Anth of age final

• old age is universal
• varying degree of status and treatment of elderly

• biological and sociocultural factors
• 1. societies typically ruled by late middle age men 
• 2. bilogical strength in males typically dominate society
• 3.physical ability goes down as age increase
• 4. knowledge and experience increase as age increase
• 5. real gerontocracies = old people have power

• Economic Control
• Kinship, family and inheritance 
• Functional Capacity
• Culturally Imposed Attributes 
• Control Over Key Resources
• Symbolic Capital
• Knowledge
• Resource Availability
• Ideology
• Social Policies and Welfare System

• Patrilineal and patrilocal status= authority goes to the most senior person bc of property; inheritance is concentrated in male line
• Matrilineal and matrilocal = Children belong to mothers decent line; difference is who has authroity and leadership; power is not concentrated in oneline compared to patrilineal. authority and leadership goes to most senior male individual.
• Extended family  - senior people establish authority
• nuclear family - establish their own family. independent of their own family. no inheritance system

• high functional capacity = good treatment
• dependent = not contributive therefore level of dependence determines burden onto society
• affects communication with people if not active or dependent

• high status if guaranteed security of goods and services is maintained
• low status if experiencing economic burden

old people sometimes addressed as wise or weak, which leads to how they are treated by society

• attributed to high status in: 
• Agricultural societies (control over land and water)
• Hunting –gathering societies (little concept of land ownsership, but individual power to get food)
• industrialized societies (ability to establish yourself)

• Based on honor, prestige, and recognition
• accumulates but erodes overtime
• old people need to be active and make contributions to society 
• ex: wealthy, veterans, retired, educated, volunteer etc.

• useful, but not all shared
• ritual and subsistence knowledge important to elderly becuase they can transmit tradtion
• as society advances old peoples knowledge is not as valued

if society has too few resources to feed old individuals, society has to decide who to feed. In this case feeding younger people would be more beneficial for survival strategy

• if society emphasizes individualism or self reliance, then status is likely to decline for old people because of individual irresponsibility
• if society values conformity, then old people have higher status

responsible for the care of the aged

• retirement is taken for granted. 
• not the case that people in all cultures retire because its not a human universal

• Contemporary western retirement wiewed as:
• earned right to a period of leisure after long years of work
• Free from social obligation; usually finished raising children; Grandparenting is usually voluntary

• fixed age base
• expected to retire
• excluded from full time work

• financial support without stigma (contrasts with unemployment)
• retirees not viewed as lazy compared to the unemployed
• entitlement after years of work
• emphasis on autonomy, individualism and freedom

• no erosion of adult status = full social identity 
• no dimunition of rights 
• considered a new life stage

• involved in raising cattle
• West Africa, pastoralists
• Elders have bleak lifestyle

• when children marry they give cattle, so cattle gets less and less
• when last child marries the last cattle is transferred, therefore parents work in raising children is accomplished

• Living as dependents of their children
• at this time elders are not expected to work
• no voice, no work, means no right because no use
• erosion of adult status
• elders addressed as “socially dead” because no longer working

• Arduous subsistence farming and raising of small herds
• expectation is that as long as they live, they are expected to work
• no concept of retirement
• Acknowledge decline of health in elderly
• traditionally, land ownership is transferred to children
• maintain seperate home from children
• elders have right to smaller share of the crop to assure needs are met
• considered to be dependent because they recieve a small portion of crops from their children crops from them

• Live in arizona/new mexico area 
• Elderly express desire to “keep working until death”
• Society expects them to work
• Society provides elderly capacity to work because elderly are main person to do ritual affairs, household, and agricultural tasks
• Nobody can accumulate credits for later life (in contrast to US retirement)
• No food surplus or capital to be regarded as pension
• Elderly functional capacity decline, and Children willing to support, but they still continue to work
• Death itself (not retirement) marks end of active work and community participation for elderly

• Buddhism dominate religion
• Mentality and way of life changes during last stage of life 
• elderly expected to devote to religious duties
• involved in meditation
• perform good deeds in the community 
• elderly provided by from families, but not considered dependent 
• strong concept of respect for old people

• last stage is considered a happy time becuase no work, provided for, and respected
• no economic production, but no decline in status or prestige 

• Buddhism is universalistic - anyone can get enlightenment 
• individual is accountable for receiving salvation 
• belief that humans have endless cycle of rebirths, but once enlightenment is reached you can get out of the cycle 
• cycle of rebirth not really a good thing for buddhist 
• to get out of the cycle and get real happiness they must search for wisdom, moral uprightness, and meditation 
• true happiness is not attainable in this world for buddhist 
• makes people rethink about retirement because Christianity emphasize one life to live

• How people go about their own retirement? Study done in metropolitan area in CA
• researcher wanted to understand patterns of retirement, shared experience and how to resolve cultural value, dilemmas, and ambiguities
• Informant characteristics: good health, education beyond high school, and no financial problems
• Interviewed people 1 year prior to retirement – immediately after retirement – 1 year afer retirement
• Used concept of Rites of passage from workers to retirees transition

3 phases: Seperation, Transition(Liminality), Integration

• informal private preparations: going to finance seminars etc to prepare, sentiments “try out” or “get a feel” of what retirement life is like
• public announcement with formal retirement ceremonies and informal farewells ex. symbolic of returning badge

• limbo period; liminality - dont belong to anything
• take trip or seclude themselves
• remove themselves from the 9-5 job habits
• carry out special projects at this time

• renegotiate relationship and routines
• Domestic conjugal -->  familial --> friendship and community

• Mr. Herbison: 
• did backyard work to seclude himself 
• excluded himself from family trip
• began to volunteer 
• renegotiate relationship of of household chores

• Mrs. Barclay:
• cleaned or reorganized her house
• got rid of clothes that reminded her of her job
• took a trip for several days 
• began to volunteer

• women in general have longer longevity, are younger than husbands, more likely to be widowed for many years
• polygyny- practice of having more than one wife. men less likely to experience widowhood.

• older africans in rural areas are poor, live with kin, and have little access to healthcare
• widowers are not respected and do not maintain property rights bc often times it comes from husband.
• many African countries have no pension or welfare

Gusii in Kenya = property rights from father to son. if woman doesnt have a son she will be in trouble when husband dies 

Samia in Kenya = woman automatically receive rights to cultivate the land even when sonless

Older Zimbabwean widows = “ a woman without a man is not respected”. When husband dies in laws “grab” the rest of property. women economically worse off when they don’t have a husband

• few women “own” land
• some only have “use right” through kin connections
• degree of varying rights after husbands death leads to growing competition -> some may be dispossessed

• producers of cash and subsistence crops for household
• reproduction and household management; women do more economic and domestic activites while rearing children
• women in general overworked and poor

• levirate practiced in polygynous African society
• when husband dies the woman becomes the wife of deceased husbands brother.

(not for remembering:  sororate: if a married woman dies the husband takes deceased womans sister)

• has tradition of levirate in Nandi Kenya
• but many women refuse to practice levirate bc she can continue to work in the field because her rights in her husbands estate is secured

• aids more likely to affect men, leaving women widows
• “aids widows” – likely to be stigmatized and shunned bc they are likely HIV positive
• economic security is then a major concern for widows, which forces widow to go with levirate system or remarry
• BUT some women are self reliant and have increasing status and power ex. abaluyia in Kenya 
• widow inheritance more broad than levirate – as soon as the woman becomes widow she is inherited by another man, likely to be husbands relatives
• in some societies widow inheritance is refused becuase she is considered polluted 
• some fine alternatives to husbands by living with children or natal group.

• Traditional manhood and adulthood expected to:
• 1. provide land to wife or wives
• 2. maintain own independent household
• 3. raise your children
• Man has authority over son until he becomes independent and over daughter until daughter gets married
• son becomes independent by establishing household; father provides bridewealth in preparation for sons marriage

• Widows:
• Social pressure to be inherited
• Unconventional method to meet social demands
• The poorest widows
• Perpetuation of patriarchal system

• young men migrate out and earn their own income
• They don’t need marriage contract process from parents  
• they can establish their adulthood without relying on elders

• improvement in sanitary system and medical system - infant mortality decline and fertility rates increase
• mass education increase, but decline in jobs that lead to high unemployment rates
• some societies are very money oriented therefore "no romance without finance"and so may not be able to marry 
• in rural area people are suffering from limited amount of land
• therefore, men unable to return to traditional pathways to manhood , which threatens their masculinity

• in general, disease is transmitted multigenerationl heterosexual relationships 
• ultimate cause, sexuals relationships between older middle aged men and young women 
• high mortality among men and women 
• middle aged men likely to be married, which makes wife likely to be infected to do. 
• becuase of death of middle aged man, more likely to have high rates of widows in this community

• traditionally, husbands relative supposed to inherit widow 
• by being inherited the widow can stay on husbands property and cultivate land
• Inheritor is usaully a married man, inheritor continues to live in his own home with his own wife and does not need to provide economic support to widow
• strong social pressure and sanction for widow to be inherited

• men have higher rate of mortality from HIV/Aids
• leads to shortage of men to inherit widow 
• if man is still alive, current wife of inheritor does not want to share her husband either

• continual pressure to be inherited
• so, widows start choosing younger unmarried to be inherited by 
• widow brings man into her house, different than traditional way because she is choosing her inheritor and now has obligation to the young man
• this makes the young man dependent on her 
• keeping a man is costly for widows - richer widows are in stronger position to keep the man

• Widows deceased husbands families would like to pay any men to inherit the widow because they dont want to do it themselves 
• Young men can receive provision from widow: The high life (parents cannot afford)for being an inheritor; They have more attraction to richer widows and at same time can establish their own manhood
• but risk contracting HIV in this process

Win-win relationship between widow, young men, and inheritor

• death associated with old age is relatively new 
• many people in different age groups actually die

• death is disruptive when its unpredictable 
• when idividual still has so much role to society

• In pre-modern societies:
• More death happens in all age categories 

• Belief in ghosts in preindustrial societies:
• Death before old age: 
• Unfinished business – “frustrated in having his life cut short.”

• ghost stories assicated with murder or suicide etc. 
• community establishes a way to go through death events to mitigate social impact of death
• Relative absence of the belief in ghosts in modern society
• Death in modern society pretty much happens in old age - Many of these people accomplish parental tasks, work obligations, and living in relative isolation
• Old peoples death doesn’t have so much impact in society as a whole
• Less disruptive to the collective, but more disturbing for the bereaved surviving family
• No community emotional system
• Family members are scattered now and disperse after funeral

• 1. Not suffering - dying in sleep 
• 2. religion adn spirituality - god determines deathand is  positive thing 
• 3.have closure time with family - family should be around at time of death and invovled in decisions
• 4. dying at home 
• 5. natural death - no reliance on technology

themes want an ideal death

condition of fragile bone caused by low bone density making bones weak and brittle

• type 1 - postmenopausal osteoporosis
• type 2 - senile osteoporosis

• cortical bone - white outer area of bone
• trabecular (or cancellous) bone - spongy interior area of bone with a honeycomb like structure; more susceptible to physiological changes beccause the area gets larger causing the structure to get weaker

bone loss usually in the trabecular bone that develops after menopause, when estrogen levels drop

• bone becomes brittle and easily breaks in later life
• happens to both men and women
• occurs on the outer bone, but involves progessive thinning of both the trabecular (spongy) and cortical bone (hard)

Gender

Alcohol - reduces the rate of bone formation; excessive alcohol causes increase in urinary calcium loss 

Medication

Exercise - weight bearing exercise is important, but over exercising can lose estrogen and may not be able to earn peak bone mass

Reproductive History - Childless women more at risk for osteoporosis; women who have given birth the level of calcium absorbtion is efficient and increases during breast feeding; 1% increase of bone per live birth

• Diet - importance of calcium rich diet and vitamin D, incorporate dark leafy greens
• Genetics - affects mostly European and Asian Ancestry; attainment of low peak bone density; variations in vitamin d receptors

• Excessive Ca concentration can be harmful cause Calcification of soft tissue lead to Forming stones, and damage to the kidneys
• Ca rich environments Natural diets of mammals – rich in Ca Early H. sapiens – 2000 – 3000 mg (3-5 times per day)

Ineffecient absorpition of calcium is better because we are already living in a ca rich environment

• Our bodies are made for the Avoidance of excessive concentrations
• Human calcium absorption – low efficiency under most circumstances increased efficiency when preganant, pubery and lactation relatively inefficient in the intestine avoidance of life threatening kidney damage

Ineffecient Ca absorption Works favorably for young Beneficial early in life But deleterious with age related, physiological changes Antagonistic pleitorpoy Antagonistic pleiotropy Increasing incidence for contemporaty populations

• Underdeveloped eggs stored in ovary - shape formation happens during 11-12th week of gestation period
• Follicle is the cell that catches the egg  - shapes around 16 weeks in utero
• All stages of follicle development present during the reproductive years
• Follicle stage: Primoridal -> primary -> secondary -> antral _> Graafin (preovulatory)
• Follicle maturity from one stage to another is dependent
• after ovuation, the follicle becomes corpus luteum (“yellow body”) and makes progesterone go up

• by 5th month in uteri there is about 7 million eggs
• at birth reduced to 2 million eggs
• after birth egg deline slows 
• 400,000 eggs at puberty
• only 400 or so released as mature

• The degenration of egg and its follicle within the ovary
• any follicle stage is detected in ovary
• 99.9% of follicle disappear by atresia process

• follicular phase: preovulatory (first 14 days)
• luteal phase: postovulatory (2nd 14 days)

• FSH – follicle stimulating horomone helps follicle to grow to point of ovulation
• LH – luteinizing hormone
• FSH and LH surge right before ovulation - If hormones are low then ovulation would not happen. Responsible for ovulation.

• “the ovary runs out of eggs.”
• removal of estrogen and progesterone feedback control
• entry into menopause does not believe absolute depletion, but below the threshold

• African elephant:
• Max lifespan – 60 years
• 50% of reproductive capacity at age 55 

• Short finned pilot whales – exception
• Menopause happens at age 30-40 years old
• survive for 14 more years after menopause

• Japanese macaques in the wild
• considered to be old at 20 years old (only 8% reach this)
• Most 20-25 year old females have reproductive capacity  
• After last birth survival is about 2.1 years
• Still reproductively capable at late stage
• 25 years old – advanced deterioration in all body systems compared to 50 year old human whose female reproductive capacity goes down, but all things mostly are ok

• Chimpanzees In the wild, rarely undergo reproductive cessation, but fecundity (chances to become pregnant) and menstruation cycles are irregular
• Somehow similar to women premenopausal symptoms
• In captivity, longevity is longer, and can shut down reproductive capacity

Menopause is still unique to humans with the exception of the whale?

• Encephalization unique to humans - larger brain, risk of birth process increased
• high metabolic cost of gestation and lactation
• increased altriciality (helessness) of infants 
• humans have short birth intervals 

the grandmother hypothesis: grandmother has beneficial effect on the reproductive success of her children and the survival of grandchildren; maternal grandmother hypothesis causes seclusion of women in patrilocal society because of paternity uncertainty 

mother hypothesis: mothers might profit more, genetically speaking, by investing resources in their existing children than in giving birth to new ones.

Antagonistic Pleiotropy theory: Menopause can be understood from this perspective; Genes which are favorable during young age becomes deleterious in old age - One gene has multiple effects.

its important for females to maintain regular ovarian cycle to maximise reproduction cycle 

At the end of luteal phase, the follicles need to be large enough to be recruited by the body. Only a few will be selected thats why its good to have large pool of recruitable follicles at any time.

low reserve of follicles in old age

• Symptoms differ individually
• Somatic: Vasomotor hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, stiffness
• Psychological and cognitive Tense, depressed, irritable, forgetful

• All symptoms – more prevelant in early peri than premenopause
• Hot flashes/night sweats – dramatic increase from pre. To late peri. (then decrease)
• more vasomotor symptoms consistant with menopoausal stage - more predicatble.
• ethnicity has signigifcant effect: vasomotorsymptoms fewer with asians because of soy consumption. depression, nervousness, forgetfulness more prevelant with hispanics....irritability with european

• not just happen at menopause
• can happen with removal of both ovaries, just before menstruation possibly becuase of estrogen level
• associated with rapid decline of estrogen level and rising FSH 
• norepinephrine released during stress 
• reduced thermoneuatral zone: range in temperature don’t sweat or shiver; a lower sweating threshold; stress hormone responsible for the sweat