| age cohort |
an aggregate group of people born during the
same time period |
| age differentiation
|
the division of labor or roles in a society
on the basis of age |
| age discrimination
|
different and unequal treatment of people
based solely on their age |
| age norms |
rules that spell out, implicitly or
explicitly, the expectations that society has for different age
strata |
| age prejudice |
a negative attitude about an age group that
is generalized to all people in that group |
| age stereotypes |
preconceived judgments about what different
age groups are like |
| age stratification
|
the hierarchical ranking of age groups in
society |
| ageism |
the institutionalized practice of age
prejudice and discrimination |
| Alzheimer’s disease
|
a degenerative form of dementia that involves
neurological changes in the brain |
| dementia |
term used to describe a variety of diseases
that involve some permanent damage to the brain |
| disengagement theory
|
part of functionalist theory, which predicts
that as people age, they gradually withdraw from participation
in society |
| euthanasia |
the act of killing a severely ill person or
allowing the person to die, as an act of mercy |
| generational equity
|
the question of whether one age group or
generation is unfairly taxed to support the needs and interests
of another generation |
| hospice movement
|
movement to provide in-home care for
terminally ill patients as an alternative to hospitalization
|
| life course
perspective |
sociological framework for studying aging
that connects people’s personal attributes, the roles they
occupy, the life events they experience, and their
sociohistorical context |
| life expectancy |
the probable number of years a particular
group is likely to live on average, given aggregate statistical
patterns |
| Medicaid |
governmental assistance program for the poor
|
| Medicare |
governmental assistance program for the
elderly |
| quadruple jeopardy
|
phrase referring to the simultaneous effects
of being old, minority, female, and poor |