Symbolic Interactionism Sociology

In Sociology, there are four main theories, functionalism, symbolic interactionism, conflict, and feminism. My favorite theory and the theory that I have picked to for this paper is Symbolic Interactionism. It is my favorite theory because of what it means and how it shapes society. Symbolic interactionism shapes society by how an individual views different objects in the world. No one has the same view on society because each person was taught/ learned different associations with different items or symbols. For instance, one person might view cell phones as advanced technology that is pushing our world forward. While another person might view cell phones as a step back in society claiming that we are less friendly and communicate with each
The older a person gets the smaller their family and friend circles gets, this is due to them become sick and passing away or losing touch with their friends from not being able to go out and do things that they could previously. This raises concern because the elderly can become socially isolated meaning that they disconnect from the world. However, social activities/ social interaction for the elderly is important and extremely beneficial, social isolation can be deadly. Like symbolic interaction and retirement, this falls back on the elderly individual, every individual has a choice on how they want to spend their days after retirement. It all depends on the associations you give toward certain things and how you choose to act on
Unfortunately, there is not many students coming up in the medical field studying Geriatrics. Geriatric doctors focus on the elderly and know exactly how to care for their growing needs as they age into their senior years of life. With the number of elderly growing and a shortage of doctors that specifically work with the elderly population, it is becoming a huge crisis. Caregiving can also be associated with symbolic interaction, not on the elderly populations part. but on societies part. This goes back to how society views the elderly, we need to stop viewing them as of less importance/useless and start viewing them as a valuable member of society that desperately needs a caring medical staff that knows what they are