Sociology: A Down To Earth Approach

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

Chapter 3 of Essential of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach by James M. Henslin discusses the topic of socialization, which is the process by which people learn the characteristics of their group—the knowledge, attitudes, skills, norms, values, and actions thought appropriate for them. Sociologists try to determine how much of a person’s characteristics comes from “nature” (heredity) and how much from “nurture” (social environment). Studying feral, isolated, and institutionalized children, such as The Skeels/Dye Experiment, have helped them understand how “society makes us human.” The theories and research of Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Piaget to explain socialization into the self and mind. Cooley’s looking-glass self theory focuses on how we believe others perceive us.

In today’s society, norms are expected by everyone. According to the book Essentials of Sociology a Down- To- Earth Approach, Hansen states that norms are expectations of "right” behavior (Hansen, 2014). There are also two forms of norms that may be strictly enforced or not. There is folkways and mores. Folkways are norms that aren’t strictly enforced while mores are strictly enforced for essential thought to care values or the well-being of a group (Hansen, 2014). Along with a norm and the two types, there may also be reactions to it. These reactions may be positive or negative and termed as sanctions. Sanctions are either expressions of an approval given to people for upholding norms or expression of disapproval for violating them (Hansen, 2014). In conducting a norm experiment, the terms were put to a test. The experiment consisted of an observed norm violation and an individual norm violation. The experiments resulted in what I had hypothesized. My hypothesis consisted of sanctions of the norms that were conducted.

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.

In general, countries experiencing high fertility and rapid population growth, have a “young” population structure and the important policy considerations are if there are enough schools and, sufficient jobs and housing to accommodate this population. Countries with “old” population structures face the problems of structuring and developing retirement and health systems to serve this older population and also they have a considerable reduction the number of the working force. The decline of the work force is one of the most dramatic economic tendencies of the past four decades in the United States. The individual’s decision of whether to stay in the workforce or to retire is based on the collaboration of a number of factors including the following: eligibility for Social Security benefits, availability of and benefits under an employer-financed pension plan, work

Social class helps to deter the reasons for individual’s health and ill health. Social classes also help with understanding health and ill health, this is done through the basis of individuals lifestyle class, for example the lower class who work in the worst

People were less likely to face poor retirement if they worked in managerial or professional jobs than someone who worked in unskilled or manual occupations. This is because the people who worked in manual would have earned lower wages and would not be as likely to get a private pension. Men that are in the professional classes have a life expectancy of 80 years from birth. However men from unskilled or manual classes have a life expectancy of 78.1 years. This also effects woman’s life expectancy as woman from professional classes have a life expectancy of 85.1 compared to those who are in the unskilled or manual classes and their life expectancy if 78.1 years. Causes of death also vary from different social classes. In the higher social classes it is less likely to suffer from, lung cancer, coronary heart disease, stokes and respiratory diseases. All of these increase within social disadvantages.

There has always been a link between social class and health, even with the welfare state and the improvements made to health in all sections of societies over the years, a difference still remains in this area. This difference is applied to all aspects of health, which include life expectancy, general levels of health and infant mortality. Many people argue that as long as the quality of life is

Different researches do believe that there is a link between social class and health. It is a statistical impression and also it has been argued that there isn’t really a pattern in social class, age and peoples employment that has had an impact on people’s health inequalities.

John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” America has always had its challenges when facing economic issues; however, the government has the tendency to avoid the reality of what approaches in the future. There have been several attempts of reform for these types of economic problems. Nevertheless, most have not been successful, and time is running out. One of those issues is the graying of America. What is the graying of America? It is the demographic trend consisting of all the baby boomers that are aging and getting closer to retirement. Even though it does not seem like an area of concern, there are many

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.

First and foremost, despite slight recent increases in the amount of income obtained by members of the older population, their economic status is still quite perilous (Federal Interagency Forum, 2012).1 Men in this category have a median income of $27,707, while women continue to lag behind with a median income of $15,362 (AOA & AOCL, 2012). A vast majority of these individuals cite Social Security as their primary source for this income, amounting to 86-percent of the total older population (AOA & AOCL,

Allen, S. G., Clark, R. L., & Ghent, L. S. (2004). Phasing into retirement. The Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 58(1), 112-127. Gelfand, D.E., & Bechill, W. (1991, Summer-Fall). The evolution of the older Americans act: a 25-year review of the legislative changes. Generations, 15(3), 19-22. Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2010). Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment (8th ed.). Mason , Ohio: Brooks Cole/Cengage.

This essay will discuss ways in which a person’s socioeconomic class and his/her social situation can have an impact on his/her health, using examples. We believe that there is a direct link between socioeconomic/social class and health (Adler et al. 1994). I will be defining the key terms: socioeconomic and health, social class then proceed to discuss about how poverty, income, employability, environment and housing can impact on a person’s social situation and their health.

Aging is described as a sequential, irreversible, progressive, and non-pathological process of maturation in an organism and that translates to a gradual decline in the ability to perform activities optimally. Aging is an individual process that can be a period of stress for individuals especially following their retirement (Hiller & Barrow, 2015). The current study sought to understand the process and experience of aging from the perspective of elderly individuals. In discussing matters of aging and retirement, many assume that women are always eager to retire, and adjust well, as compared to their male counterparts (Bauger & Bongaardt, 2016). Many people assume that since women are generally made as homemakers, they are willing and happy to retire while men, whose nature is to be the main source of family income, find it hard to be out of work (Moody & Sasser, 2014). Indeed, there exists very little literature that sheds some light on this area, particularly on the attitudes of each gender towards retirement and process of aging. Given the significance of retirement to this life stage, the study sought to understand the emotions and views of individuals regarding their retirement through the lenses of (1) Physical health and wellbeing, (2) Friends, Family, and Community, (3) Work and leisure, (4) Finances and lifestyles, and (5) Living