274 Part V: Sociology and Your Life
The Social Construction of Age
Age itself isn’t socially constructed — the body’s basic life cycle is the same for all people, everywhere. To say that “age” is socially constructed is to say that people’s ideas about what is necessary and appropriate for people at each stage of life varies from place to place and from time to time. In this section, I explain how ideas of childhood and old age have varied, and continue to change.
The “invention” of childhood
A historian named Phillippe Ariés made headlines (well, academic headlines) in the 1960s with his bold assertion that the idea of childhood was “invented” in the Middle Ages. According to Ariés, before that point in history, people didn’t think of kids as being all that different from adults: They were just a little smaller. As soon as possible, kids became involved in the economic and productive life of society; they weren’t regarded as needing any kind of special treatment just because they were below a certain age.
Historians today agree that Ariés overstated his case by a long shot, that the essential dynamic of family life — with parents loving their children tenderly, sometimes coddling them while also often encouraging them to do chores and achieve tasks — has been just about the same since the beginning of history. Still, Ariés was on to something: For most of human history, childhood wasn’t nearly as distinct from adulthood as it is now. Think about the ways that children today are regarded as being different than adults:
Children cannot legally vote, sign contracts, or take independent responsibility for themselves — rights that are guaranteed to all adults.
Children are not allowed to work for pay (except for teenagers, within strict limits), and they are forced to attend school.
Children are seen as being especially vulnerable and innocent, and are in need of shelter from the dangers of the world.
For much of human history, none of those things were seen as being true. Until very recently — a couple hundred years ago — most children did not attend grade school, let alone high school. They were needed to help support their family by working on the family farm (or, later, in factories), and the skills they’d be learning in school (even reading and writing) were seen as luxuries, not necessities. As for their innocence . . . many people, including the Puritans who settled America, believed that children were fundamentally sinful, and were in need of strict discipline to mold them into responsible adults.
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Interestingly, along the way children acquired some specific rights that they did not previously have. Today, children in most countries have the right to seek legal protection (or to have protection sought for them) if their parents or guardians abuse or overwork them. Plus, it’s increasingly the norm in educational and family settings to allow children a lot of say in what they do and when. (“Would you like to play in the block area or in the art area? What book do you want to read? Where do you want to go today?”) That’s much different than when children were meant to be seen and not heard.
Why the change? Has society simply become more . . . enlightened? Well, yes, but it’s also true that the seismic social changes that gave birth to modern society (and to sociology — see Chapter 3) changed the place of children in society.
As a society develops, industrializes, and urbanizes, it eventually undergoes what demographers (people who study trends in population) call a “demographic transition.” At that time, both mortality (death rates) and fertility (birth rates) fall steeply: Fewer people are born, and they live longer. This happened in the United States and in Europe between 100 to 200 years ago.
After a demographic transition, there are fewer children around, and because they live in a (relatively) high-tech, industrializing society, they need to go to school for many years before they can be productive members of society. This means that they need to be supported by their parents for many years — instead of supporting their parents through their work, as was formerly the case. Is it any surprise, then, that most parents have fewer children than they used to?
So the children who do come along are bigger deals than they used to be. They’re not loved any more than they used to be — parents throughout history have always loved their children — but they are the focus of more schooling, more money, and much more attention. That is new, and that is the main reason why childhood today is so much different than childhood was just a few hundred years ago.
Are kids today spoiled? If being “spoiled” means being doted upon by overly accommodating adults, then that’s a matter of judgment. If being “spoiled,” though, means being guaranteed an education and protected from forced labor . . . then yes, they’re spoiled rotten.
To understand the profound difference between childhood today and childhood just over a century ago, consider that in the late 19th century — as sociologist Viviana Zelizer has pointed out — parents were invited to insure their children’s lives to compensate the family for income deceased children would have made had they survived. Today, by contrast, the cost of raising and educating a middle-class child in the United States can exceed $250,000. Children may represent a “net gain” emotionally, but certainly not financially!
276 Part V: Sociology and Your Life
Dad, can I take the car?
Anyone who’s read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, or seen a film adaptation of the story, has an idea of how courtship worked before the 20th century. Couples got married without ever exactly “dating”: They would make each other’s acquaintance in public settings, and if the match was deemed suitable (at least by their families, and ideally by the members of the couple as well), they’d become engaged and that was that.
What you did as a teenager may have surprised your parents, but it would have really mortified your great-great-great-grandparents. There’s still some controversy around whether or not teenagers should have sex, but just about everyone agrees that it’s proper for there to be a stage of life during which young people go about independently with members of the opposite gender (or, now, whichever gender they’re attracted to), hang out with friends, be alone together, and at least do a little smooching.
Modern adolescence was born in the early 20th century, as attending high school became widespread and technology (notably, the automobile) gave young people a measure of independent mobility. The whole commercial culture of adolescence — from soda fountains to school dances to youth fashions — sprang up around that time.
Ever since then, “adolescence” has been expanding to fill more and more of the life span. Today, 12-year-olds often act like 16-year-olds — running around at all hours and having a series of boyfriends or girlfriends — but so do 30-year- olds! A major reason for this is the increase in college and grad school attendance, with many people taking until their mid-20s or even their 30s to finish schooling and settle down to begin a career. It’s hard to do homework when you have a toddler walking around . . . just ask anyone who’s tried!
18 again: The new senior citizens
Just as the earliest stages of life have been changing rapidly in recent years, so have the later stages.
People in the final decades of life have always been an important part of society, serving as leaders and mentors and supporting younger people as they raise children and take up leadership positions. A number of changes over the past century, though, have completely transformed seniors’ experiences and essentially created an entire new stage of life.
For one thing, there’s simply much more of life than there used to be. My grandma will occasionally include in her e-mails and letters statements like, “I’m 89!” She seems almost surprised to still be alive — and no wonder. She’s already lived over 30 years longer than most other American girls born in 1919. Grandma’s great-granddaughter, though — my niece Madeline, born
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in 2007 — can reasonably expect that she and most of her peers will easily reach the age of 80. Further, medical advances have dramatically improved the quality of life for older people.
Additional social changes that have changed the experience of being past “middle age” (whatever that is) include:
Economic changes that have made things both easier and harder for senior citizens. On the one hand, jobs relying on experience and knowledge rather than physical endurance have become more plentiful and lucrative; but on the other hand, economic tumult means that more and more seniors find themselves unexpectedly out of work — and possibly facing age discrimination (see Chapter 8) when they apply for new jobs. Further, Baby Boomers have now reached what used to be considered “retirement age,” but many are finding themselves without the pension plans their parents had and thus forced to continue working, at least part-time.
Childbearing changes have meant that people are having children later and later — in some cases, even after age 40. This means that not infrequently, people reach their 60s still supporting their children in college or grad school. With a predominance of two-earner families, grandparents also find themselves more essential to the day-to-day care of their grandchildren than they would have been 50 years ago.
Changes in relationships — including a divorce rate around 40 percent — and reproductive technology (yes, Viagra) have meant that more and more seniors are dating and leading active sex lives.
All this adds up to a very different experience for today’s seniors than their parents and grandparents had. The title of this section — “18 again” — is tongue-in-cheek, but it’s not a joke. Seniors today often lead lives with a mix of work, family responsibilities, romance, and recreation that’s not dissimilar to the kind of life a teenager or college student leads. (In fact, increasing numbers of seniors are going back to school and becoming college students.) The only differences? Seniors go to bed earlier . . . and do more drugs.
This sounds like fun, and that’s absolutely true: Whether living independently, with friends or relatives, in retirement or assisted-living communities, or in nursing homes, seniors today are leading notably exciting, fulfilling lives. Though people over 50 didn’t grow up with the Internet, they’ve learned quickly and are fueling much of the growth of social networking sites and other online communities.
It’s also true, however, that seniors today face a historically unique set of stressors. With families being small and economic times being tight, seniors can’t count on their children to support them — in fact, they’re having to