| CODE | GER5101 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Sociology of Ageing: Theory and Research | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Gerontology and Dementia Studies | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Ageing is a sociologically interesting phenomenon because although it is a virtually universal experience, it occurs within very diverse and complex social and power dynamic contexts, including socio-economic grouping, health status, access to financial resources, gender, ethnicity and geographical location. The sociology of ageing rebuts the traditional grounding of ageing studies in problem assessing and addressing, and which as a result pathologises the experience of ageing. Instead, the sociology of ageing turns its attention to that interface between individual and social ageing. Whilst it acknowledges the Marxist agenda investigating ageing in capitalist/welfare systems, it is highly attentive as to how interlocking systems of inequality - ranging from social class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality - shape and influence the experience of ageing and later life. Moreover, it embeds the study of later life in a humanist rationale on the basis that science alone cannot make an adequate moral, spiritual, and aesthetic sense of later life. The sociology of ageing, however, also underlines the fact that since older people also act on the basis of their personal interpretations, the investigation of subjective entities such as self-perception and meaning is also at the centre of ageing studies. This study-unit will also address the need to nurture a social consciousness about the subjugated position of older women, who not only have to mitigate against ageism as the case with their male peers but also against sexism. Using insights from the sociology of the body, the unit will also discuss the extent that ‘society needs dementia to be medicalized, as, if it is classified as a disease, it holds out the prospect of a cure for ageing and for death’. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims to deliver a systematic understanding of the interaction between human lives and shifting social structures with regard to ageing. It explores the diversity of individual and population ageing, and their consequences for life-course ageing of families, through life cycle and social change perspectives. This study-unit also focuses on the ethical issues surrounding the treatment of older persons in society, the nature of ageing welfare policies, as well as the controversies surrounding issues of socio-economic equity in healthcare in later life. It also seeks to offer students with an outline of the range of sociological perspectives of ageing, and themes will include: theories of ageing, societal views of ageing, myths surrounding aging, social ageing, social change and ageing, ageism and age discrimination, elder abuse, work and retirement, poverty and social exclusion, income security, intergenerational solidarity, and death and dying. The study-unit will also address the concern of Harding and Palfrey (1997) in thinking about a ‘sociology of dementia’ as one whereby the ‘facts’ of dementia are critiqued and challenged to enable the current dominance of biomedically informed care regimes to be examined and explored. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - illustrate how sociological theories of ageing inform scholars and practitioners in the field of ageing on how the phenomenon of human ageing arises in contemporary industrial societies; - explain how empirical sociological research on ageing provides an analytical framework for understanding the interplay between human lives and changing social structures in later life; - recognise how the life course of older persons differs substantially according to class standing, gender, ethnic background, and sexuality; - demonstrate how despite the fact that social policy promises to uphold the status of older persons as active citizens, political economical currents mitigate against such an objective; - describe how prejudices, stereotypes and myths surrounding ageing and later life are the result of specific vested interests of professional bodies; - recognise the key foundations in the sociology of dementia care. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - list the obstacles that older persons face in their attempt to engage in active ageing lifetsyles; - employ sociological theories of ageing to explain diverse patterns and inequalities in individual and collective ageing, and their consequences for citizens to age successfully and productively; - express how rehabilitation programmes need to be fine-tuned in accordance to the volume and type of capital of older persons with dementia; - operate sociological knowledge to plan and implement problem solving and social change strategies within the community and care homes to improve the quality of life of older persons with dementia; - express how dementia care is, ultimately, a social construction whose foundation rests on diverse sociological norms and values. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main texts: - Bond, J. (2001). Sociological perspectives. In C. Cantley (ed.) A handbook of dementia care (pp. 44-61). Buckingham: Open University Press. - Davis, D.H.J. (2004). Dementia: Sociological and Philosophical constructions. Social Science & Medicine, 58(2): 369-378. - Harris, D. (2007). Sociology of aging. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. - Matcha, D. (2007). The sociology of aging. Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan Educational Publishing. Supplementary readings: - Formosa, M. (2015). Ageing policy in Malta: Issues, policies and future trends. Malta: Book Distributors Limited. - Formosa, M. and Scerri, C. (2015) (eds.) Population ageing in Malta: Multi-disciplinary perspectives. Malta: Malta University Press. - Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. (2000) Cultures of Ageing : Self, Citizen and the Body. Upper Saddle River, NJ : Prentice Hall. - Johnson M.L. (2005) (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Ageing. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. - Stuart-Hamilton, I. (2011) (ed.) An introduction to gerontology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Settersten, R.A. and Angel., J.L. (2011) (eds.) Handbook of sociology of aging. New York: Springer. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Group Learning | |||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Marvin Formosa |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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