What is the role and social position of grandparents in the family, including cross-cultural

comparisons and the impact of changing life expectancy upon the family?

LIFE EXPECTANCY AND DEMOGRAPHY

Increase in life expectancy:

 In 1900 the death rate stood at 19, by 2007 this had fallen to 10 - (Webb 2008)
 Tranter (1996): One of the major reasons for this decline in deaths since 1850 is due to a
decline in deaths from infectious diseases such as small pox, TB, measles & typhoid.
 Improved nutrition? McKeown disagrees with this by suggesting that during times of
improved nutrition – some illnesses actually rose.
 Increase in ageing population due to fall in birth rates.
 Although medical improvements have impacted on the death rate dramatically since
1950 (NHS 1949), this has not always been the case.
 Tranter argues:

‘As late as the 1930s, levels of obstetric knowledge & technique were so poor that they were
more likely to increase rather than decrease death rates in childbirth’

 Decline of dangerous jobs

 Greater knowledge of illness/mass immunization
 The study of aging is so important and popular that it has its own name,
gerontology. Social gerontology is the study of the social aspects of aging (Hooyman &
Kiyak, 2011). The scholars who study aging are called gerontologists.
 Donald Hirsch (2005) argues that the ageing population has serious implications on
social policy:

> We must increase the retirement age (or risk placing too much pressure on the workforce)

> Target education towards older people (to teach them the necessary skills to do so).

Encourage older people to downsize their homes to release finances to help toward their
upkeep. (And encourage younger people to buy homes & start families)
• All of this demonstrates that the concept of the final stage of life is a
social construction because:
• It is mainly based on government defined notions of when people are formally allowed
(though not obliged) to quit work.

• The retirement age has changed overtime and is subject to potential age in the future.

• Some sociologists break up the stage of ‘old age’ into further sub categories. For
example Jane Pilcher distinguishes between:

• Young old – aged 65-74 years

• Old elderly – aged 75 84 years

• Very elderly – aged 85 years.

• Laslett (1989) distinguishes between the Third Age at which retirement begins and
people have fewer responsibilities and the Fourth Age when you become limited
physically and or mentally
• One of the first explanations was called disengagement theory (Cumming & Henry,
1961). This approach assumed that all societies must find ways for older people’s
authority to give way to younger people.

• A society thus encourages its elderly to disengage from their previous roles and to take
on roles more appropriate to their physical and mental decline. In this way, a society
effects a smooth transition of its elderly into a new, more sedentary lifestyle and ensures
that their previous roles will be undertaken by a younger generation that is presumably
more able to carry out these roles.
• Because disengagement theory assumes that social aging preserves a society’s stability
and that a society needs to ensure that disengagement occurs, it is often considered a
functionalist explanation of the aging process.

• A critical problem with this theory was that it assumed that older people are no longer
capable of adequately performing their previous roles. As we have seen, however, older
people in many societies continue to perform their previous roles quite well. In fact,
society may suffer if its elderly do disengage, as it loses their insight and wisdom.

• It is also true that many elders cannot afford to disengage from their previous roles: if
they leave their jobs, they are also leaving needed sources of income, and if they leave
their jobs and other roles, they also reduce their social interaction and the benefits it
brings (Hochschild, 1975)

Interactionist view

• Today most social gerontologists prefer activity theory, which assumes that older people
benefit both themselves and their society if they remain active and try to continue to
perform the roles they had before they aged (Joung & Miller, 2007).

• As they perform their roles, their perception of the situations they are in is crucial to
their perception of their aging and thus to their self-esteem and other aspects of their
psychological well-being. Because activity theory focuses on the individual and her/his
perception of the aging process, it is often considered a social interactionist explanation
of social aging.

• One criticism of activity theory is that its appraisal of the ability of the elderly to
maintain their level of activity is too optimistic: although some elders can remain active,
others cannot. Another criticism is that activity theory is too much of an individualistic
approach, as it overlooks the barriers many societies place to successful aging.

• Some elders are less able to remain active because of their poverty, gender, and social
class, as these and other structural conditions may adversely affect their physical and
mental health. Activity theory overlooks these conditions.

• Symbolic interactionism is a theory that analyzes patterns of communication,

interpretation, and adjustment between individuals in society. The theory is a
framework for understanding how individuals interact with each other and within
society through the meanings of symbols.

• Role-taking is a key mechanism that permits an individual to appreciate another

person’s perspective and to understand what an action might mean to that person.
Role-taking emerges at an early age through activities such as playing .
• Symbolic interactionists explore the changing meanings attached to family. Symbolic
interactionists argue that shared activities help to build emotional bonds, and that
marriage and family relationships are based on negotiated meanings.

• The interactionist perspective emphasizes that families reinforce and rejuvenate bonds
through symbolic rituals such as family meals and holidays.

• Ethnomethodology, an offshoot of symbolic interactionism, examines how people’s

interactions can create the illusion of a shared social order despite a lack of mutual
understanding and the presence of differing perspectives.

• A conflict theory of aging, then, emphasizes the impact of ageism, or negative views
about old age and Conflict theory also emphasizes inequality among the aged along
gender, race/ethnicity, and social class lines.

• Reflecting these inequalities in the larger society, some elders are quite wealthy, but
others are very poor.

• One criticism of conflict theory is that it blames ageism on modern, capitalist

economies.

• As we have seen, negative views of the elderly also exist in preindustrial societies, even
if the views there overall are often more positive than in their modern counterparts.
• Sociological studies show that when the elderly do appear in the media, they tend to be
portrayed in the following one-dimensional ways.

• As grumpy – conservative, stubborn and resistant to social change.

• As mentally challenged – suffering from declining mental functions.

• As dependent – helpless and dependent on other younger members of the family or

society.

• As a burden – as an economic burden on society (in terms of the costs of pensions and
health care to the younger generation) and/or as a physical and social burden on
younger members of their families (who have to worry about or care for them).

• As enjoying a second childhood – as reliving their adolescence and engaging in activities

that they have always longed to do before they die.

• However, recent research suggests that media producers may be gradually reinventing
how they deal with the elderly, especially as they realise that this group may have
disposable incomes, i.e. extra money to spend on consumer goods.

• Research focusing on media representations of the elderly suggests that age is not the
only factor that impacts on the way the media portrays people aged 65 and over.

• Social Class and Stereotypes about elderly : Newman (2006) notes that upper class and
middle class elderly people are often portrayed in television and film dramas as
occupying high-status roles as world leaders, judges, politicians, experts and business
executives.

• Marxists think attitudes to old age are influenced by capitalism. Marxist suggest that
age groups are defined by the capitalist system. For example, adults are people of
working age, and the elderly are told old to work. Philipson (1982) capitalism views the
elderly as burden on society. This is because their working life has ended, and they
usually have less spending power. Therefore, old age become stigmatised in society.

• Postmodernists argue attitudes to age are changing. Magazine, advertisers and the
media generally often portray “youthful” old age – old people enjoying holidays, sport,
wearing fashionable clothes etc. People can also mask their old age through plastic
surgery. The strict identity of old age no longer exists.
CHANGES IN FAMILY STRUCTURES:

Smallwood and Wilson: modifications in family structures

Grandparents now provide childcare for many families as work pressures leave mothers with
less time for childcare.

Reasons for this include:

more women working

parents working long and unsociable hours

the high cost of childcare

longer active life expectancy.

Grandparents also now often provide financial support for their grandchildren, and their
relationships with their grandchildren are important for sociability and emotional support.
These relationships are not, however, one-way. Longer life expectancy in industrial societies
results in more children returning to the family home as adults to provide financial and
domestic care for their parent/s.

This is part of the way in which family roles and responsibilities are increasingly open to
negotiation in postindustrial societies. The negotiation can involve grandparents resisting any
belief by their adult children that they can be taken for granted as child minders whenever
required.

CROSS CULTURAL DIFFERENCE

Older society Post industrial

older people gain increased family status as However, in Western industrial societies, old
patriarchs or matriarchs, valued for age is often seen as a diminished
their knowledge and experience. identity, characterised by a loss of status
Older people are seen as less useful and
powerful than young and
middle-aged adults. Part of the reason for
this is the stigma attached to old age. Some
people see ageing as an
inevitable process of decline, helplessness,
withdrawal and loneliness. On the other
hand, higher life
expectancy and more wealthy lifestyles have
contributed to the reinvention and breaking
up of elderly identities.
Victor (1987) suggested that the status of
older people depends upon a number of
factors. These include the
nature of social organisation – an idea most
clearly illustrated by wandering (nomadic)
societies, where the
elderly are considered a problem when they
are no longer able to easily follow the
nomadic lifestyle. In more
settled societies, the knowledge and skills of
older people may be considered valuable to
the family group or
society as a whole.
Kagan’s (1980) study of a Colombian village,
the older people remained socially and
economically active, as far as physically
possible. She argued that they did not form
a gerontocracy but they were nevertheless
seen as valued and respected
members of their communities.
In many Native American In Europe and America, older people who
cultures, for example, older males are have control over
valued for their skills of leadership and their economic resources also have higher status.
intimate knowledge of the The key to social status, therefore, is control
community’s tales of the past and ceremony. over valued social
and economic resources.
Cultural attitudes to life after death (the One view is that modern industrial societies
afterlife) also play a part here. In some have experienced changes that have led to
societies, old age is valued greater ageism against
because older people are seen as closer to older people and a reduction in the status of
death and the spiritual afterlife – the older a older people. These changes include new
person gets, the greater technology, which older
the respect given to them. Among the people are seen as untrained or unprepared
Sherbro of Sierra Leone, a person’s status for, and separation from family and
increases if they become community networks.
harder to understand because they are However, it can be argued that age
believed to be communicating directly with boundaries have become less distinct in
their ancestors. In other recent times. The changes
societies, the signs of old age are welcomed suggested above have not affected all older
because they represent the fact that the people in the same way. When older people
very old will soon begin receive training and
their ‘real life’ after death. In such cultures, companies invest in staff development, they
where life is seen as a preparation for the can reach the same skill levels as younger
next world, the status of people. Some
 people increases as they grow older. companies value older workers as more
reliable.
While negative ideas may continue, they are
balanced by ideas that reinvent the statuses
of older people, in
ways that relate to things like the breaking
up of elderly identities (for example,
distinguishing between the old
and the very old), changing patterns of
consumption and leisure, and different
interpretations of the meaning of
‘being old’, whereby older people refuse to
keep to conventional ideas and social
identities. From this
perspective, age in years is becoming less
significant than social age.

Evaluate the view that grandparents play a positive role in family

For Against
Unpaid childcare and socialization-beanpole Burden-as increased life expectancy means
families- As a result children now although adult kids feel obligated to invite parents to
have fewer relations with siblings of their live wit them, as living alone can be
own age, they now have strong inter- dangerous due to decreased mobility.
generational ties with grandparents that are
now living much longer and are healthier - Healey & Yarrow are more lily to be
meaning can take a more active role in 'sandwiched carers' combining caring for the
children's lives. / Smallwood & Wilson -> elderly with caring with their own dependent
increased dependancy on grandparents for kids
childcare has led to modifications is family
structure,/ positive impact in family as feminists argue this increases domestic an
parents can provide for kids financially due to emotional burden on woman and caresses
grandparents -> woman independent- economic inequality between men and
woman

as -> women are more likely then men t give

up work in order to care for elderly relatives
- caring responsibility's may mean that
woman are excluded form the full time
labour market - some female carers ma be
dependant on men
- ore likely to suffer form anxiety and
emotional problems due to stress of caring
  Bridge to past and mediationg Ageism- research suggests In societies heavily
conflict- ross et al- Young people influenced by wester nculture attitudes
highlighted the role of grandparents toward elderly are often indfiferent.
in mediating conflict amongst family
members with particular emphasis on - consequently many elderly people in
their listening skills and impartiality. modern western societies subscribe to a
 Perception of the elderly varied negative self identity (characterised by low
amongst teenagers with some self esteem) as societies value productivity
perceiving their grandparents as over emotionality
‘modern’ or ‘up to date’ but other
teenagers commenting that they were Vauclair found...
‘frail’ or ‘out of touch'. - this negative self identity is compounded by
 Some grandparents felt they had to the elderly experience of ageism (predejuce
carry out more responsibilities than and discrimination which stereotypes the
they desired. elderly as vulnerable, dependent, indoor and
Can provide insight into the socialisation a financial and social burden on society.
experiences of young people; likely to receive - consequently elderly are more likely t feel
guidance and norms and values through marginalised, isolated and lonely.
regular interaction with grandparents-
Sociologists eg Ross Et Al argue grandparents in addiotn study shows elderly are subject to
provide a bridge to the past via their roles as infantilisation. as they are assumed to be
story tellers, sharing knowledge of family helpless and dependant, and not as adults
history and traditions with grandkids.- in who are capable of actively making choices
Native American families its common for on their own
young people to ask elders for advice and
guidance and tribal elders are expected to grandparents amused to seem like a burden -
share experiences t younger member + > suggesting they only provide issue for
extended family- Foster (1991), of an East family (carers)
End London community, indicated that the
lives of working class people, and its younger
generation in the 1980s, were still dominated
by the values and traditions of extended kin
such as parents and grandparents who
tended to live nearby. Brannen suggests the
beanpole family is increasing in importance.
• As they perform their roles, their Physically weak- marxism
perception of the situations they are
in is crucial to their perception of
their aging and thus to their self-
esteem and other aspects of their
psychological well-being. Because
activity theory focuses on the
individual and her/his perception of
the aging process, it is often
considered a social interactionist
explanation of social aging.