Question

1) Describe what the stereotype of older people is, in our culture.
2) why do some older people fit the stereotype and why some don't fit the stereotype

Answer 1

Answer 1.

Cultures differ in terms of their beliefs about ageing and geriatric issues. Within a Western and industrial societies such as the United States, old age is seen as a period of loss of physical functions and mobility. Since old age is marked by the age of retirement, loss of work in highly competitive capitalist societies such as our mean that the elderly are seen as incapable of working particularly manual labour, abstract, scientific or mathematical tasks. This is because of the prevalent notion of ‘senility’ within the larger society which makes us stereotype average elderly as mentally slow, even irrational and forgetful. However, some older people may have very sharp memory and they may be able to recall entire Sonnetts from Shakespeare or play Crossword puzzles, feats which even an ordinary 20 year old cannot accomplish today.