Macionis Sociology Chapter 15 – Flashcards
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Gerontology
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the study of the aging and elderly.
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Gerontocracy
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a form of social organization in which the elderly have the most wealth, power, and prestige.
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Staged retirement
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people continue working well past the age of sixty-five, reducing their hours at work in stages as they build greater financial security.
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Ageism
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Prejudice and discrimination against older people.
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Living will
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documents stating which medical procedures an individual wants and does not want under specific conditions.
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Hospice
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Unlike a hospital and helps people have a good death.
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Euthanasia
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assisting in the death of a person suffering from an incurable disease.
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Most common attitude of the aging is
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Integrated personalities - coping well with the challenges of growing old.
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What effect did industrialization have on life expectancy in the United States and Western Europe?
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Greater material wealth and advances in medicine have raised living standards so that people benefit from better housing, more nutrition and medical advances.
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What about on the social standing of the elderly relative to younger people?
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Since people over the age of sixty five are increasing I mass amounts, they now have more respect and less segregation.
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Who is social isolation most commonly a problem for?
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Women, because they typically outlive their husbands.
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Who is social isolation most commonly a problem for?
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Women, because they typically outlive their husbands.
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For most U.S. seniors, who is the greatest source of social support?
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The government, in the form of social security.
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Who provides most caregiving to older people in the United States?
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Children are most common, but friends and other relatives as well.
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What is included among types of abuse of the elderly?
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Can range from passive neglect to active torment; it includes verbal, emotional, financial, and physical harm.
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What situations increase the risk of elder abuse?
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If the caregiver works full time, cares for young children, is poor, feels little affection for the older person, finds the elderly person very difficult and gets no support or help from others.
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What is the right-to-die debate mostly about?
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Medical technology can sustain life also threatens personal freedom by letting doctors or others rather than the dying person decide when life is to end. In response, people who support this seek control over their own deaths just as they seek control over their own lives.
