Subject:
Sociology
Material Type:
Module
Level:
Community College / Lower Division
Provider:
Ohio Open Ed Collaborative
Tags:
  • Oss0212
  • Sociology
  • License:
    Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial
    Language:
    English
    Media Formats:
    Text/HTML

    Critique the characteristics and challenges of aging and the elderly

    Overview

    OER Text Material

    Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Sections: 12.4

    This section of the chapter will describe the differences in life expectancy around the world.

    • List the potential problems associated with the growing proportion of older individuals in poor nations.

    • Explain the evidence for inequality in U.S. life expectancy.

    Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Sections: 12.5
    This section of the chapter describes the four biological changes associated with aging.

    • List any three steps that individuals can try to undertake to achieve successful aging.

    Supplementary Material (Videos and Reading)

    1. Social Characteristics of Aging (Video)
       
    2. Challenges of Aging
       
    3. Global Health and Aging
       
    4. Death and Dying of Greying America
      This article discusses the central issues in the debate about old age rational suicide by bringing together a selection of empirical and theoretical works in what is an underexplored area in both the sociology of death and the sociology of ageing.
       
    5. Kübler-Ross Theory on Death and Dying
      Kübler-Ross found that a person’s first reaction to the prospect of dying is denial, characterized by not wanting to believe that he or she is dying, with common thoughts such as “I feel fine” or “This is not really happening to me.” The second stage is anger, when loss of life is seen as unfair and unjust. A person then resorts to the third stage, bargaining: trying to negotiate with a higher power to postpone the inevitable by reforming or changing the way he or she lives. The fourth stage, psychological depression, allows for resignation as the situation begins to seem hopeless. In the final stage, a personadjusts to the idea of death and reaches acceptance. At this point, the person can face death honestly, regarding it as a natural and inevitable part of life, and can make the most of their remaining time.