Introduction to Sociology

GLOSSARY

ageism: discrimination based on age

elder abuse: the act of a caretaker intentionally depriving an older person of care or harming the person in their charge

gerontocracy: a type of social structure wherein the power is held by a society’s oldest members
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY

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  Elder Abuse. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elder_abuse. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
  
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  Modification, adaptation, and original content. Authored by: Rebecca Vonderhaar for Lumen Learning. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
  
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  Challenges Facing the Elderly. Authored by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: https://cnx.org/contents/AgQDEnLI@10.1:oczeqG_4@2/Challenges-Facing-the-Elderly. License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/02040312-72c8-441e-a685-20e9333f3e1d@3.49
  

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Theoretical Perspectives on Aging

LEARNING OUTCOMES

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  Explain functionalist views on aging such as disengagement theory, activity theory, and continuity theory
  
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  Explain conflict perspectives on aging such as modernization theory, age stratification theory, and exchange theory
  
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  Explain symbolic interactionist theories on aging such as the subculture of aging theory, selective optimization with compensation theory, and gerotranscendence
  

What roles do individual senior citizens play in your life? How do you relate to and interact with older people? What role do they play in neighborhoods and communities, in cities and in states? Sociologists are interested in exploring the answers to questions such as these through three different perspectives: functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and conflict theory.