Perspectives on the Future of the Sociology of Aging (2012) / Chapter Skim
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5 Constrained Choices: The Shifting Institutional Contexts of Aging and the Life Course
5 Constrained Choices: The Shifting Institutional Contexts of Aging and the Life Course
Pages 81-119
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From page 81... ...
; (2) age stratification/life course frameworks underscoring how social welfare and labor market policies have "institutionalized" the agegraded life course (Kohli, 2007; Kohli et a., 1991; Mayer, 2004, 2009; Meyer, 1986; Moen and Spencer, 2006; Mortimer and Shanahan, 2003; O'Rand and Henretta, 1999)
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From page 82... ...
. For the majority, what continues is the symbolic connectedness of individualized lives." In terms of customs as well as a body of rules and laws, systems of educational, labor-market, corporate, retirement, social-welfare, family, and health-care policies and practices constitute a web of age-graded institutionalized regimes (social structures of resources and schema)
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From page 83... ...
, facing often contradictory rules, laws, and realities about labor market and retirement exit and entry portals, pensions, and health-care eligibility, must make strategic adaptations, which can then become the seeds of innovation and institutional change. For example, a competitive uncertain global economy has increased concerns of older workers about their job security, retirement timing, and future pensions, including whether they can "afford" to retire.
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From page 84... ...
, Riley (Riley, Riley, and Foner, 1994) also emphasized the importance of age stratification: age as a key marker of unequal access built into existing institutions (e.g., the labor market, education, social welfare policies)
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From page 85... ...
And women who "work" at home taking care of children or infirm adults do not earn Social Security credits. The distinctive life courses of women and men tend to disadvantage older women, in particular, in light of the gendered nature of their care-work obligations, along with discriminatory practices in the labor market and in welfare distributions throughout the life course (such as the ways part-time jobs do not provide pensions, unemployment insurance, or even health insurance)
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From page 86... ...
However, women's greater engagement in the labor market is occurring even as both men and women are increasingly at risk of (1) discontinuities due to layoffs and forced early retirement buyouts and (2)
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From page 87... ...
An important question for future research: Is it still the case that being "off-time" in transitions continues to matter, in light of the fact that labor market and family transitions no longer adhere to strict templates as to timing, sequence, or duration? In contrast to the medical model focusing on helping individuals who are already sick, a growing body of scholarship emphasizes illness prevention, and with it the value of theorizing inequalities in illness and dependency as the consequence of existing, but modifiable social conditions (Berkman and Kawachi, 2000; Syme, 2007)
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From page 88... ...
"Rationalization" of old age refers to the provision of care in the most efficient ways, with cost concerns and cutbacks often trumping the quality of the care provided, even in nonprofit organizations providing medical and social services. Exposure and Vulnerability In another body of literature sociologists, demographers, and social epidemiologists theorize exposure and vulnerability to the risks of poor health and mortality as systematically stratified by age, gender, and other social-locational markers (such as education, income, 5-8
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From page 89... ...
stress process model theorizes the importance of the structural contexts of lives contributing to disparities in the risks of chronic stress exposure and in the personal and social resources and capabilities with which to deal with both chronic and acute stressors. Life course epidemiologists model the health impacts of risk exposures at different ages and life stages (Davey Smith and Lynch, 2004; Kuh and Ben-Shlomo, 2004)
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From page 90... ...
A promising future sociological research agenda on age, health, and well-being would build on a growing body of work emphasizing the embeddedness of individuals in particular social structures with corresponding risks, rules, claims, and resources that shape their beliefs, behaviors, health, and life quality over the life course (see House, 2002; Link and Phelan, 1995; Lutfey and Freese, 2005; Phelan and Link, 2005; Phelan et al., 2004; Tilly, 1998; Turner, Wheaton, and Lloyd, 1995; Wheaton and Clarke, 2003)
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From page 91... ...
and how institutional entrepreneurs might be responding with the development of new arrangements. Sociologists, demographers, and social epidemiologists can make real contributions to science and society by investigating whether and under which conditions deliberate shifts in social structures -- including policy regimes shaping retirement, civic engagement, education, housing, income supports, and paid work -- produce corresponding shifts in exposure to and durations of risk factors contributing to poor health and mortality.
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From page 92... ...
Most fruitful would be multilevel, longitudinal analyses and randomized field experiments in organizations and communities incorporating policies and practices into the dynamic analysis of risk processes and mechanisms by locating individual (micro-level) risk behaviors and other outcomes within the shifting macro-level contexts of nations, states, regions, or cohorts (and/or more meso-level forces across workplaces, work groups, local government agencies, social networks, voluntary associations [such as Senior Centers]
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From page 93... ...
Transitions out of paid work, the onset of disability, or chronic health conditions can trigger changes in network ties, possibly precipitating greater isolation (Cornwell, Laumann, and Schumm, 2008; Smith and Christakis, 2008)
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From page 94... ...
is not simply the absence of constraining social structures; rather, degrees of choice and control are institutionalized within the social organization of and power distribution in roles and relationships. Some policies, practices and conventions permit greater opportunities for agency than others (see, for example, a workplace innovation giving employees greater control of their work time in Kelly, Moen, and Tranby, 2011; Moen et al., 2011)
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From page 95... ...
Congruent with this approach, there is a great deal of research in the occupational health literature looking at person-job "fit," as well as the role of job control in moderating the effects of job demands (Muhonen and Torkelson, 2004) , suggesting a potentially fruitful research agenda on "fit" in older adulthood.
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From page 96... ...
, with the degree of personal control socially stratified and unevenly distributed across the life course. An example of the way institutional arrangements limit or expand adaptive strategies in later adulthood (and in doing so affect geographical population distributions and compositions as well as health and well-being)
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From page 97... ...
Future study of how institutions articulate with the choice and nature of living environments may be increasingly significant for understanding aging processes. TIME, PLACE, AND SOCIAL CHANGE Sociologists can promote understanding of both behavior and life quality in the aging process by investigating the ways time, age, and the life course are socially organized; institutionalized time and age regimes are both simultaneously invisible and fundamental to the human experience.
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From page 98... ...
Studies promoting understanding of changing social institutions and contexts shaping the aging process, therefore, need to be incorporated into a research agenda investigating the links between social structures, aging, and individual outcomes in order to identify promising interventions to promote life quality and life chances. FUTURE DIRECTIONS There is a multiplicity of social institutions (policies, programs, practices, conventions)
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From page 99... ...
can produce corresponding changes in the health and well-being outcomes of older Americans. Deliberate policy shifts can also change social structures, challenging taken-for-granted expectations and practices (structural leads rather than lags)
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From page 100... ...
, who examine different retirement exit patterns of women and men; and Wise (2004) , who links the labor force participation of older workers to particular social policies.
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From page 101... ...
Future research is needed on the conditions under which family, health, career, or retirement course stage matter more in predicting behavior, resources, life chances, and life quality than 5-21
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From page 102... ...
And studies of the retirement expectations or behaviors of "older workers" of a certain age omit those who are not in the labor force as well as those who have already retired, suggesting the value of future studies capturing the dynamics of trajectories and transitions over a period of time. Future directions should include comparative and multilevel studies across cohorts, historical periods, regions, organizations, and policy regimes to highlight the ways differences and/or shifts in social policies and conventions affect patterns and processes of population and individual aging, as well as the mechanisms involved.
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From page 103... ...
Current scholarly emphasis on older workers' labor market participation and retirement exits ignores the multidimensions and processual aspects of the life course -- that older adults, whether or not employed, are simultaneously community members, friends, family members, and possibly students, with identities, narratives, and expectations associated with their pasts, presents, and futures. To understand individual and organizational behavior requires seeing institutional contexts as not only defining appropriate behavior but also as providing older individuals with explanations or accounts of that behavior that helps them to make sense of their lives (Friedland and Alford, 1991; Sewell, 1992)
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From page 104... ...
It is also a gendered social institution, shaped by social norms and structures embedded in systems of education and training; marriage, family, and caregiving; work, retirement and community; and health behaviors, health care, and social welfare policies that are themselves in flux. This further underscores the value of a dynamic, institutionalized, life course focus on age and aging.
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From page 105... ...
PREPUBLICATION COPY -- UNCORRECTED PROOFS FIGURE 5-1 Multilayered institutionalized contexts shaping aging. Institutionalized Schema, Patterns of Living Cohorts in Contemporary Context: Organizations, Work, Retirement, Family Global Climate, Stressors: Institutions Structures: v Income v Layoffs, Mergers Unstable Insecurity as Laws, Health v Reemployment v Job/Care Economic Discrimination Policies, Demands v Societal Participation Contexts v Job Exits Options Regulations v Uncertainty v Retirement Packages, about Future Policies Resources: v Supportive Spouse, Network v Sense of Control v Health, Ed, Income, Assets Institutionalized Age-, Gender-, Status- Graded Resources 5-25
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From page 106... ...
PREPUBLICATION COPY -- UNCORRECTED PROOFS FIGURE 5-2 Different levels of analysis and focus.
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From page 107... ...
American Sociological Review, 56, 166-178. Angel, J., and Settersten, R
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From page 108... ...
American Sociological Review, 66, 204–225.
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From page 109... ...
American Sociological Review, 78, 185-203. Costa, D.L.
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American Journal of Sociology, 110,123-60. Emirbayer, M., and Miche, A
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From page 111... ...
American Journal of Sociology, 105, 191-236. Hargrave, T.J., and Van De Ven, A
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Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43(2)
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From page 113... ...
. Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease.
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From page 114... ...
American Sociological Review, 3, 672 682. Merton, R.K.
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From page 115... ...
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 30, 241-256.
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From page 116... ...
. Social conditions as fundamental causes of health inequalities: Theory, evidence, and policy implications.
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From page 117... ...
American Sociological Review, 30, 843-861. Ryff, C.D., and Keyes, C.L.M.
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From page 118... ...
. New risks for workers: Pensions, labor markets, and gender.
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From page 119... ...
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42(3)
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