CASL Lesson 2

A series of studies designed to indentify how people adjusted to normal aging processes; the studies coupled an emphasis on adjustment with measures of social role performance across the life span.

The first formal theory of aging; the view that normal aging involves a natural and inevitable mutual withdrawal or disengagement, resulting in decreasing interaction between an aging person and others.

A theory of aging which states that the psychological and social needs of the elderly are no different from those of the middle-aged and that it is neither normal or natural for older people to become isolated and withdrawn; also called the implicit theory of aging.

A more formal elaboration of activity theory; uses a life course perspective to define normal aging and to distinguish it from pathological aging.

A theory that people who share similar interests, problems, and concerns will form a subculture; the aged are believed to have a positive affinity for each other.

A theory that social interaction between individuals is based on rational calculations and that people seek to maximize their rewards from these exchanges and minimize their costs; exchange theorists argue that interaction between the old and the young decreases, because older people have fewer resources to bring to the exchange.

Exchanges between individuals in goods and services at one point in time.

Exchanges between individuals over the life course.

Sociological tradition that places individual intentions, motivations, and actions at the center of social theory; view that human beings are active creators of their own social reality.

The view that nations can be placed on a continuum from least developed to most developed, according to such indicators as the level of indistrialization or the degree of urbanization, with those exhibiting certain qualities of social structure termed modern; basic premise is that the aged were revered in the past adn that modernization has caused the status of the aged to decline.

A theory that recognizes that societies have both age-segregated and age-integrated institutions that can either impede or enhance the participation of the aged.

A theory that old age is socially constructed and created through power struggles; highlights the structural influences on aging and emphasizes the relevance of power relationships for understanding how the aged are defined and treated.

The central purpose is to illuminate the gendered nature of society; gender relations are the main subject matter; notions of masculinity and femininity are seen as socially constructed; emphasis is on the different ways aging is experienced by men and women.

An approach that emphasizes how the forces of globalization affects policies and programs for the aged and the daily lives of older people.