Cumulative Advantage

Elderly people (women and men age sixty-five or older) (Macionis, 2005), Have many obstacles to face as they grow older, many of these obstacles involve social inequality. Not only do the elderly have to learn to deal with many forms of Ageism (the stereotyping and prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age), some also have to deal with the fact that they do not have enough savings or pension benefits to be self supporting, for most people over sixty-five, the major source of income is social security (Macionis, 2005). This forces many elderly Americans back into the workforce to continue to earn money to support themselves and or spouses. Although many elderly Americans may choose

According Social Inequality: Patterns and Processes by Martin Marger, life chances includes “education, physical and mental health, residence and justice;” which are opportunities that we must procure through social resources (18). Our position within society determines our life chances; for children, their parent’s positions within society determines the child’s social status within society. “Life chances are acquired, then, as a result of factors that are only partially in the control of individuals…people’s initial class position and, therefore, the dimensions of their opportunities and future prospects are essentially an “accident of birth.” Certainly, people may subsequently enhance their life chances through individual effort, but

Berger (2008) state that late adulthood, which begins at age 65, is the final stage of the life span development process that culminates through the death of an individual. During the course of the twentieth century the notion of late adulthood changed significantly (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). The average person’s life expectancy increased probably by 30 years. This changed the proportion of North Americans over 65 years from 1900s one in 30 to a projection by the year 2040 that it will be one in five. This drastically changed the perceptions of late adulthood (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). For example,

Socio-economic class or socio-economic status (SES) may refer to mixture of various factors such as poverty, occupation and environment. It is a way of measuring the standard and quality of life of individuals and families in society using social and economic factors that affect health and wellbeing ( Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Cockerham (2007 p75) argues: ‘Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation and longevity in medical sociology.’ Research in the 1990s, (Drever and Whitehead, 1997) found out that people in higher SES are generally healthier, and live longer than those in lower SES.

Medicare is not the only benefit seniors receive from their government. Taxes can be greatly affected by age. For instance, many elderly receive tax breaks and extensions based on their social security benefits as well as reductions and tax-cuts on certain holdings and investments. So with Roth IRAs, 401k the elderly is only taxed upon withdrawal. Discounts are available everywhere for the elderly from restaurants to cruise ships. Normally, with higher prices bring bigger discounts. Ageing workers are more skilled, knowledgeable, and more proficient than their younger counterparts. Often times it can be said that the “older people” are more intelligent, practical, intuitive, extremely flexible and very strategic in their work ethic, planning and can be considered “intelligent” in life’s well learned lessons that come with age and wisdom. Being positive and using an example in this way between aging and greater wisdom, one tends to have a greater degree of patience, greater understanding and wisdom that parallels life’s pathway. “Many elders in foreign countries are considered to be esteemed and held in high regard,” (Applebaum, Bardo, Robbins (2103). Some studies show that interests, motivation and skill does not decline with age, nor does a person’s work performance suffer due to aging. Aging workers also receive higher salaries due to their tenure. Finally, there is no data to show that older workers cost more to insure than younger

Stratification affects life quality and ageism in late adulthood. For example, think about gender stratification. Irrational, gender-based fear may limit female independence. Throughout most of recorded history, men have had and continue to have, more physical and social power and status than women. This has caused some women

We all will one day face the reality of growing older. There are many aspects of this change that will affect us in a large way. According to the Merck Manual of Health and Aging, 1.5% of Americans are 85 or older. This research states that the number of people 100 years or older could rise from 1 out of 5,578 in the year 2000, to 1 out of 472 in the year 2050. It brings out that women have a longer life expectancy than men, among people aged 65 and older in the year 2000, there were 70 men for every 100 women. For people aged 85 and older the figure was 41 men for every 100 women. The site goes on to say that approximately 11% of Americans aged 65 and older are below the poverty line. (The Merck Manual of Health and Aging:

One of the major obstacles for researchers in the field of Health Psychology and Aging is understanding the role of health disparities across different populations. Health disparities can be understood in terms of differences in some facet of health and well-being across different groups of people. The issue of health disparities across different populations is one that must be understood not only in the context of genetic and biological factors, but also in the context of a broader sociocultural perspective. The influence of health disparities are implied in the context of aging, but are discussed across the entire lifespan. The existence of health disparities in later life is often a product of a lifelong experience and life-course trajectory. This essay will address some of the major

According to the recent studies the older people as compared to the youth are becoming more economically and demographically attractive. However, there are costs of an aging population that the society bears as a whole. (Andrews, 2009)

Joe Hocking defends this significant rise with the fact that our life expectancy has increased as opposed to when the pension was implemented 100 years ago and that our current economy can no longer support the increasing expenditure of the age pension. Even with this cost benefit to our economy, (Chomik, 2014) points out definite inequalities that would develop from this. For example older people within the workforce are already often discriminated against when seeking employment as they can be seen as a negative long term investment in terms of training. Joe Hocking’s argument on the rise of life expectancy seems ill supported when considering the fact the financially poor individuals have shown to have a lower life expectancy in comparison to the rich, thus resulting the inequality of the poor being able to enjoy less years of their retirement.

The video shows the lives of four families with different economic status in Louisville, Kentucky. The life of a hospital CEO, a janitor, a lab supervisor and an unemployed mother during video showed the clear relationship between health and longevity. Families that social economic status is higher can maintain better health status; conversely, the family that socioeconomic status is lower has the worse health status. Poor Americans die almost six years earlier than the rich; American middle man died two years earlier than the rich. In addition, video states that education

The Life at the Top in America Isn’t Just Better, It’s Longer news article assigned for this week’s critical writing caught me off guard. I was not expecting a narrative compilation of three individuals’ varying healthcare experiences. The article allowed me to reflect and contemplate the three very differing experiences. Each of these experiences was significantly dissimilar from one another due to each individual’s socioeconomic status. As we have learned and discussed in Chapter three of the text, socioeconomic status (or social class) is an individual’s or group’s standing within a ranked social structure. This socioeconomic status is typically determined by three main variables such as income, occupational prestige, and education. Different models of the social class ladder exist. The five-class model used in the United States is as follows: upper class, upper-middle class, lower-middle class, working class, and lower class. With this in mind and as previously mentioned in our text, “socioeconomic status or social class is the strongest and most consistent predictor of a person’s health and life expectancy across the life course.” In this response paper, I will deliberate and explain my thoughts on each individual’s experience.

For a variety of reasons, it is easier for the monied classes to access quality health care when needed and, in general, lead healthier lifestyles. People of higher socioeconomic groups have been shown to live longer (Scrambler, 2012). Beginning with higher infant mortality rates, lower socioeconomic groups often face a lifetime of challenges to good health and longevity.

Accumulated advantage works in favor of our current class structure in several ways. First of all, accumulated advantage allows for a certain class to experience frequent success while the others must work ten times harder in order to achieve the exact same success. The reason accumulated advantage is able to maintain our current class structure is because of the ones in power, or in this case the ones whom are actually benefiting from the advantage will do whatever it is in their power to keep the structure this way. For example, when comparing the rich and poor, it is definitely clear that the rich are the ones who have the upper hand. These individuals simply have more opportunities open for them, while the poor, nine times out of ten fail

Another supporter of changing the way aging is conveyed is author, Margaret Cruiksbank, of the book, Learning to be Old. In her book she is a proponent of changing the way the aging process is described. Her position is that the underlying meaning of popular terms to describe aging weakens its value. She denotes that the term “successful aging” is a false phrase for the elderly as it “masks both the wish to continue mid-life indefinitely and the white, Middle-class, Western values of researchers, causing them to emphasize productivity, effectiveness and independence” (Cruiksbank, 2009, p. 2). She also concludes that the term “productive” aging symbolizes “economic usefulness and social conformity” (Cruiksbank, 2009, p. 2), especially for the female gender. More importantly, these terms can be used to measure. This ability to measure is subjective to the questioner and an individual’s self-worth. She suggests the term “aging comfortably” as it signifies easiness, and a “faint hint” of pleasurable self-indulgence which may not have been possible in younger years (Cruiksbank, 2009, p. 3).