Elaine Cumming and Warren Earl Henry's Disengagement Theory

Cummings & henry 1960 social disengagement theory. | Activity theory Bromley (1966) | * Older people will withdraw from social contact with others * Disengage because of reduced physical health and loss of social activities * Cummings (1975) argued that older people would experience a reduction in social contact as they grow older and becoming increasingly ‘individual’ * ‘disengaging is a natural part of aging’ * Everyone expects death, and one's abilities will likely deteriorate over time. As a result, every person will lose ties to others in his or her society. * "aging is an inevitable, mutual withdrawal or disengagement, resulting in decreased interaction between theaging person and others in the social system he belongs to."Embardos disagreement.. * Said theory was discredited for many reasons * Argues that majority of older people remain socially involved with family and friends * Maybe choose to spend more time with people they are close to rather than seeking new friends * Current data from the office for national statistics supports the view that a majority of older people enjoy social networks * if people only interact with close friends does this mean they are disengaged? | * Argued that older people need to disengage but * They need to remain ‘active’ in order to stop disengagement going too far * Argues that society should provide older people with activities * Society should provide them with education of how to make use of the activities * It is very important for older adults to remain mentally active and maintain an interest in life and enjoy the company of others * The theory assumes that a positive relationship between activity and life satisfaction |

M2 – case study 1
Alan is a 76 year old man who has recently lost his wife. He is completely disengaged. He does not try to socialise as he is still grieving from the loss of his wife and can’t seem to pull himself around.

Firstly the social