CHAPTER REVIEW 377Chapter
Review1.What is “old” and “young”?Sociologists view age as a
social construction, meaning it is not the number but the
social environment that determines what age means. Age
of marriage and other social expectations depends on
the meanings society gives to age. Children used to be
viewed as adults very early; today they are postponing
adulthood until much later. Age is one of society’s major
social identities and is a basis for inequality. Most
inequality based on age affects either the very young or
the very old. All societies divide members by age, and
individuals are sorted into age cohorts, groups in which
people experience similar life experiences and norms for
behavior. With increased life expectancy and laws about
child labor, age groups and definitions have changed.
Transitions between age stages are often marked by rites
of passage and other milestones, although the tasks and
milestones of age groups are now blurred and have lost
some meaning.
2.How are ages sorted?The Western concept of childhood
developed with the Industrial Revolution and the soci-
etal changes it brought. The new social order required
people to work outside the home, and schooling was
required to socialize young people into the world of
work. This socialization was different by gender; boys
were prepared for factory work, girls for work in the
home. As labor became more specialized, children needed
more training and began to go to high school, creating
a new life stage, adolescence. Young adulthood is a tran-
sitional stage, marked by milestones such as establish-
ing a household, having a full-time job, getting married,
completing education, and having children. Middle-aged
individuals are dealing with changes in workplace and
parenting status. Many middle-aged people are in the
sandwich generation, caring for children and parents
simultaneously. Currently, the fastest-growing segment
of the U.S. population is among those in old age, a sit-
uation referred to as the “graying of America.”
3.How is age related to inequality?While many societies
revere those in old age, most Western societies do not.
These attitudes can lead to ageism, or differential treat-
ment based on age. The status of the elderly in the West
is derived from social changes brought about by the
Industrial Revolution. Social norms changed quickly,
and the knowledge of older people became less relevant.
Their decreased importance in the workplace led to dif-
ferential treatment in society, which is justified by the
creation of a cultural ideology portraying old people as
inept children. As society changed, the place of the el-
derly changed. While more older Americans are wealth-
ier than ever before, many are also living in or near
poverty and lack the resources to make ends meet. As in
any group, inequality is magnified when intersected with
minority status.4.How are the generations distinguished?The biggest age
cohort in U.S. history is the baby boomers, those born
roughly between 1945 and 1964. Because they are such
a large group, their presence changed society in many
ways. When they were children, the nation was focused
on child rearing. When they were adolescents, the
culture focused on that stage of life. The boomers them-
selves changed the landscape of society with their active
participation in the Civil Rights, women’s, and gay rights
movements. When the boomers became middle aged, the
concerns of society shifted into a new era of conser-
vatism. Now the boomers are redefining what it means
to be old. The baby boomers were followed by genera-
tion X, a smaller cohort. Because they are smaller, the
culture focused less on them, and individuals in this
generation experienced a decline in their standard of
living. The children of the baby boomers, generation Y,
followed and are a larger population. They are also the
first generation to embrace new technology and new
media as ways of living.5.How does inequality manifest among the young?
While older individuals have power as a group and
own more wealth than the young, the young are rela-
tively powerless. The poverty rate for children is higher
than that for any other group. Many children have no
health insurance, and when they turn 18, over half of
them have no health insurance, as they are kicked off
their parents’ policies. Often, children have to work in
order to survive. While child labor is regulated in
countries such as the United States, globally one in six
children works. Many are taken into global slavery
and sold as sex workers or put into other criminal
activities.