I chose to review chapter two. This chapter to me was so incredibly interesting to me because my views on older people are mostly positive, if anything I believe them to be an entertaining group to talk to and hang around with. Although, I do have negative feelings sometimes about what elderly people do such as driving to slow. There are both positive and negative views on elderly.
According to Hiller and Borrow (2011) paraphrasing B. Bytheway (2005), “Older adults are expected to retire into a life of leisure, thus leaving space in occupational and political roles for those emerging into adulthood. From a positive stereotype model those older adults will evolve into wise elders, moving into a life of contemplation. Negatively projected, those older adults will become demented and a burden to family and society” (Page 42). This was simply just to explain stereotypes in America today from a positive and negative view.
What I found that did not surprise me was how the media is the primary source as to why people will have negative stereotype. It portrays about how you need to look young in your fifties and how you need to lie about your age. Hiller and Barrow(2011) look at a Redbook Magazine article titled “When It’s Smart to Lie About Your Age.” The article pretty much stated sexual attractiveness and career pressures as reasons to lie. When they interviewed the author he said, “… 20 implies desirable, attractive, sexy and 40 doesn’t” (Peters, 1994). This instills a fear of aging in the articles readers. Television advertising that encourages women or men to cover up their signs of aging can also be particularly powerful to the aging population (Page 47). “Advertisers create markets by instilling a fear of aging or by capitalizing on already existing fears. Commercials imply that the elderly are sluggish and preoccupied with irregularity, constipation and sexual performance… they suffer from headaches, nagging backaches, and loose dentures” (Hiller & Barrow, 2011, page 47).
In order to break these negative stereotypes that the media and others portray on older people, we must emphasize the positive and show that there are people above the age of 40 that are living their life to the fullest and being as active as a 20 year old such as playing golf, swimming, cycling, bowling, and such. We need to emphasize that sports and physical fitness can extend throughout one’s life.
Hillier, S., & Barrow, G. (2011). Aging, the individual, and society. (9th ed., pp. 3-28). California: WADSWORTH.
I chose to do Chapter 2 also it was the most interesting chapter. What is old? the chapter explains that their is no certain definition that has been universally agreed upon. It explains a common problem in the society. Especially coming from the media and other outside sources, they depict them as no fun and a huge drought. But there quite interesting and wise in many categories. Think about it we may not notice this everyday because it does not concern us but it may concern the elderly more than we would ever no. After the age of 50 one would start to get discouraged and want to feel young again. They try to stay in tune with the younger adults to make themselves relevant. But the elderly is of such help to our younger people they pave the way for the rest. It is so unethical to forget what the older population has done for the economy, linking back to our ancestors. As stated in the chapter, "the definition of “old”defies precision because over time new cohorts move into later life,and those people bring with them their unique life experiences,values,and attitudes that were shaped by shared sociohistorical events (natural disasters,wars or recessions,etc." (Hillier & Barrow 2011, pg. 35) This little quote as stated in the chapter sums up everything, it says a whole lot!. The elderly has been through many experiences,they're values were so much stronger than ours is today and so much more. Some comments that are made about different age groups, to the old people they'll say things like "She's to old to wear that or she's too old to be here" vise versa "Shes too young to be here" but either or the society has to open they're eyes or just simply grow up.
ReplyDeleteThe media is a very big source of stereotypes and I find it sad that they don’t try to portray older people in a more positive light. But if portraying older people in a negative light means bigger profits then the media will not have an incentive to change their advertising. Why embrace aging when you can buy products to help block or reverse the signs of aging? I have heard of the phrase “forty is the new twenty” spoken by actresses in their forties on television so maybe the media is slowly changing their attitude. My hope is that they will continue to do so. A lot of medical ads I see advertised in magazines and on television are geared toward the older adult. They do reinstall the fear of getting older and that a person must need a medicine to help them. I agree that sports and physical fitness can extend throughout one’s life and it does need to be emphasized. There are sports leagues dedicated to the older adult so older people can still be active and enjoy sports.
ReplyDeleteMy views on older people are mainly positive as well, I think they are an entertaining group to learn interesting things from. The reason why I put mainly positive is because you put that they drive slowly, but that could be the case for anyone, not just the elderly. My views are mainly positive for any age group of people, they are all going to do something every now and then that is bothersome, but I cannot blame a whole group of people for one problem. I think it is interesting that the media is the primary source for why people stereotype. I know there are always advertisements for beauty products that will make your skin look younger. I do not think we are embracing that people age and that is part of the reason for all of the negative stereotyping.
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