Preview

HCS 557 week 1 final paper perspective on Aging Diedre Brown 1

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1344 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
HCS 557 week 1 final paper perspective on Aging Diedre Brown 1
Evolution of Roles and Societal Perspectives on Aging
Diedre Brown
HCS 557
February 23, 2015
Dr. Lorraine Jackson
Evolution of Roles and Societal Perspectives on Aging
It is important to understand how roles and perspectives have changed over time. The alterations can be an effect caused by societal and economical developments. Understanding the evolution of roles and perspectives provides a clearer picture on how aging may affect you in the future. In this report we will focuses on aging population from World War II to present day. I will describe the changing role of older adults, and describes the differences in perspectives on aging in America. I also will explain each cause of the changes in the role and perspectives of the aging population.
Changing Roles
The time from the World War II to the Present Day, from 1949 to 2015, there have been many changes that our nation has gone through. These changes have affected the roles of the elders because of the changes the American family has endured. Along with each generation came their own specific role change within the family. After World War II over time the role of the family has changed from the grandparents, father, mother, and children, from a farming family to that of an industrial family. The industrial families consist of the working father, house wife mother and the children. As time continue to pass the family structure changed to meet the needs of a changing society. Now we see the introduction of the working father and the working mother and the number of children growing smaller on average to three children families. With birth control women in the work place has caused the structure to change again, to the single parent family with children or no children at all.
The role of the work force has changed also over this period of time. From one were the father was the breadwinner and the mother stayed at home with the children. Over time the wife was introduced to the work force to the point

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    FCS 355 Spring Syllabus

    • 3566 Words
    • 16 Pages

    The American family has undergone many changes in the past few years. The course will trace historical events such as the Industrial Revolution, World War II, down to our current Technology Age and discuss how the family has been affected by these happenings. The family will be looked at from theoretical perspectives as well as practical perspectives. Students will be given opportunities to review journal articles, participate in discussion board postings, and look at the overall family life cycle to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the family affects individuals throughout their entire lifespan.…

    • 3566 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mcdonaldization

    • 1925 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Johnson, Elizabeth S. and John B. Williamson. The social problems of aging. United States: Pantheon Books.…

    • 1925 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this chapter is being discussed the different roles that are carried out by elderly in different cultures and different periods of times. As a member of a society grows older, he or she usually changes roles or occupations. The acceptable roles for elders differ in each society. Some cultures utilize their elderly in many ways, while others just a few.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The aged population holds the rights to the most life experience and trials. The aged population shows their stories on their faces and what it means to live. Many elders when facing the ends of their lives have to face certain issues and trends. The aged will endure changes concerning their physical, cognitive, and psychosocial abilities. He or she will come upon many milestones in late adulthood but there are many ways to help contribute to successful aging.…

    • 1829 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aging In Older Adults

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Older adults often work with their spouses who need to be cared for due to long term illnesses up until their death, as well as grandchildren and foster children. Many older people take care of their grandchildren because their own children have to go to work or because they have been granted custody due to abuse or incarceration of their children. Many older people who have been given the responsibility of raising another child so late in their life are faced with additional health issues, psychological stress, and social isolation. It is often very stressful for someone who is older to have to be a caregiver because they are already dealing with other stresses of old age such as losing their spouses, not having a lot of energy, and worrying about their own health.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In late adulthood our society sees older adults as useless and non-existent, older adults have transitioned from operating as productive and viable workers in the workforce to facing the myths that older adults are less productive, out of touch, and incompetent. During this stage older adults begin to retire from their lifetime jobs and find the current workforce to be very intimidating and discriminatory.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyone on the planet has a family, but not everyone sees eye to eye about what constitutes as a “real” family. Since WWII, the structure of the American family has been constantly changing. The “normal” American family is known as the nuclear family, with a mother, father, son, daughter, and occasionally, a pet. But as time has progressed, the nuclear family has had to make room for larger families, single parent families, biracial families, and families with step and half relatives in them. After WWII, the American family’s structure changed drastically, with many types of families appearing, aside from the nuclear family structure. The baby boom led to larger families and an increase of child births and the women’s right movement and counterculture played part in the rise of single parent households. With minorities gaining more rights, more biracial households started to appear, while couples’ decisions to get divorces led to step families and half siblings in families. The definition of a “normal” American family has been continuously changing since the 50s, but no matter what anyone says, it is still a family.…

    • 1607 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aging and Adulthood Paper

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Aging is an inevitability of life. With age man exchanges the physical prowess of youth for the wisdom that comes through experiencing the trials and triumphs of life. As an individual enters late adulthood, age 65 and older, they experience many physical, emotional and mental changes never previously encountered and which may require an adaptation of their earlier lifestyle. Some of these late adulthood changes are primary and secondary aging, issues regarding health and wellness, family and personal relationships, and the milestone of retirement. Understanding these changes can help late age adults better cope with the challenges and opportunities that arising during advanced aging.…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Family and Household

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages

    "Families are affected by, and in turn affect, the values and structure of the society, in which they are embedded" (Haviland 2002: 245). This statement says so much about what families are and why they differ so much from one culture to the next. They fill the needs of each particular group. In America the "family" has changed dramatically over the past few decades as the country, itself, has changed. In the 1950 's and sixties the roles of each member of the family were more distinct and defined. The mother and the father were a married couple who stayed together. The mother did not work outside of the home, except in extreme circumstances or cases. She took care of the children and the home. The father was the "bread winner" and did very little work inside the home. Today most families either have both parents working or they are single parent families, or families divided by divorce. The changes to what comprises our families have also evolved to included families with gay parents; having either two mothers or two fathers or combined families from re-marriages with step-parents and siblings. In these families their function is one of raising independent children who will grow up to become better than the generation before them. And in many cases they…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The difference between aging with Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease was the main reason to worry, and kindle gerontological curiosity into this field. Unexpectedly, the majority of the people have issues involving risk factors, screening, and evaluation of dementia with Intellectual Disability (ID) and or, with or without Down syndrome (Perkins, Friedman, 2012).…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life History Demographics

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Interviews of older adults were conducted on the subject of their life history and demographics. Each interviewer was given conversation prompts on basic life history such as: year and place of birth, family structure, career path, and education in order to gain basic knowledge of the interviewee. The interviewees were also asked questions about the demographic shift in society and how he or she believes the shift will impact older adults. In addition to the interview, an analysis between the interview and studies demonstrating demographic connections was also assigned.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aging is inevitable, everyone experiences aging regardless of any physical alterations. In the United States, aging is not viewed as favorable process as it is in other countries (jrank.org, n.d.; Waites & Onolemhemhen, 2014). According to the World Health Organization (n.d.) and Waites & Onolemhemhen (2014), individuals are living longer in industrialized and low industrialized nations prompting researchers to focus on the aging process.…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aging is a time to categorize stages in undesirable terms, like a child entering the “terrible twos,” or adults experiencing a “mid-life crisis.” Aging is a time when there is unpredictability of one’s number and how that number places a person in society, reflecting on how the retirement age changed from 65 and will continue to climb. With these limited examples, American culture tends to have a negative perspective of aging. We may not know the damage we are causing along the way; but at one point, the perspective our society has on aging and the roles individuals play in a society, will cause people to experience the phenomenon known as the “integrity vs. despair crisis of late adulthood” (2011, p. 78). Those who grow old will eventually question their existence, and if it is meaningful by how they gathered clues throughout their lives to define success and…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ageism In Older Adults

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages

    With the older adult population steadily increasing, society has a long way to go with embracing this population as it relates to the negative effects that ageism has on older adults. Western cultures are excessive about obtaining and maintaining youthfulness and constantly trying to find ways to combat the process of aging. As a gerontologist, it is my role to educate older adults as well and the general community about the issues affecting older adults including ageism. In order to be successful in doing this, I must find key sources that influence ageism and find ways to cultivate a better understanding about healthy aging and slowly dismantling negative stereotypes.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aging Literature Review

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This literature review addresses several issues related to the study of aging. Theoretical perspectives, research methods, and current controversies are reviewed.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays