GRN 250 Lecture 18: Social Theories
Document Summary
Increase and then decrease in religious piety. Alienation from dominant worldview (freedom from societal norms) Aging viewed as a preparation for death. Mutually satisfying withdrawal of the individual from society and society from the individual. Permission to disengage is provided by retirement for men and widowhood for women. Successful aging is a smooth transition from engaged to disengaged status. Active theory (originally known as the implicit theory of aging) Norms of old age are the same as for middle age. Loss of roles and activities is counteracted by substitute activities. Ability to be as much like a middle-aged person as possible. Uses a life course perspective to define normal aging as involving continuity between past, present and future. Internal continuity: a remembered inner structure such as. External continuity: connected to past performance and manifest in continuity in activities, environments, roles and relationships between middle age and old age.