Basic Concepts 3

1
Basic Concepts 3

• Social and Economic Outlook
• for an Aging Society

2
The Varieties of Aging Experience

• Stereotypes suggest that age is the great leveler
  thus, elders are commonly thought to be much
  alike
• However, the opposite is true
• Old age is seen as a roleless role a status
  with no clearly defined purpose or rules of
  behavior
• Older people are often victims of ageism
  stereotyping and discrimination based on age

3
The Varieties of AgingExperience (cont.)

• Social Class a key factor influencing the
  experience of old age in all societies
• Social class is affected by occupation, income,
  property, and education
• Race and Ethnicity Whites make up roughly 84
  of the U.S. population over age 65
• But minorities will comprise a significantly
  larger proportion in the future
• African Americans the largest minority group
  among the aged, comprising 9 of Americans over
  age 65
• Theyre more likely to experience the crossover
  phenomenon they tend to experience more
  functional impairment, but are less likely to be
  admitted to nursing homes

4
Gender and Aging

• In all parts of the world, women comprise the
  majority of the older population
• The typical rate is for men to die early and for
  women to survive with chronic diseases
• Physical signs of aging bring more severe
  consequences for women than for men
• Among women in minority groups, there is a
  pattern of cumulative disadvantage which results
  in less economic security in retirement

5
Multiple Jeopardy and Economic Well-Being

• Double jeopardy (or multiple jeopardy) faced by
  older people who are simultaneously members of
  two (or more) disadvantaged groups
• The poverty rate is higher for older people than
  for any other adult group
• Regardless of age, the poverty rate among
  minorities is more than twice as high as among
  Whites
• Given the sharp differences between men and
  women, Whites and minorities, how should
  universal programs such as Social Security take
  account of such differences?
• There is also controversy about how to take
  account of womens experience in family roles and
  how these characteristic gender differences
  should influence Social Security

6
The Economic Status of Older Americans

• Economic circumstances vary sharply among
  different subgroups in the U.S.
• Since the early 1980s, the income of older
  people in the U.S. has grown faster than the
  income of younger people
• Income refers to available money, or its
  equivalent in purchasing power
• Wealth refers to all economic assets of value,
  regardless of whether they produce cash
• Both assets and income have a much wider range
  than in other age groups meaning there are more
  extremes of wealth and poverty among the old

7
Sources of Retirement Income

• Retirement income policy in the U.S. is sometimes
  called a three-legged stool
• 1) Social Security, 2) private pensions, and 3)
  individual savings and other assets
• 9 out of 10 older adults rely on Social Security
  for some portion of their income, and 20 get all
  their income from it
• Older people have not shared equally in the
  increase in retirement income
• The disadvantaged poorly educated, minorities,
  and women havent had jobs that allow them to
  collect maximum Social Security benefits or
  private pensions, or accumulate wealth

8
Changing Financial Outlook

• Life-cycle model of savings predicts that as
  baby boomers reach later life, they will begin to
  put more money into savings when retirement looms
  on the horizon
• Older people who live on fixed incomes are
  affected more severely by inflation than other
  groups
• The overall economic position of older Americans
  has improved substantially in the past two
  decades
• However, the stereotype that most older people
  are affluent is mistaken
• There is enormous variation among subgroups of
  the aging with respect to economic circumstance
• A large group of older people have been brought
  above the technical poverty line are still poor

9
Public Policy on Aging

• When todays elderly were born most before 1935
  the U.S. government gave no special attention
  at all to issues of old age
• Since the 1970s, the federal budget has gone
  gray, and today over 30 of the total federal
  budget is spent on the aged
• Until the 20th century, the aged population was
  small, and governments role was very limited
• The Great Society legislation of the 1960s
  included steps that federalized old-age
  assistance, and passed landmark laws like
  Medicare and Medicaid

10
The Aging Network

• Aging Interest Groups during the Great
  Depression, older Americans banded together to
  advocate for their own interests while government
  was expanding social welfare programs
• The most prominent age-based movement today is
  AARP (1958)
• Many other groups include the National Council on
  Aging, the Gerontological Society of America, the
  American Society on Aging, and the National
  Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

11
Trends in Public Policy and Aging

• Social Security and Medicare have grown rapidly
  because they have been available on the basis of
  age alone, without means testing
• Federal programs for older people continue to
  enjoy broad political support
• Programs for older Americans have developed
  incrementally for the most part, making it more
  difficult to see just how much they have grown
  over the years
• The growth of benefit programs for the aged
  reflects the growth in size of the aging
  population