Controversy 1

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Controversy 1

• Does Old Age Have Meaning?

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The Meaning of Age

• Humans live in a world full of symbolism and
  shared meaning
• Meaning is so powerful, it can even be a matter
  of life or death
• Two questions examined in the textbook are
• Does old age have a meaning for society?
• How do individuals actually experience their
  lives as meaningful in the last stage of life?
• Social gerontology seeks to answer these
  questions by studying to areas of life that
  provide contrasting views of activity and
  disengagement
• Leisure and religion

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Leisure Activities in Later Life

• In old age, leisure often begins to take the
  place of work, both in terms of having more free
  time, and as a way of finding meaning in life
• Leisure defined as an activity engaged in for
  its own sake an end in itself
• Stereotypes of old peoples activities (e.g.,
  shuffleboard, bingo, etc.) are mistaken
• Age alone doesnt predict what people do with
  their leisure time in later life
• Old people are not all alike
• Individual differences, gender, and SES all play
  a big part

4
Changing Leisure Participation Patterns

• People over age 65 continue to engage in the same
  activities with the same people as they did in
  middle age
• Patterns of late-life leisure have important
  implications for the economy in an aging society
• Americans over age 50 account for 40 of all
  consumer spending
• Education and income are the biggest factors in
  how older people spend their free time
• Retired people who have more money have more
  choices, and are more likely to change their
  patterns of activity more often

5
Religion and Spirituality

• Three-quarters of older Americans say that
  religion is very important in their lives
• Religious involvement in old age tends to follow
  a pattern of multidimensional disengagement
• As people grow older, they may withdraw from some
  activities (such as attending church), but show
  an increase in personal religious practice (such
  as Bible study or listening to religious TV and
  radio)

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Religious Involvement

• Older Americans continue to display patterns of
  religious identification similar to those among
  younger age groups
• 65 Protestant, 25 Catholic, 3 Jewish
• Older women have higher levels of religious
  participation and belief than older men
• Churches and religious organizations play many
  roles in the lives of older people
• Formal religious programs
• Pastoral care programs
• Sponsors or providers of social services

7
Religious Participation and Well-Being

• Studies have shown a positive correlation between
  well-being and religious beliefs among older
  individuals
• But its difficult to define and measure what
  religiousness actually means in peoples lives
• Also unclear whether or not religious involvement
  actually promotes physical health
• Yet, social scientists theorize that religion
  helps older adults cope in many ways
• Reducing the impact of stress in late-life
  illness
• Providing a sense of order and meaning in life
• Offering social networks tied to religious groups
• Strengthening inner psychological resources, such
  as self-esteem

8
Spirituality and the Search for Meaning

• While habits of religiosity tend to remain stable
  in later life, a recent study found that 40 of
  people who experienced a distinct change in faith
  did so after age 50
• Faith stages James Fowlers (1981) theory
  that people move from simpler, more literalist
  idea of religion to levels where they see
  themselves in more universal terms
• Six dimensions of spiritual well-being
• --Self-determined wisdom --Acceptance of the
  totality of life
• --Self-transcendence --Revival of spirituality
• --Discovery of meaning in aging --Preparation for
  death

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Social Gerontology and the Meaning of Age

• Gerontology tries to depict the facts of old age
  as a way of understanding the meaning of aging
• Nearly 90 of people surveyed described their
  lives as meaningful
• 57 of meaning came from human relationships, 12
  from service to others, as well as religion and
  leisure activities
• Older people might still be encouraged to
  maintain social connections, but this engagement
  should be based on a strategy for individual
  development not conformity to social norms or
  activities

10
The Meaning of Aging in the 21st
Century

• The life course perspective views stages of
  life as social constructions that reflect
  broader structural conditions of life
• Thus, as conditions change, so will the view of
  how people find meaning at different ages
• Its not clear how the meaning of old age will
  change in contemporary, post-industrial society
• We must distinguish between a meaning that
  society ascribes to old age, compared to what
  individuals find meaningful in their own lives

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Activity or Reflection?

• The question of whether old age has meaning comes
  back to two alternatives
• 1. continuation of midlife values into old age
• or
• 2. discovering some new or special challenge
  that belongs to the last stage of life
• Either way, the future of an aging society will
  be shaped by all of us, because we are all simply
  our future selves