Exam 13: The Elderly

What is the politically powerful group with 39 million members that monitors federal and state legislation and mobilizes its elderly members to act on issues affecting their welfare?

Identify and discuss the two major organizations that lobby on behalf of the needs of the elderly.

Match the term with the definition. 1) life expectancy 2) life span 3) gender age 4) gerotranscendence 5) baby boom 6) age cohort 7) baby bust 8) activity theory 9) continuity theory 10) Townsend Plan 11) dependency ratio 12) Gray Panthers 13) AARP 14) technological life 15) hospice -A) a large number of births within a relatively short span of years, leading to a population of individuals who proceed through the life course together B) an organization founded in 1970 to fighting ageism on behalf of both young and old C) the number of years that an average person at any age, including newborns, can expect to live D) one of the first retirement proposals, one that would have paid older Americans a monthly stipend funded by a national sales tax E) the idea that people adjust to retirement by continuing aspects of their earlier lives F) the maximum length of life of a species; for humans, the longest time that a human can live G) the self-transformation that the elderly experience to feel more at home with the universe H) people born at roughly the same time who pass through the life course together I) a form of existence that lies between life and death, but is neither J) a place (or services brought to someone's home) for the purpose of giving comfort and dignity to a dying person K) a small number of births within a relatively short span of years who proceed through the life course together L) the powerful political organization listing 39 million members that lobbies for the needs of older Americans M) the number of workers who are needed to support one dependent person (age 65 or older, and age 15 or younger) N) the relative value placed on men's and women's ages O) the view that satisfaction during old age is related to a person's amount and quality of activity

What is "technological life"?

What is meant by "life span"?

Define the term "graying of America," and describe the consequences of this social transformation.

What did Durkheim discover about suicide rates in his classic study?

By 2000, the median age in the United States population was approximately 35. What does this mean, and how is it calculated?

Elaine Cumming and William Henry discovered that the elderly abruptly shift gears upon retiring, which is the basis of disengagement theory.

Why is it likely that there will be increased intergenerational conflict between the elderly and young for the next several years?

Continuity theory and disengagement theory are aligned with the functionalist perspective.

Gender age is the relative value that a culture places on men's and women's ages, such as gray hair on men interpreted as a sign of being mature and gray hair on women interpreted as a sign of being old.

With respect to contemporary China, which of the following statements best reflects its policy toward the elderly?

What three factors account for the long life expectancy of the Abkhasians, the people living in the former Soviet republic of Georgia?

The U.S. dependency ratio, or the number of people who pay into Social Security for each beneficiary, was 16:1 in 1950 and dropped to 4:1 by 2000.

What is "institutional death"?

Historically, television advertisements and other forms of media have portrayed elderly people with negative images.

Dr. Loomis' introductory sociology class is composed entirely of first-year students who are 18 years old. Together, these 55 students, and all other 18-year-olds, comprise a(n) ________.

________ was the psychologist who developed a five-stage process describing the ways in which people cope during the living-dying interval.

How have television advertisements and other forms of cultural media typically portrayed the elderly?