Aging
The social issue in which I am interested is how the aging of society will affect the way that we view the elderly. The idea here is that population growth via the baby boom created a generation that had the economic means -- by virtue of the ratio of working age people to elderly -- to remain at a distance from the elderly. The textbook describes how this generation (and later ones) have traditionally viewed getting older negatively. This generation pursued wealth, and because of the wealth generated it was able to either pay for caregivers for their parents as they become elderly, or that they had this covered through taxes. For example, many parents of baby boomers were in the war, so had coverage for much of their old age care as veterans. High tax receipts have also paid for generous entitlements for the elderly, as things like Medicare were enacted during a time of abundance and healthy worker-to-retiree ratios.
Several shifts in our society are going to occur with the aging of society. There are fewer workers to elderly, and this trend is only going to continue. One result is that the elderly are going to see their entitlements cut -- or at least they should. If there is no political will, younger generations will have to pay for this, and that is going to create social strife. Further compounding the changing attitudes towards the elderly are that generations like the boomers that for so long looked down on aging are now entering their 60s and facing up to their own aging. Moreover, with lower levels of economic prosperity already showing in the economy, more adults are going to be faced with elder care situations. If today elderly people are shuffled off into assisted-living facilities, when the baby boomers enter into the second elderly phase of 75 and over, this might occur less. New family dynamics might have to emerge as a response to this, especially if entitlements are cut.
Social isolation is something that is likely to occur with elderly people even more than...
Consider how wired young people are today. If you are not on Facebook you don't exist to many people. Elderly people are going to have a lot of trouble with this in the future, as today's older people are really the last generation without a strong social media presence, thereby cutting themselves off from the social networks that bind every other generation. This interaction between aging and
technology is going to create a unique dynamic for the transitional generations.
Another issue that is going to arise from aging is the poverty. Seniors may be forced to work longer, while mitigates the negative economic effects of the aging society, but creates problems of its own as younger people have a harder time getting good jobs and moving up in their
careers. Moreover, lower general economic power is going to affect all of society. Seniors who have gone their whole lives expecting certain entitlements and a
lifestyle in their retirement years may be surprised when such things fail to materialize. But society is going to have a hard time paying for these things -- already governments are running deficits. Consider what the
Affordable Care Act does -- in part it seeks to lower health care costs. Well, health care costs are a major part of the
federal budget, and so is social security. How will fewer taxpayers pay for such generous entitlements for a generation that already had it easier? Society is going to experience a shake-up as the result of this changing dynamic.
Sociological research can shed some light on these issues. Sociological research has the benefit of providing frameworks for understanding these issues. If such issues have already occurred elsewhere, researchers can draw parallels. Further, researchers can use their models to extrapolate more information predicting societal response. These are major challenges that society is going to be confronting and it is important to consider what research can tell us about how society might change and adapt to these issues. Policymakers in
government, marketers in the
business world and just everyday people will all benefit from the insights that sociologists can bring to these issues.
Society shapes the lives of the aging. We can see that today things like
poverty and isolation come from our view of aging as a negative force. Instead of cherishing older people, we ignore them and put them homes. Ok, we do not all do this, but many…
