Program Lesson 7 Social Roles and Relationships in Old Age


The future will bring new work roles for older adults	Marian Cowan has found lifelong continuity in her church activities	Researchers use observation, interviews, and surveys to study social roles	In retirement, previous leisure roles can develop into serious interests

Summary of the Video and Text

Video

The video has four segments. The first segment explains that older adults have a variety of role options available to them today, as illustrated by several older adults. The second segment presents information on how researchers study social roles. Three methods of inquiry are described: observation, interview, and survey. Role stability and role change over the life span are topics of the third segment. A number of older adults share examples of role continuity, role development, role loss, and role gain in their lives. The final segment of the video presents information on expanded roles for older adults in the future, for example, new roles in politics, diplomacy, community service, grandparenthood, and great-grandparenthood.

Text

Chapter 8, "Social Theories of Aging" first presents an outline of role theory and three of the early social theories of aging -- activity theory, disengagement theory, and continuity theory -- which focused primarily on individual adjustment to aging. The book gives more information about the second and third generation of social theories, which focus more on structural factors and interactive processes. These include: symbolic interactionism, subculture of aging, age stratification, social exchange theory, and the political economy of aging perspective, social phenomenologist and social constructionist perspectives, critical theory, and feminist perspectives.

Video Quote: Herman Feifel, Ph.D., comments on the potential for role change among older adults

Herman Feifel: "We are not just merely echoes of the nursery. That, at the end of the first five years, we're not imprinted so there is no change. As a matter of fact, this is one of the things which we notice not only in the middle-aged and the young, but also in the older, older person. A tremendous range of flexibility. A sense that new horizons, new playing fields are always available to us. I think if we view in terms of any kind of life span the fact that, where we were when we were ten or twenty, that already has fixed us like a taxidermist taking a butterfly and sticking it into some collection. We're doing a tremendous injustice, not only to the old person, but to the human being which is the old person."

Chapter 12, "Productive Aging: Paid and Nonpaid Roles and Activities," contains sections on leisure, membership in voluntary associations, volunteer work, educational programs, religious participation, religiousness and spirituality, value of spiritual well-being, political participation, and senior power.

Video Quote: Lillian Salazar began a new career as a community college instructor; her students have a special importance in her life

Lillian Salazar: "I love my students. I have for the most part, very good relationships with my students. We have full semesters at our college and that gives us many, many weeks to know each other. So by the time the semester ends, I really feel like I know these people. And although my entire career is two and a half years over there...still, in those two and a half years, many of these students are still my friends. We see each other on the campus, they still come and ask me for assistance for letters of reference and such. And I feel like I'm part of somebody's life. And...but I can feel the joy. I don't have to take them home. I don't have to do their laundry. I don't have to feed them or anything, but I get a form of satisfaction that I have done something."

Video Quote: Betty Crowder, M.S.W., describes the loss of homelessness among older adults in San Francisco

Betty Crowder: "We sleep 235 people daily at the Episcopal Sanctuary. Thirty to 35 percent of those people are age 60 and over. So it is a large -- it's a big problem. We're just hitting the tip of the iceberg. If you were to go to other centers around the city, you would find that they are also sleeping homeless elderly people who are sixty-plus."

Features of the Study and Faculty Guides

Study Guide (MySocKit)

Key points of the lesson, integrating video and text, are elucidated under the learning objective topics. Self-study questions help students prepare for exams. Descriptions of discussion and essay/research topics provide instructions for a variety of activities that may be assigned by the instructor. The Study Guide also provides a glossary of key terms and concepts covered in the telecourse and a listing of participants in the video.

Faculty Guide

The descriptions of discussion and essay/research topics presented in the Study Guide are reprinted in the Faculty Guide with tips for assigning the activities effectively. In addition, in-class activity suggestions and exam questions/answers are included. The Guide offers options appropriate for faculty using the telecourse in different settings, e.g., in-class, distance learning, interactive television, or a combination of formats. A Video Index helps instructors find segments of the video by time code and topic.