Social Theories Of Aging
Social Theories of Aging
Introduction
The fundamental biological problem that all theories of aging seek to explain was stated very elegantly in 1957 by Williams when he wrote, "It is indeed remarkable that after a seemingly miraculous feat of morphogenesis, a complex metazoan should be unable to perform the much simpler task of merely maintaining what is already formed." The difficulty in attempting to establish an understanding of aging is that it is not a single physiological process. It is multifaceted and hierarchical in its expression with subtle changes occurring simultaneously at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels. The variety of characterizes many species, particularly humans, and the complexity of environmental interactions …show more content…
It could be said that there is a similarity between social exchange and political economy in that disparities experienced are social in nature. Whereas in social exchange theory, an individual is thought to be able to influence or change one’s environment as one adapts, political economy believes that inequalities are built into the political system. Political economy critiques the current system which lulls the individual into believing one has to adapt to circumstances, rather than changing society’s structural inequalities. Of the alternative theories, social exchange is the only one to address the influence of culture on the experience of aging. Social exchange theory believes that people interact with those whom they believe the rewards outweigh the costs of the relationship (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). Though social exchange theory acknowledges that though a person may no longer have the same economic value when older, that the older individual possesses other non-materialistic assets such as wisdom, love, and time for service. As our society modernized, these assets have been overlooked by a culture that now places importance on efficiency and productivity (Hooyman & Kiyak, …show more content…
331). Postmodernism focuses on how our world appears today, rather than focusing on how an individual wishes for the world to be seen. Postmodernist theory reviews the whole of a person’s experiences during their life time and examines the body not from a biological standpoint, but rather by everyday social and cultural practices built overtime to construct the identity of the individual. The individual will physically change overtime, but their essential identity develops based on achievements and future goals. An area that continues to develop in postmodernist theory focuses on biomedical technology that can provide options for reconstructing failing body parts to slow the process of
Introduction
The fundamental biological problem that all theories of aging seek to explain was stated very elegantly in 1957 by Williams when he wrote, "It is indeed remarkable that after a seemingly miraculous feat of morphogenesis, a complex metazoan should be unable to perform the much simpler task of merely maintaining what is already formed." The difficulty in attempting to establish an understanding of aging is that it is not a single physiological process. It is multifaceted and hierarchical in its expression with subtle changes occurring simultaneously at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels. The variety of characterizes many species, particularly humans, and the complexity of environmental interactions …show more content…
It could be said that there is a similarity between social exchange and political economy in that disparities experienced are social in nature. Whereas in social exchange theory, an individual is thought to be able to influence or change one’s environment as one adapts, political economy believes that inequalities are built into the political system. Political economy critiques the current system which lulls the individual into believing one has to adapt to circumstances, rather than changing society’s structural inequalities. Of the alternative theories, social exchange is the only one to address the influence of culture on the experience of aging. Social exchange theory believes that people interact with those whom they believe the rewards outweigh the costs of the relationship (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). Though social exchange theory acknowledges that though a person may no longer have the same economic value when older, that the older individual possesses other non-materialistic assets such as wisdom, love, and time for service. As our society modernized, these assets have been overlooked by a culture that now places importance on efficiency and productivity (Hooyman & Kiyak, …show more content…
331). Postmodernism focuses on how our world appears today, rather than focusing on how an individual wishes for the world to be seen. Postmodernist theory reviews the whole of a person’s experiences during their life time and examines the body not from a biological standpoint, but rather by everyday social and cultural practices built overtime to construct the identity of the individual. The individual will physically change overtime, but their essential identity develops based on achievements and future goals. An area that continues to develop in postmodernist theory focuses on biomedical technology that can provide options for reconstructing failing body parts to slow the process of