6

Social Structures,
Social Inequality, and
the Life Course
 Introduction: The Bigger Picture
to Aging
• Social structures are patterned relationships that
rank individuals according to characteristics related
to privilege and power such as age, gender,
ethnicity, and social class.
• Age structures are socially structured relations
among individuals that affect the lives of people as
they age.
• E.g., “old age” is socially constructed—it is defined in
different ways at different historical times and in
different cultures.
 Social Structures and Aging
• We live in age, gender, ethnic, and class based
social structures.
• Social position in the social system, with variations in
power and privilege, vary according to attributes, such as
age, gender, ethnicity, or SES.
• Social inequality connected to one’s social position
influences life chances and lifestyles
• E.g., wealth, opportunities such as education, and health
 Social Class and Age
• Social structures, such as class and age, also
intersect.
• Inequalities are cumulative across the life courses of
individuals.
• Advantages early in life tend to increase access to
opportunities throughout life, while early disadvantages
increase the likelihood of enduring disadvantages.
• E.g., there is a strong relationship between SES in childhood
and health in later life.
 Gender and Age
• Gender is socially construction—defines what it
means (e.g., behaviour, roles) to be male or female
in a given society.
• Gender shapes social life through gender
stratification.
• When age and gender intersect to create gendered
social processes and outcomes across the life
course, women in general are more disadvantaged
and gender inequalities are most cumulative and
visible among older women.
 Gender and Age, cont’d
• Throughout the life course, females play different
social roles, receive different rewards, and experience
different realities than males.
• E.g., lower income and pensions; more responsibility for
unpaid family caregiving; more poverty, especially in later
life—owing to cumulative disadvantages, many of which
originate earlier in life as a result of divorce or exclusion
from the labour force.
• Social change and progress have resulted in fewer
gender inequalities, yet there remains enduring
inequalities across the life course producing a
lifetime of accumulated disadvantage for women and
cumulative advantage for men.
 Race, Ethnicity, and Age
• Like class and gender, race and ethnicity are central
organizing principles of our social world.
• Social structures—class, gender, race, ethnicity—
often combine and accumulate over the life course.
• E.g., for many ethnic women, inequities embedded in the
social structural fabric of society are magnified in later
life because they follow different life trajectories at work
and in the family and experience different lifestyles from
those of men.
 Age Structures and
the Life Course
• Age structures are fundamental to the aging process.
• To understand influence of age structures, three
concepts are employed:
1. Cohort: everyone born in a specific period (e.g.,
1960–1965).
2. Generation: unique grouping of adjacent birth
cohorts, many of whom have experienced socio-
historical events (economic depression or war) and
whose members tend to think and behave in a similar
way (e.g., baby boomers)
3. Generational unit: unique subgroups in a generation
(e.g., youth generation of the 1960s, or the
“counterculture” generation).
 Social Processes and
Age Structures
• Three interrelated social processes are influenced by
age structures and require examination:
1. Cohort analysis: the use of quantitative or qualitative
methods to study the characteristics of, or meanings
associated with, a specific birth cohort in order to study
social change and stability over time.
2. Generational analysis: comparison of specific cohorts
or groups of adjacent cohorts that comprise a generation
on the basis of socio-historical experiences in order to
understand how cohorts maintain continuity in the
existing social order or how and why they initiate
change in the social order.
3. Lineage effects: similarities, differences, or conflicts
among generations in an extended family
 Age Grading and Age Norms
• Age grading: the process by which age influences
elements of social life such as social positions,
roles, norms, and relationships.
• Age grading results from a system of age stratification.
• Age grades provide a definition of the expected
rights, behaviour, and responsibilities of an
individual at a particular age.
• An individual’s location in the age structure influences
his or her behaviour, attitudes, and values.
 Age Structures: Segregated
or Integrated?
• At present time, we are seeing a shift from an age-
segregated society to an age-integrated society
where age structures and age norms become less
important.
 Age Structures: Segregated
or Integrated? cont’d
• Over time, there have been changes in the shape of
the age structure and in the relative prestige of
positions within it.
• E.g., in pre-modern societies, the oldest men generally
held the most prestige/power, and those over 40 were
considered “old”; in modern societies, power has shifted
to middle-age and the definition of “old” age has shifted
toward 80.
• So, social meanings based on age vary from one culture and
historical period to another.
 Structural Lag
• Many policies and programs lag behind changing
definitions and needs of older adults—this is known
as structural lag.
• For example:
• lack of retirement systems for present-day work histories
that involve many jobs
• few employment options permitting work beyond 65
years
• little social support for those who care for or help their
aging parents
 Cohort and Generational Effects
• Cohorts and generations age in different ways and
can introduce social change (i.e., cohort and
generational effects).
• E.g., when older people perceive ageism/discrimination,
they seek to change the status quo by educating others,
through political processes or by not conforming to
social expectation.
• Highlight 6.3 illustrates increasing political involvement/
empowerment of older-age cohorts, which has resulted in
social and political change.
 Generation Gaps:
Myth or Reality?
• When inter-generational strain arises, it could lead
to generation gaps or inequities and ultimately to
action and change.
• Generation gaps exist at the family level (lineage
gaps) or at the societal level (societal gaps).
• E.g., conflict between older and younger generations in
an extended family concerning differences in
opportunities, values, rights, and behaviour.
 Intergenerational Transfers
• Transfer of money, property, formal services, or “in-
kind” donations (child or parent care, housework) is
a long-standing tradition in family units.
• Transfers can be:
• directed to the oldest generation or to the youngest;
• compulsory or voluntary;
• applied to everyone in an age cohort or only to those
who can demonstrate need;
• taxed or tax-free.
 Intergenerational Transfers,
cont’d
• Four criteria for evaluating and understanding
intergenerational transfers:
1. The direction of the transfer
2. The sector
3. The content of the transfer
4. The nature of the transfer
 Public Transfers
• Public transfers are made from the state to
individuals or families.
• Can include transfers for:
• Education
• Pension, Income supplement
• Subsidies
 Private Transfers
• Intergenerational family transfers involve
caregiving and care receiving, as well as financial
transfers and housing.
• Transfers have the potential to maintain relative
economic advantage from one generation to the next
or to facilitate higher standards of living than those
experienced by earlier generations.
• Also potential for conflict if some or all members of a
younger generation do not receive transfers, or equal
transfers, and if they harbour feelings of resentment
 Generational Equity
at the Societal Level
• Generational equity continues to be debated in
Canada—the debate is about fairness in distribution
of scarce public resources and ensuring justice
among age groups and generations.
• Over time, an informal or formal intergenerational
“social contract” emerges that assumes that
generations with relatively common expectations
and obligations work together to ensure solidarity,
support, and an orderly generational succession
across the life course.
 Generational Equity
at the Societal Level, cont’d
• With onset of population aging, increasing concern
has been expressed about loss of generational equity
—for a number of reasons:
1. Rising cost of health and elder care borne by younger
generations;
2. Decline in economic status of young people due to
high unemployment and underemployment;
3. Unequal distribution of wealth favours small segment
of middle and oldest generations;
4. Shift in government policy where responsibility for
social welfare and health care has changed from being
a “public issue” to a “private trouble.”
 Generational Equity
at the Societal Level, cont’d
• There is growing feeling among younger
generations that benefits older people receive from
publicly funded programs are disproportionate to
their current/past contributions or to their real need.
• The generational equity debate continues as part of
a national discussion about changes in inter-
generational relations and public policy needed to
address population aging.
 Summary
• The chapter examined the influence of social
structure on aging and the status of older people.
• Age influences an individual’s location and status in
society and is a criterion for entering and leaving
social positions.
• Laws based on age impose responsibilities,
prescribe eligibility for benefits or programs, and
influence life chances and lifestyles
 Summary, cont’d
• In an age stratification system, age-based norms
provide cultural definitions of the expected rights,
appropriate behaviours, and responsibilities of
individuals at particular times in their lives.
• Cohort and generational gaps often lead to social
change.