New Directions in the Sociology of Aging (2013) / Chapter Skim
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6 The New Realities of Aging: Social and Economic Contexts--Jacqueline L. Angel and Richard A. Settersten, Jr.
6 The New Realities of Aging: Social and Economic Contexts--Jacqueline L. Angel and Richard A. Settersten, Jr.
Pages 95-119
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From page 95... ...
The primary objectives of this chapter are to describe these new realities and the processes that give rise to them; to examine some of their outcomes and implications; and to highlight the importance of viewing the science of human aging through a sociological lens. We begin with some of the most significant social issues, examining the new configuration of the life course by considering the shifting boundaries and markers of different life periods; the erosion of traditional pathways through education, work, and retirement; and the future of aging based on what we know about younger cohorts.
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From page 96... ...
Social gerontologists do a disfavor to older people when they actively promote images of successful aging that deny or underplay the hardships that come with growing old. These tensions are also exhibited in media depictions of old age (Harrington, Bielby, and Bardo, 2011)
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From page 97... ...
. The shift toward contingent models of work, partly the result of the decline in manufacturing jobs, carries significant implications for social policies and for the financial security of individuals and families.
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From page 98... ...
Older workers with defined contribution plans are much more likely to remain in the labor force than those with defined benefits plans (Pang, Warshawsky, and Weitzer, 2008)
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From page 99... ...
One way to increase this understanding is to become more intimately acquainted with cohorts who are not yet old. For example, negative public discourse surrounding the Baby Boom generation has focused on how its size has strained social institutions or undermined public resources (see also Schulz and Binstock, 2006)
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From page 100... ...
Because the presence of these ties can be counted on for many decades, individuals may disinvest in family relationships under the assumption that they are always available and can be activated as needed. In this scenario, family ties become more vulnerable as time together becomes more sporadic and as families themselves become more fragmented and risk-laden.
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From page 101... ...
. A major transformation in the past century is that divorce rather than death is now the great disruptor of family relationships (Uhlenberg, 1989)
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From page 102... ...
The new complexities of family configurations also pose new questions about who is responsible for the care of older people, including growing proportions of people who have never married or parented, as well as aged parents who live far away from adult children and will inevitably need other informal sources of support and alternative social safety nets (Baca-Zinn, Eitzen, and Wells, 2010; Pavalko, 2011)
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From page 103... ...
. Age-, race-, and gender-based inequalities are reinforced by social policies that fail to address groupspecific vulnerabilities, such as labor force disadvantages, blocked educational opportunities, and unequal access to healthy lifestyles and health care (Angel and Angel, 2006; Herd, Robert, and House, 2010)
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From page 104... ...
. Many grown children in low-income minority families are increasingly ill-equipped to care for aging parents given their own family responsibilities, occupational mobility, and persistent financial strains (Dilworth-Anderson, Williams, and Gibson, 2002)
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From page 105... ...
transfers and bequests from elderly parents and adult children have not been adequately studied and deserve further investigation. The current recession has surely reduced gift giving as retirement accounts decreased and as adult children experienced job losses and foreclosures, weakening their ability to provide resources and care.
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From page 106... ...
This has important implications for the economic security of large groups of women in Baby Boom cohorts who will reach retirement age in the coming decade. Gender aside, the serious challenges to retirement for older workers and retirees amid financial disruption are similarly illustrated in the lives of members of the ethnically diverse U.S.
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From page 107... ...
As we will discuss next, social policies, including retirement policies, must be revised to reflect the realities of life today. THE NEW AGE AND PUBLIC ECONOMIES During the 20th century, the modern welfare state became synonymous with the assurance of a wide range of individual protections, the most basic of which are retirement security and access to preventive and curative health care.
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From page 108... ...
Population aging in the United States brings serious and long-term financial consequences for how individuals and employers will fund Social Security and private retirement plans, including defined contribution plans like 401(k)
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From page 109... ...
Analyses of detailed information on key predictors of intergenerational support by adult children and older parents -- including demographic factors, health, personal income and assets, and government transfers -- can begin to address this question. At the macroeconomic level, it is important to contextualize how the welfare state (e.g., food programs, social insurance, cash assistance, family allowance, tax credits, etc.)
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From page 110... ...
Population aging brings serious questions about the sustainability of Social Security that deserve closer scrutiny (Lee, 2011)
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From page 111... ...
. Medicare enrollment growth is anticipated to be the major force driving public health-care spending in the future, and expenditures will be fueled largely by the new prescription drug benefit and the rapid growth of Baby Boomer cohorts as they move into and through retirement (Starr, 2011)
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From page 112... ...
have illustrated, sociology is particularly important in revealing important social structural factors associated with individual and population aging. Aging is a phenomenon that is heavily conditioned by social institutions, historical events, policies, the economy, cohort momentum, social interaction, and intergenerational dynamics.
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From page 113... ...
In contemplating the significance of linked lives, it is important to probe how the quantity and quality of social ties change as individuals move through different periods of life, as they enter or exit from social settings, and how they are affected by social policies. At a micro level, the linked or interdependent nature of lives creates unexpected changes and circumstances.
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From page 114... ...
Aging is one of the most intricate scientific puzzles, posing many significant challenges for individuals, families, and societies. Sociological research is crucial to unlocking that puzzle and understanding the properties of social institutions, social organization, and social interaction in an aging world.
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From page 115... ...
. Updated Estimates for the Insurance Coverage Provi sions of the Affordable Care Act.
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From page 116... ...
, Population Aging and the Generational Economy: A Global Per spective (pp.
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From page 117... ...
. Population Aging and Inter generational Transfers: Introducing Age into National Accounts.
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From page 118... ...
. Population aging, health systems, and equity: Shared challenges for the United States and Canada.
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From page 119... ...
. Cumulative advantage processes as mechanisms of inequality in life course health.
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