment.
The actions of the aging baby boom cohort may help chip away at outdated and
inaccurate notions of what oíd age is. Older adults are becoming an increasingly large
presence online. In 2018, two-thirds of Americans 65 and older used the Internet, and
more than one-third (37 percent) used social networking sites such as Facebook
(Pew Research Center, 2018a). Experts agree that baby boomers may play a critical role in
further helping to dissolve stereotypes of the frail, senile older adult.
CONCEPT CHECKS
In many ways, older adults face some of the same problems experienced by Coy Mathis
and Caitlyn Jenner, whom we met at the beginning of this chapter. Young boys are expected to 1. Contrast young oíd, oíd
be strong and tough—not “sissies.” Girls, but not boys, are believed to like pink, wear skirts, oíd, and oldest oíd persons.
and behave in a “feminine” way. Likewise, older adults are stereotyped as being old-fashioned 2. Describe at least three
and out of tough. Even thougch these two examples are very different—one involving the common problems that
youngest stage of the life course, the other involving the oldest—they both reveal the power older Americans often
of social expectations. However, social expectations can change over time, and as older gener- confront.
ations die out and are replaced with younger generations holding more contemporary beliefs, 3. Define ageism and
we might expect that stereotypes—whether based on age or gender—will slowly fade away. provide one explanation
for this form of prejudice.
■U
The
Big Picture
Socialization, the Life Learn about socializati on (including
! gender socialization), í¡nd know the most
Course, and Aging How Are
i important agents of so cialization.
Children
Socialized?
p. 75
Thinking Sociologically Learn the five major stages of the life course,
and see the similarities and differences among
What Are the different cultures and historical periods.
Five Major
1. Concisely review how an individual
becomes a social person according
Stages of the f---------------------------------------------
Life Course?
to the two leading theorists discussed N»
¡n this chapter: George Herbert Mead p. 88
and Jean Piaget. Which of these two
theories seems more appropriate and
correct to you? Explain why.
2. Conforming to gender-typed
A Understand that aging is a combination
of biological, psychological, and social
processes. Consider key theories of aging,
How Do particularly those that focus on how
expectations regarding clothing, hair, People Age? society shapes the social roles of older
and other aspects of personal people and that emphasize aspects of
appearance is one of many things we p. 91 age stratification.
do as a result of socialization. Suggest
how the family, peers, schools, mass
media, and social media help establish
the desire to conform with (or reject)
typically "male" versus “female" What Are the \ —i
expectations for appearance. Which of Challenges of
these forces is the most pervasive? Aging in the Evalúate the experience of growing oíd
Explain. United States? ¡n the contemporary United States. Identify
the physical, emotionat, and financia!
challenges older adults face.
Terms to Know Concept Checks
1. What is social reproduction? What ar e some specific ways that the four
main agents of socialization contribi te to social reproduction?
cognition • social self • self-consciousness • 2. According to Mead, how does a child develop a social self?
generalized other • iooking-glass self • 3. What are the four stages of cognitive development according to Piaget?
sensorimotor stage • preoperational stage • 4. How do the media contribute to gene er socialization?
egocentric • concrete operational stage • formal 5. What are the main components of ra :e socialization?
f
operational stage • agents of socializaron •
nuclear family • hidden curriculum • peer group
social roles • social identity • self-identity •
gender socialization • race socializaron
aging • social gerontologists • disengagement I fi 1. What factors or processes should wc keep ¡n mind when studying aging
theory • activity theory • continuity theory 1 1 or the meaning of being oíd?
• conflict theories of aging 1 2. Summarize the three theoretical franneworks used to describe the nature
|j of aging ¡n U.S. society.
: 3. What are the main criticisms of fuñe ionalism and conflict theory?