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Aging has a significant impact on society. People of different ages and genders tend to differ in many aspects, such as legal and social responsibilities, outlooks on life, and self-perceptions. People of different ages and genders tend to differ in many aspects, such as legal and social responsibilities, outlooks on life, and self-perceptions.
Aging has traditionally been explained in terms of physiological processes that lead to inevitable decline. [23] However, more recent findings suggest that aging is a more subjective experience with health outcomes tied as intimately to social mores and behavior as they are to human biology. [21]
Gerontology (/ ˌ dʒ ɛr ən ˈ t ɒ l ə dʒ i / JERR-ən-TOL-ə-jee) is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of aging.The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Greek γέρων (gérōn), meaning "old man", and -λογία (), meaning "study of".
Ageism is a social inequality resulting from age stratification. This is a sociological concept that comes with studying aging population. [3] Age stratification within a population can have major implications, affecting things such as workforce trends, social norms, family structures, government policies, and even health outcomes.
The theory distinguishes normal aging from pathological aging, neglecting the older adults with chronic illness. The feminist theories criticise the continuity theory for defining normal aging around a male model. [6] Another weakness of the theory is that it fails to demonstrate how social institutions impact the individuals and the way they age.
Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans , many other animals , and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal .
Disengagement theory was formulated by Cumming and Henry in 1961 in the book Growing Old and was the first theory of aging that social scientists developed. [5] Thus, the theory has historical significance in gerontology. Since then, it has faced strong criticism since the theory was proposed as innate, universal, and unidirectional. [6]
Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; developed by Stanford psychologist Laura L. Carstensen) is a life-span theory of motivation.The theory maintains that as time horizons shrink, as they typically do with age, people become increasingly selective, investing greater resources in emotionally meaningful goals and activities.