unit 4 P4 and M2

P4 - Explain two theories of ageing

The Continuity theory (Atchley 1989) stresses the importance of continuing as the person you have always been. This can involve continuing with; interests, lifestyles and social contacts from the past. Memories of the past may be important as they can help a person to tell their life story. The important thing is that people can continue to develop an internal sense of self-esteem and self-concept. The Continuity theory suggests that people will have different needs when it comes to activity. Some people may wish to withdraw form social and physical activity because they see themselves as a person who is entitled to retire and adopt a disengaged life. Some people need to stay actively involved with people or interests in order to feel that life is worthwhile.

The Disengagement theory - The disengagement theory, proposed by Cumming and Henry in 1961, suggests that older people make a positive effort to withdraw from life as a response to their decreased physical, intellectual, emotional and social skills. It suggests that they are willingly retire from work; willingly withdraw from relationships and disengage from roles, preferring to follow inactive, solitary activities; and willingly give up their normal ways of behaving, becoming more less friendly and companionable and sometimes hostile in their interactions. Cumming (1975) argued that older people would experience a decrease in social contact as they grew older and become increasingly 'individual' and isolated (less concerned with the expectations of others). He argued that it was appropriate and healthy for older people to withdraw from others - disengagement was a natural part of ageing. Zimbardo (1992) argued that ‘The disengagement view of social ageing has been largely discredited for a number of reasons’. The majority of older people do remain socially involved with family and friends and many older people become more involved with their family as they get into old age. This may be because older people choose to spend their time with the people they feel closer too, rather than making new friends. If people only interact with close friends does that mean that they are disengaged? Many researchers do not agree with the disengagement theory, you need to remember that back in 1961 when Cummings and Henry first proposed this theory there was no such thing as the internet or text messaging, not many older people had a car or even a phone in their home.

M2

Michael Jackson loves being known and acknowledged and it would still be really important for him to have a wide fan base for his music. Also, to show his father that he can do things alone and not need him to ‘put him in his place’ as much. This means in later life he would have continued to perform and sing his music to his fans, and also record albums and singles. This supports the continuity theory view in the respect that he will carry on with his social contacts and interests in his life. However, Jackson will want to remain active and will keep doing things he loves and carry on his singing career, he will to some extent disengage from the limelight as he will grow old and not be able to perform to the extent in concert as he could have done when he was younger. This is because he will lose contact with some friends and his social life will decrease quite a bit when he gets to a certain age. This supports the social disengagement theory as it states that all people at old age naturally disengage from the rest of society.

Cumming argues that older people would experience a reduction in social contact as they grew older and become increasingly ‘individual’ and less concerned with the expectations of others. He argued that it was appropriate and healthy for older people to withdraw from others – disengagement was a natural part of ageing. I would like to believe that Michael Jackson will not have disengaged, in his old age. However, considering what he has achieved and done in his career I believe that Jackson will have disengaged a lot more from his friends and his career to a certain extent as he had a very bad addiction and as he got older it got worse and finally killed him. If this addiction wouldn’t have killed him I believe it would have been too physically draining for Michael to carry on his performing at an older age. Also, I believe that Michael would have been emotionally weak in older age because of all the negative attention he has had from his father as a child and also the press with the child abuse allegations towards him etc. Also having to look after his children, this means he will also disengage socially however, he would have one day seen them grow older and disengage from them as well as they go to lead their own life, this links in with the disengagement theory.

Continuity theory – the importance of good memories, this would be good for Jackson’s self-esteem in later life. MJ would know he had had a very successful career and a good life, so therefore he would have high self-esteem in old age. It is very important to keep reminders of his past life as older people can become very depressed in old age as they feel lonely, and some people prefer to disengage from the rest of society and others may not be able to cope without staying active in later life.
However, this also links in with the continuity theory as, Michael Jackson being physically drained from performing means that he could not continue the lifestyle that he has been living since he was 5 years of age, for example, he will not be making as many public appearances that he had been doing before, therefore his life would not have been continued which supports the continuity theory. With this, I believe if he was still alive today he would not be performing and socialising as much as someone of that age should still be doing… he disengaged at a very young age from lovers and friends and this is more in line with the social disengagement theory. I believe this was because of this addiction Michael had and if he had continued his life like that he would not be in a state to be social towards anyone, especially his children as it would not be fair for them to see his deterioration from the rest of the world. So if Michael Jackson had carried on his lifestyle I believe he would have disengaged completely from his social life before the end of his life.

As MJ withdraws from the rest of society and maybe some of his friends and family, gaining new hobbies is very important to stimulate him to make his life feel worthwhile. Maybe it will be the fact where he moves into a stage of being less well known by a lot of people as he gets older, and this could have a negative effect on him as he could feel worthless. He may not disengage from his close friends and family as such, as Zimbardo asks, ‘if people only interact with close friends and family does this mean that they are disengaged?’ Which is very important, as I do not believe just because you only stay in contact with closer friends and family that you have disengaged fully from everything, and as Jackson had children I believe he would not have fully disengaged at all. Finally, as Michael physically cannot perform and sell records anymore in his old age money would definitely of become an issue for him in his later life as he would not be earning as much as he had done all the way through his life so I believe he would struggle there emotionally as well as physically.