Disengagement Theory

2 Pages 440 Words

Disengagement Theory

Book Def: Elaine Cumming and William Henry introduced this theory to explain the impact of aging during one’s life course.

My Def: Turning away from the social norms of everyday life to embrace old age, terminal illness, and possibly death.

Activity Theory

Book Def: This theory argues that elderly people who remain active and socially involved will be best adjusted.

My Def: Elderly persons who stay socially and physically active in the mainstream of society will be better off than withdrawing from society.

Defending The Better Of The Two

Personally, I feel that the Activity Theory is the better of the two. This theory is better for elderly persons because it doesn’t put up a barrier between generations socially or in the workplace. I argue that this theory is the better of the two because it pushes for a more healthy society. I feel that the “withdraw” of elderly persons from a society is harmful for both the elderly persons themselves and society as a whole. An example of this would be: Elderly persons withdrawing from a society’s workforce to embrace old age causes them to find another means of income, forcing that income to come from the remaining society’s workforce. Many of the elderly whom withdraw from society have to find a means by which to pay for medical problems, forcing society’s workforce to pay more money into medicade, drawing more money away from society’s workforce.
From the conflict perspective’s viewpoint, I agree that social interaction “must” change or decrease in old age. The upper class does not have to worry about the side effects of withdrawing from society due to more wealth, pension plans, retirement packages, and insurance benefits. Also from the conflict perspective I have to defend the disengagement theory due to new trends and new technologies in society as the years move on. This causes a social gap for the elderly and th...