Biosocial development is a term used to refer to the biological/physical social and intellectual development of a human being (Vazsonyi et al. 2015). Children usually acquire a liking to specific social groups and later assign characters to these groups, stereotyping. For the aging population, too, there are cultural attitudes projected towards them that are stereotypical. To mention a few examples, society generally considered that it is hard to teach older people new skills. They can't keep up with times. It is also generally believed that the period of old age is a period of ill health, being lonely, poor physical and mental functioning, and a time of total dependency on the young. In the western world, aging is associated with negative stereotypes, as mentioned above.
Ageism
Neugarten, in her book The Meanings of Age , looks at the concepts of aging, the young-old and the old-old. The aging process is a slow but continuous process of changing naturally and begins in early adulthood (Vaupel, 2010). During this time, numerous bodily functions start to decline slowly. There is no specific age where one is considered to start being called elderly, but over 65 has been designated by society as the onset of old age.
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All people over the age of 18 are considered adults, but there is a huge contrast between a 21-year-old adult and a 45 year old adult. Therefore there are more specific breakdowns into terms such as 'young adult' and 'middle-aged adult.' In the same way, Neugarten classifies the aged into the 'young-old' and the 'old-old' (Yoshimura et al, 2013). The young-old are the elderly who seem to be generally happier, healthier and financially stable. The young-old seem to be ready for old age by preparing and making proactive choices to improve the quality of life in old age. The old-old, on the other hand, seem to mirror the opposite. They seem less happy in old age, less healthy and financially dependent on the younger generation. In the event of a health crisis, they are left with little choice over what happens to them.
The case of Harriet and Jack
Let us consider the following two individuals. Harriet is a grandmother of four at the age of 66. She worked as a Human resource manager in a big pharmaceutical company for 35 years. She raised four children, divorced her husband, and later re-married. She recently survived a cancer diagnosis that she beat by regular chemotherapy sessions paid by her premium health insurance cover. Before exiting her job as a human resource officer, she trained as a nurse and became a part-time nurse at a nearby private hospital. She is also a master gardener in her backyard. She is a member of a quilt club, enjoys swimming and golfing with her husband and spends a lot of her time visiting her children and grandchildren. Though the government considers her a senior citizen, she tells her grandchildren that she doesn't feel old at all. John, on the other hand, is 68 years he was an insurance salesman all his life. His fast-paced job required him to travel around the world, regularly setting up meetings and sealing deals. It, however, deprived his time of his family. The company he worked for did not offer retirement benefits but instead offered regular bonuses to employees depending on sales made. His life was thrown into a crisis when he was laid off. They feigned restructuring due to hard economic times, but he knew it was because he was getting too old for life in the fast lane. John now lives in Jacksonville's home for the elderly, where his son comes to visit him occasionally. He also has a heart condition that is managed at home through regular medication. He often feels lonely when his son takes too long to visit.
Jack fits completely into the negative stereotype of the aging while Harriet seems to have completely escaped the stereotypes that come with old age. Harriet was able to take control of her life trajectory by learning a new skill that enabled her to continue earning even in old age and spend more time with her family. Jack, on his part, suffered a major loss when he lost his job and had not been spending a lot of time with his family.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, age isn't just a biological function of the years that a person has lived or the physiological changes one goes through over the years. It is also a result of social norms and expectations in each stage of life.
References
Vaupel, J. W. (2010). Biodemography of human ageing. Nature , 464 (7288), 536-542.
Vazsonyi, A. T., Roberts, J. W., Huang, L., & Vaughn, M. G. (2015). Why focusing on nurture made and still makes sense: The biosocial development of self-control. The Routledge international handbook of biosocial criminology , 263-280.
Yoshimura, K., Yamada, M., Kajiwara, Y., Nishiguchi, S., & Aoyama, T. (2013). Relationship between depression and risk of malnutrition among community-dwelling young-old and old-old elderly people. Aging & mental health , 17 (4), 456-460.
