1.This problem is a social problem because if the older people will not to work, they will need to live and the government will take a many tor them as unemployed which is less than will earn worker if s/he will work. This means that his/her social condition will be less, therefore there is a social problem.
2.If we will apply this problem choosing conflict theory, it will be that this is social problem because every person has a right to have a job as his/her possibility (Marxism). There is also state's Constitution, which defines that everyone has a right to have a job.
3. I think it, is interesting blog post and I commented this specific topic because I am older , and this issue is actual for my. Besides, I had felt this age discrimination when I wanted to have any job. There were employments that wanted not to take me for any job by motivate my unknowing of English, even there were young workers whose English was on the less level than my. This social problem is actual in the area of sociology because people's sociology condition depended from their earnings.
1. I agree with what he wrote because age discrimination does cause problems in society. Older people who are not given the opportunity to work will feel that they are being excluded from society. You would think that jobs who are looking to hire employees would want the applicants to be experienced, however, this is not the case. What stood out to me about this blog post was his personal experience of being discriminated at a job. I thought this blog was interesting because I was not aware of this discrimination against elderly workers. This topic is not well known and is relevant to sociology because this discrimination causes conflict in society. In addition, everyone grows old and there is nothing anyone can do to stop from aging.
2. You can also apply the functionalist perspective to this. A functionalist would say that elderly people are also a part of society and are critical to maintain balance in society. Discrimination against the elderly causes disruption in this balance. Every part of society has a purpose, therefore, the elderly should be able to serve their purpose and work in jobs they feel they would be a good asset to. They should not be eliminated from the work force due to their age because their experience can benefit companies.
Arpineh S. A graph in Flowingdata shows the highest age in United State, and the result for us as Californian people is that most likely we will grow old to 78 to 81. And the probability for living older in female is higher than men. When people grow older it means they probably have a healthy body condition and most likely they need jobs first, for having a secure life and second, they need job for having psychologically healthy life. According to the blog "Ageism" the chance of getting hired for a job is low when the person is in middle age and even lower in older stages and it getting lower when person is female which has chance of living longer. As mentioned people need secure life, they have to get enough money to pay the rent, mortgage, bills, and food, even for a vacation. But an average of social security benefit is $1,295 per month. In our city the average of rent for one bedroom is more than $1200, now the person that gets social security benefit how can pay for life expenses? How people can survive with that money and stay psychologically healthy? The issue gets bigger when employees don't hire middle age and elderly people. To see this issue as a conflict theorist the rate of expenses and social security benefit have conflict together and not getting hired after middle age will bring more contrast. For example a 65 years old man that lost his wife, now his kids have their own lives and he is living alone. This person lost his job and he is looking for new one, and he has one other option that can get social security benefit of almost $1300. The person's apartment rent is $ 1200. He also needs to pay for the bills however he will get medical and won't need to pay for his medication and health issue. This is very clear that person will look a job because the amount of social security benefit has conflict whit the amount of life expenses and it's not enough for a very basic life. He will send his resume to different places but the employees don't want to use his years of experiences and pay him because of his age. This person can get the social security benefit and illegally gets a job and get paid cash that is also a conflict option whit the values and lows. The experiences that a person gets during his life with doing a job that supposed to give him dignity and good position become a major problem that he cannot get a job. These all clearly show that a conflict theorist would point out as contrast issues in the society. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs the basic humans needs are physiological needs such as food, water, shelter and the second one is safety such as safety of body, employment, resources, property. The hierarchy cannot build up with missing a basic part. The person cannot get a job and cannot afford the expenses with social security benefit and it had a conflict with human basic needs. I comment on this topic because I see this issue frequently in my social life, in my family, and neighborhood. In order to have a healthy society we need to have healthy families and individuals in society. The employment is one basic need to maintain a secure life and stay physically and psychologically healthy in every age, and I think the government should come up with more clear lows about getting employment in higher ages and even create jobs for older people with experiences since the baby boomers getting older and in the future we will have more healthy and looking for job older people.
1) I chose to respond to this post because it seemed that the author had thought through precisely how ageism can be detrimental to individuals. I liked the level of detail offered in the scenario entailing what might happen as a result of ageism, especially with regard to the individual psychosocial effects, including the potential moral conflicts that could arise. That one might be driven to engage in illegal behaviors was not something I’d previously thought about in this particular context. While this issue certainly matters on an individual level, it will be magnified and compounded on a societal level, inevitably giving birth to other social issues that affect all of us. We would do well to address this problem before its effects are fully manifested. If we don’t, we all will become responsible for addressing it anyway, either by paying for social programs and services, or by taking personal responsibility for the well-being of our ageing family members and friends. What stood out to me about this post is the extent to which the author looked at the issue from beginning to end in practical terms, outlined the potential consequences, and offered a solution (i.e. a special government sector for employing older people).
The issue of age discrimination in employment is relevant sociologically. Initially it might be written off as a personal problem to be blamed on an individual, but upon closer examination it turns out to be a public issue in both its causes and effects. Eventually there is a cost to us as a society. When older people can’t support themselves, we will see increased poverty, hunger, homelessness, medical problems, depression and so on, all of which will lead them to further disengage from a world that has already started pushing them out.
I agree with the author’s use of a conflict theory perspective, especially in her mention of what corporations are willing to pay their labor force. Experienced workers are expensive, as are full-time workers who are guaranteed benefits and a minimum number of hours of employment. Part-time novice workers can be paid a lower wage, offered no benefits, and given irregular and unreliable schedules. This is designed to serve the corporation and increase its profits. None of this serves the average workers - older ones are laid off and can’t get rehired, while the younger ones who do get hired often suffer deplorable conditions of employment. It seems that everyone loses, except for the corporation itself and its top executives. Somehow, we think it is okay for CEOs to make hundreds of times what average workers make - workers without whom most companies could not function at all. This all fits very neatly into a conflict theory framework.
2) We can also look at this from a functionalist perspective, and there are many angles from which to do so. One view says that older people should just age out of the work force and make room for younger people. Rather than try to argue for this point, I’d like to look at which social institutions could be strengthened in order to combat the effects of age discrimination or eliminate ageism altogether. The institutions I find most relevant are: A) the family, and B) the economy. (continued in next post)
(Rebecca J., continued) A) In a country like the U.S., with so much cultural diversity, it doesn’t make much sense to propose some standardized approach to strengthening the family. But if families felt inclined to take care of their members unconditionally, the ill effects of social problems like ageism might be attenuated. Though many of us are struggling financially these days, a shared financial burden is still probably easier to bear than an individual one, and a family member that is being supported financially can contribute to a household in non-monetary ways. So, one way to strengthen the family could be for all of us to assume life-long responsibility and care for our loved ones, even if it conflicts with our personal ambitions or desired lifestyle. Some cultures already do this as a matter of course, and to do otherwise would be unthinkable. I’m not sure that a majority of Americans would enthusiastically embrace this approach, (I’m not even sure I would), but it is one way that the effects of ageism could be made less dire.
B) For the reasons outlined in 1), economic considerations for corporations are likely a driving factor in ageism. It is hard to imagine how we can strengthen the economy in a way that serves the majority if we also insist on devotion to neoliberal ideals about the virtue of a free, unfettered global market. Our thinking might have to undergo a radical shift if anything is to change for the vast majority of our population. Numbers of available jobs will keep decreasing due to automation and unbridled outsourcing to countries with lax wage and environmental regulations. This country possesses enormous wealth as a whole, but wages for the average worker have stagnated for decades. Production has increased dramatically, while the profits from that increase have been funneled upward (where that wealth is needed the least). It is hard to justify this state of affairs. Given these trends, if we are to guarantee a decent life for all our citizens, we may want to consider something like a universal basic income, and a cap on how much the highest paid members of a corporation can earn. This is not a new or extreme idea - under Eisenhower there was effectively a “maximum wage,” with extremely high tax rates on every dollar above a certain (quite high) threshold. To me this sounds reasonable. Some might argue that this is an impingement on “freedom” - the freedom to accumulate and hoard (or waste) as much as wealth as possible. But when that freedom can be expressed only by maximal exploitation of the majority of the world’s population, a line needs to be drawn. I’m sounding like a conflict theorist now, but we can still take a functionalist angle by saying that if we rethink distribution of wealth, we can make the economy stronger and more functional, which could eliminate the problem of age discrimination as follows:
If everyone’s basic needs were provided for (via a universal basic income), then we would have actual freedom - to engage in our chosen activities not to avoid starvation and homelessness, but out of curiosity, intellectual drive, love, or even mere entertainment. Older people would be free to volunteer, mentor, care for grandchildren, or engage in some hobby or intellectual pursuit. And if they wished to be employed, they would have more of an edge in the job market because companies would have to compete to entice qualified candidates. No one, old or young, would be so desperate as to take any horrible offer put to them.
It is hard for me to be optimistic about our prospects right now, but I hope that we can move in this direction, and actually enjoy all the benefits that our incredible technological progress was supposed to bring.
1. According to the article "Too Much Experience To Be Hired? Some Older Americans Face Age Bias”, baby boomers plan to work past conventional retirement age. The only problem with that is they need to get hired to be able to work. The article states that a recent study discovered that the likelihood of being hired drops significantly as age rises. Even though the Age Discrimination in Employment Act is meant to protect older workers, a recent case has questioned whether this act protects older people looking to get hired or merely older people who already have jobs. Without a doubt ageism is a social issue.... Racism and sexism are issues that affect certain demographics but ageism is different because everyone in society can directly be affected, it affects all demographics. 2. A functionalist could argue that ageism directly affects the elderly. Not being able to find a job may impact them emotionally, psychologically, and definitely economically. Ageism has a secondary effect on the working class because older people who can’t find jobs would result as a higher cost to the state through programs like welfare and unemployment. Basically, if the elderly are discriminated against in terms of employment, society is not working as interconnected parts, there is no harmony, and the balance in society is skewed. 3. Sociology studies the function and structure of human society. Ageism is an issue that affects the function of society, therefore, is an issue relevant in sociology. i chose this topic because as humans, we all grow old. We will all be affected by ageism at some point in our lives. i believe that ageism is a serious matter that needs to be addressed. It is only in everyone’s best interest that discrimination against older people seeking jobs isn’t an issue.
Maryori A. in Response to Maria E. 1.Ageism has become a social problem, because adult people have difficulty finding a job. Some employers discriminate adult due to their age group. The reasons could be because some adults have too much experience and for some companies is better to hired a younger individual with less experience so they can offer them a lower salary. On the other hand, adults have more risk to become sick and have more absents in the work place, is important to take in consideration that another negative aspect is that sometimes their cognitive status has decreased as they aged, so they require more time to preform their job duties , not only that, but sometimes they are not competitive with the new technology demands. Unfortunately based on the article "Too Much Experience To Be Hired? Some Older Americans Face Age Bias” this has become a social problem because everyday the number of unemployed adults increase, they have to depend on other family members to help them, unemployment, or SSI which is lower of their previous salaries. This problem is difficult for them to face, because they have to find a way to support themselves and their families; this will bring higher rates of lower income families into the society, and also could increase mental health problems, due to stress, and anxiety. Therefore this topic is important to sociologist , because it needs a solutions and everyone have to get prepare, because we all eventually be facing the same problem as you mentioned Maria E. because we all are going to be affected.
Continuation: Maryori A. in Response to Maria E. If this problem is not fixed it will be worse for younger generations, because seems like when they reach a middle age government funds may no longer exist. I choose this topic because this problem eventually will affect me, also because it impacted me when I read it, it makes us realized about our elderly years, and how important is to start saving for the rainy days. This article helps us to open the eyes and learn how to avoid this issue and also to have consideration for adults in the work place. Maria I decided to make a comment on your blog, because I shared the same perspectives in how an individual can be affected by struggling to get a job due to his/her age group. I can say that Mills emphasize that the external affects the internal. Example the stress of not finding a job, the unemployment, having no income, the stress of how to pay the bills and sometimes the lack of community support, eventually starts to affect the individual’s mental, emotional and physical health. This is a clear example of how the Macro affects the micro.
2. Conflict Perspective: we are facing a problem of inequality, which based on the laws everyone has the right to have a job, unfortunately companies and those in power have found the way of not hire middle age + groups, and they have limited their opportunities by placing them more obstacles. Unfortunately this is creating an imbalance in society, by increasing the need of unemployment help, more SSI, increasing the # of low-income family(poverty) and eventually reducing government’s funds for future generations as mentioned before.
ARLEN MEHRABIAN 1) Middle aged people have difficulty to get a job after retiring from their previous jobs. The studies show that age makes a huge difference, when you are submitting your resume for a job and people who are older than the other applicants have less chance of getting hired. The problem is that the employers, who happen to possess the capitalist mentality, don’t want to hire people who are older and more mature so they won’t have to pay more than the minimum wage. As a result of this strategy, the employers changed the requirements and made them stricter and more specific. For example, they stated that people with more than ten years of experience should not apply. Or, people who graduated from college less than four years ago are eligible to apply. This alone can cause half of the applicant to wash out. Those who are washed out can be the guys who have year of experience and are older than the others. But, the employers have other priorities. The younger employees usually have less experience and can be paid less. And, if you pay less to our employees, you will profit more. 2) By looking at this from conflict point of view, we can say that this is a preexisting problem. The problem is that the private corporations make the final decision. It’s the company that makes its policies, not the government. The government and the state can put so many regulations, but at the end of the day, this is a capitalist country and we have a free market. There is always a loophole to bypass the law. So, there is not much an individual can do about it. 3) The reason I chose this article is because it tells us what we are dealing with. Ageism is a serious problem, and it is a kind of problem that cannot be solved easily. It may take many years to find a solution to solve this problem, and it is possible that we may not stop it completely.
1. Upon reviewing Arlen’s response to “Too Much Experience to be Hired? Some Older Americans Face Age Bias,” I did agree with what he said. He stated that employers have their preferred qualifications for new hires because these help their bottom line. I believe this is true. An older employee may fight for better pay, knowing their experience is well beyond that of a 25 year-old. On the contrary, a younger person may not even know what an appropriate salary would be, allowing a company to low-ball them. I think this topic is known, but not spoken about openly. I think people expect for older generations to sit in a rocking chair sipping tea, not realizing these older generations still yearn to be connected to society. This is an important sociological topic because it involves older generations that are already beginning to feel separation from society. On top of losing touch with the times, they’re being forced out of the jobs they are comfortable in and know well. This is supported by the disengagement theory which would infer that society and older peoples sever ties eventualy.
2. As far as a sociological perspective goes, I would apply the functionalist perspective in a dysfunctional element. The functionalist perspective would say that society is balanced. It would say that all elements of society contribute to social stability. Unless they’re dysfunctional. I would say this type of discrimination would make a functional society, dysfunctional by excluding those members of advanced age from obtaining employment and eventually alienating these members of society. In a functional society, the inclusion of these older members would give an opportunity to share wisdom and knowledge to younger generations, contributing to the stability of society as a whole.
1) when one isnt' offered a job that they had applied for it becomes very easy for that person to come up with a world of excuses as to why they didn't get the job and occasionally being too old or overqualified may spring up as potential explanation, but in this article Ageism is demonstrated to be more than just conjectured justification. A recruiter from a tobacco company turned into a whistleblower when he released the guidelines he was given when seeking potential employees, this led to a multi-plaintiff lawsuit against the tobacco company. A study was conducted where several identical resumes were submitted to job openings with the only difference being the age of the applicant on the resume. The resume's with a younger age had a higher callback rate than those middle-aged and the middle-aged got a higher callback rate than the senior citizen aged resume's submitted. The problem is that, though living a long life is truly a great thing and a privilege, this new study might be shining some light on an emerging problem that could potentially affect all of those fortunate to live long enough. People are living longer and retiring later in life, yet this isn't sufficient enough to sustain them when they actually do retire which leads to them seeking part time employment or other means of income. This may potentially lead to a rise in suicide rates among the elderly population caused by feelings of helplessness and continuous struggling until they pass away of natural causes. The older you get, the harder things will continue to get, contrary to what we were raised to believe as we had our hard earned money taxed with the expectation of relaxing at age 65.
2) A functionalist would argue that simply filtering out the older population does not make them nonexistent. IF we are fortunate enough then us too will live a long life, but by the way things are going currently we are also going to have to struggle to later find employment unless we are to do something about it now. Also, by hiring a range of ages , you get a variety of experience and knowledge that may have latent benefits interdependently. Where an elderly person may potentially not be as savvy with technology, a younger person may lack the experience to efficiently approach a goal or situation. we must invest in the plasticity of people, their ever amazing ability to adapt themselves to multiple situations and scenarios only adds to how universally applicable anyone is to anything in one form or another.
3) I think that this blog post highlights something that is merely a suspicion to most, the notion that the elderly tend to be underestimated. We now have at least a study that can be referred to when discussing ageism in the labor force. I chose this specific blog post because I have no significant elderly people in my life, but even so the issue discussed isn't one exclusive to those with elderly loved ones. we all love ourselves and even when we are old we will still love ourselves, if you're not doing this for other people then at least see it as an investment in your future when you're optimistically submitting resumes at age 69. This issue is very relevant to the field of sociology due to what may become a growing fear of getting old and general worriment of those elderly loved ones in our lives. The biggest luxury of being young is that we can make mistakes or endure hard times with the optimism of a better tomorrow, but when you've worked all your life, saved as much as possible, realize it wasn't enough and someone is blocking your only chance at fighting; you have nothing left.
Minami Y. assignment#4 In response to Raul’s post, I agree with your comment because nowadays, people who are retiring are finding some difficulties to get hired. Therefore, those people are facing age discrimination while finding a job. As you wrote, although life expectancy has been longer than ever, the retirement age is earlier now. It means life which is after retirement will be longer. In addition, if people are not hired, they have nothing to do usually so they become farther to integrate within society. You wrote that “This may potentially lead to a rise in suicide rates among the elderly population caused by feelings of helplessness and continuous struggling until they pass away of natural causes.” stood out to me. I really think the same way because people apply a job to survive, eat and live. However, when they are not hired, they are stressed out and think in a negative way such as being left out from the society. It leads to that they may commit suicide, get a mental problem and so on. I choose to comment on this post because I was surprised that even though The U.S. does not have an age limit of working by law and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 was established, there is the age bias behind the people’s backs. In my opinion, the reason why a lot of companies have thought that they do not want to hire retirement people is they want to people who are on high level of technological things. These days, technology has been developed rapidly so many companies would like to hire the young people who can manage technology faster. In addition, there are even companies which operate to work without people such as unmanned factories. Hence, elder people are judged by recruiters even before they go to an interview. However, I think there are a lot of retirement people that are still energetic and no problem to work. They are also one of a member of our society, so we can work together to maintain and become better in this society. The article says older women are worse than older men about call-back rates after they send resume. In my opinion, still some people have gender role stereotyping. In this century, women work hard and many women are active about their work, so we should not think like men should work or women should do house work. It is not a time to conflict between retirement people and non-retirement people. We need to help each other and achieve our goals together.
2. I apply this article to conflict perspective since comparison with retirement people, young people are easy to get their job. It could say an unequal working system exists in this modern society. There are some patterns of conflict such as the conflict between recruiters and retirement people, and the conflict between elder people and young people. As I answer in the question no.1, companies would like to hire young people who can work flexibly with technology such as computers than elder people because they are much faster to memorize how to work. These conflict pattern make lead more complicated ageism. Retirement people are also one of the member of society, so they have a right to get a job. To be better society, the government need to back up the re-employment people. For example, the government ought to make facilities which retirement people can participate such as how to get used to computer at work shop. Even though current social problem makes us to oppose each other, it is actually drives force to change the better society.
Armen Oganesyan
ReplyDelete1.This problem is a social problem because if the older people will not to work, they will need to live and the government will take a many tor them as unemployed which is less than will earn worker if s/he will work. This means that his/her social condition will be less, therefore there is a social problem.
2.If we will apply this problem choosing conflict theory, it will be that this is social problem because every person has a right to have a job as his/her possibility (Marxism). There is also state's Constitution, which defines that everyone has a right to have a job.
3. I think it, is interesting blog post and I commented this specific topic because I am older , and this issue is actual for my. Besides, I had felt this age discrimination when I wanted to have any job. There were employments that wanted not to take me for any job by motivate my unknowing of English, even there were young workers whose English was on the less level than my. This social problem is actual in the area of sociology because people's sociology condition depended from their earnings.
Jose C.
Delete1. I agree with what he wrote because age discrimination does cause problems in society. Older people who are not given the opportunity to work will feel that they are being excluded from society. You would think that jobs who are looking to hire employees would want the applicants to be experienced, however, this is not the case. What stood out to me about this blog post was his personal experience of being discriminated at a job. I thought this blog was interesting because I was not aware of this discrimination against elderly workers. This topic is not well known and is relevant to sociology because this discrimination causes conflict in society. In addition, everyone grows old and there is nothing anyone can do to stop from aging.
2. You can also apply the functionalist perspective to this. A functionalist would say that elderly people are also a part of society and are critical to maintain balance in society. Discrimination against the elderly causes disruption in this balance. Every part of society has a purpose, therefore, the elderly should be able to serve their purpose and work in jobs they feel they would be a good asset to. They should not be eliminated from the work force due to their age because their experience can benefit companies.
Arpineh S.
ReplyDeleteA graph in Flowingdata shows the highest age in United State, and the result for us as Californian people is that most likely we will grow old to 78 to 81. And the probability for living older in female is higher than men. When people grow older it means they probably have a healthy body condition and most likely they need jobs first, for having a secure life and second, they need job for having psychologically healthy life. According to the blog "Ageism" the chance of getting hired for a job is low when the person is in middle age and even lower in older stages and it getting lower when person is female which has chance of living longer. As mentioned people need secure life, they have to get enough money to pay the rent, mortgage, bills, and food, even for a vacation. But an average of social security benefit is $1,295 per month. In our city the average of rent for one bedroom is more than $1200, now the person that gets social security benefit how can pay for life expenses? How people can survive with that money and stay psychologically healthy? The issue gets bigger when employees don't hire middle age and elderly people.
To see this issue as a conflict theorist the rate of expenses and social security benefit have conflict together and not getting hired after middle age will bring more contrast. For example a 65 years old man that lost his wife, now his kids have their own lives and he is living alone. This person lost his job and he is looking for new one, and he has one other option that can get social security benefit of almost $1300. The person's apartment rent is $ 1200. He also needs to pay for the bills however he will get medical and won't need to pay for his medication and health issue. This is very clear that person will look a job because the amount of social security benefit has conflict whit the amount of life expenses and it's not enough for a very basic life. He will send his resume to different places but the employees don't want to use his years of experiences and pay him because of his age. This person can get the social security benefit and illegally gets a job and get paid cash that is also a conflict option whit the values and lows. The experiences that a person gets during his life with doing a job that supposed to give him dignity and good position become a major problem that he cannot get a job. These all clearly show that a conflict theorist would point out as contrast issues in the society.
According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs the basic humans needs are physiological needs such as food, water, shelter and the second one is safety such as safety of body, employment, resources, property. The hierarchy cannot build up with missing a basic part. The person cannot get a job and cannot afford the expenses with social security benefit and it had a conflict with human basic needs. I comment on this topic because I see this issue frequently in my social life, in my family, and neighborhood. In order to have a healthy society we need to have healthy families and individuals in society. The employment is one basic need to maintain a secure life and stay physically and psychologically healthy in every age, and I think the government should come up with more clear lows about getting employment in higher ages and even create jobs for older people with experiences since the baby boomers getting older and in the future we will have more healthy and looking for job older people.
Rebecca J. (Response to Arpineh’s post)
Delete1) I chose to respond to this post because it seemed that the author had thought through precisely how ageism can be detrimental to individuals. I liked the level of detail offered in the scenario entailing what might happen as a result of ageism, especially with regard to the individual psychosocial effects, including the potential moral conflicts that could arise. That one might be driven to engage in illegal behaviors was not something I’d previously thought about in this particular context. While this issue certainly matters on an individual level, it will be magnified and compounded on a societal level, inevitably giving birth to other social issues that affect all of us. We would do well to address this problem before its effects are fully manifested. If we don’t, we all will become responsible for addressing it anyway, either by paying for social programs and services, or by taking personal responsibility for the well-being of our ageing family members and friends.
What stood out to me about this post is the extent to which the author looked at the issue from beginning to end in practical terms, outlined the potential consequences, and offered a solution (i.e. a special government sector for employing older people).
The issue of age discrimination in employment is relevant sociologically. Initially it might be written off as a personal problem to be blamed on an individual, but upon closer examination it turns out to be a public issue in both its causes and effects. Eventually there is a cost to us as a society. When older people can’t support themselves, we will see increased poverty, hunger, homelessness, medical problems, depression and so on, all of which will lead them to further disengage from a world that has already started pushing them out.
I agree with the author’s use of a conflict theory perspective, especially in her mention of what corporations are willing to pay their labor force. Experienced workers are expensive, as are full-time workers who are guaranteed benefits and a minimum number of hours of employment. Part-time novice workers can be paid a lower wage, offered no benefits, and given irregular and unreliable schedules. This is designed to serve the corporation and increase its profits. None of this serves the average workers - older ones are laid off and can’t get rehired, while the younger ones who do get hired often suffer deplorable conditions of employment. It seems that everyone loses, except for the corporation itself and its top executives. Somehow, we think it is okay for CEOs to make hundreds of times what average workers make - workers without whom most companies could not function at all. This all fits very neatly into a conflict theory framework.
2) We can also look at this from a functionalist perspective, and there are many angles from which to do so. One view says that older people should just age out of the work force and make room for younger people. Rather than try to argue for this point, I’d like to look at which social institutions could be strengthened in order to combat the effects of age discrimination or eliminate ageism altogether. The institutions I find most relevant are: A) the family, and B) the economy.
(continued in next post)
(Rebecca J., continued)
DeleteA) In a country like the U.S., with so much cultural diversity, it doesn’t make much sense to propose some standardized approach to strengthening the family. But if families felt inclined to take care of their members unconditionally, the ill effects of social problems like ageism might be attenuated. Though many of us are struggling financially these days, a shared financial burden is still probably easier to bear than an individual one, and a family member that is being supported financially can contribute to a household in non-monetary ways. So, one way to strengthen the family could be for all of us to assume life-long responsibility and care for our loved ones, even if it conflicts with our personal ambitions or desired lifestyle. Some cultures already do this as a matter of course, and to do otherwise would be unthinkable. I’m not sure that a majority of Americans would enthusiastically embrace this approach, (I’m not even sure I would), but it is one way that the effects of ageism could be made less dire.
B) For the reasons outlined in 1), economic considerations for corporations are likely a driving factor in ageism. It is hard to imagine how we can strengthen the economy in a way that serves the majority if we also insist on devotion to neoliberal ideals about the virtue of a free, unfettered global market. Our thinking might have to undergo a radical shift if anything is to change for the vast majority of our population. Numbers of available jobs will keep decreasing due to automation and unbridled outsourcing to countries with lax wage and environmental regulations. This country possesses enormous wealth as a whole, but wages for the average worker have stagnated for decades. Production has increased dramatically, while the profits from that increase have been funneled upward (where that wealth is needed the least). It is hard to justify this state of affairs. Given these trends, if we are to guarantee a decent life for all our citizens, we may want to consider something like a universal basic income, and a cap on how much the highest paid members of a corporation can earn. This is not a new or extreme idea - under Eisenhower there was effectively a “maximum wage,” with extremely high tax rates on every dollar above a certain (quite high) threshold. To me this sounds reasonable. Some might argue that this is an impingement on “freedom” - the freedom to accumulate and hoard (or waste) as much as wealth as possible. But when that freedom can be expressed only by maximal exploitation of the majority of the world’s population, a line needs to be drawn. I’m sounding like a conflict theorist now, but we can still take a functionalist angle by saying that if we rethink distribution of wealth, we can make the economy stronger and more functional, which could eliminate the problem of age discrimination as follows:
If everyone’s basic needs were provided for (via a universal basic income), then we would have actual freedom - to engage in our chosen activities not to avoid starvation and homelessness, but out of curiosity, intellectual drive, love, or even mere entertainment. Older people would be free to volunteer, mentor, care for grandchildren, or engage in some hobby or intellectual pursuit. And if they wished to be employed, they would have more of an edge in the job market because companies would have to compete to entice qualified candidates. No one, old or young, would be so desperate as to take any horrible offer put to them.
It is hard for me to be optimistic about our prospects right now, but I hope that we can move in this direction, and actually enjoy all the benefits that our incredible technological progress was supposed to bring.
Maria E
ReplyDelete1. According to the article "Too Much Experience To Be Hired? Some Older Americans Face Age Bias”, baby boomers plan to work past conventional retirement age. The only problem with that is they need to get hired to be able to work. The article states that a recent study discovered that the likelihood of being hired drops significantly as age rises. Even though the Age Discrimination in Employment Act is meant to protect older workers, a recent case has questioned whether this act protects older people looking to get hired or merely older people who already have jobs. Without a doubt ageism is a social issue.... Racism and sexism are issues that affect certain demographics but ageism is different because everyone in society can directly be affected, it affects all demographics.
Delete2. A functionalist could argue that ageism directly affects the elderly. Not being able to find a job may impact them emotionally, psychologically, and definitely economically. Ageism has a secondary effect on the working class because older people who can’t find jobs would result as a higher cost to the state through programs like welfare and unemployment. Basically, if the elderly are discriminated against in terms of employment, society is not working as interconnected parts, there is no harmony, and the balance in society is skewed.
3. Sociology studies the function and structure of human society. Ageism is an issue that affects the function of society, therefore, is an issue relevant in sociology. i chose this topic because as humans, we all grow old. We will all be affected by ageism at some point in our lives. i believe that ageism is a serious matter that needs to be addressed. It is only in everyone’s best interest that discrimination against older people seeking jobs isn’t an issue.
Maryori A. in Response to Maria E.
Delete1.Ageism has become a social problem, because adult people have difficulty finding a job. Some employers discriminate adult due to their age group. The reasons could be because some adults have too much experience and for some companies is better to hired a younger individual with less experience so they can offer them a lower salary. On the other hand, adults have more risk to become sick and have more absents in the work place, is important to take in consideration that another negative aspect is that sometimes their cognitive status has decreased as they aged, so they require more time to preform their job duties , not only that, but sometimes they are not competitive with the new technology demands. Unfortunately based on the article "Too Much Experience To Be Hired? Some Older Americans Face Age Bias” this has become a social problem because everyday the number of unemployed adults increase, they have to depend on other family members to help them, unemployment, or SSI which is lower of their previous salaries. This problem is difficult for them to face, because they have to find a way to support themselves and their families; this will bring higher rates of lower income families into the society, and also could increase mental health problems, due to stress, and anxiety. Therefore this topic is important to sociologist , because it needs a solutions and everyone have to get prepare, because we all eventually be facing the same problem as you mentioned Maria E. because we all are going to be affected.
Continuation: Maryori A. in Response to Maria E.
DeleteIf this problem is not fixed it will be worse for younger generations, because seems like when they reach a middle age government funds may no longer exist. I choose this topic because this problem eventually will affect me, also because it impacted me when I read it, it makes us realized about our elderly years, and how important is to start saving for the rainy days. This article helps us to open the eyes and learn how to avoid this issue and also to have consideration for adults in the work place. Maria I decided to make a comment on your blog, because I shared the same perspectives in how an individual can be affected by struggling to get a job due to his/her age group. I can say that Mills emphasize that the external affects the internal. Example the stress of not finding a job, the unemployment, having no income, the stress of how to pay the bills and sometimes the lack of community support, eventually starts to affect the individual’s mental, emotional and physical health. This is a clear example of how the Macro affects the micro.
2. Conflict Perspective: we are facing a problem of inequality, which based on the laws everyone has the right to have a job, unfortunately companies and those in power have found the way of not hire middle age + groups, and they have limited their opportunities by placing them more obstacles. Unfortunately this is creating an imbalance in society, by increasing the need of unemployment help, more SSI, increasing the # of low-income family(poverty) and eventually reducing government’s funds for future generations as mentioned before.
ARLEN MEHRABIAN
ReplyDelete1) Middle aged people have difficulty to get a job after retiring from their previous jobs. The studies show that age makes a huge difference, when you are submitting your resume for a job and people who are older than the other applicants have less chance of getting hired. The problem is that the employers, who happen to possess the capitalist mentality, don’t want to hire people who are older and more mature so they won’t have to pay more than the minimum wage. As a result of this strategy, the employers changed the requirements and made them stricter and more specific. For example, they stated that people with more than ten years of experience should not apply. Or, people who graduated from college less than four years ago are eligible to apply. This alone can cause half of the applicant to wash out. Those who are washed out can be the guys who have year of experience and are older than the others. But, the employers have other priorities. The younger employees usually have less experience and can be paid less. And, if you pay less to our employees, you will profit more.
2) By looking at this from conflict point of view, we can say that this is a preexisting problem. The problem is that the private corporations make the final decision. It’s the company that makes its policies, not the government. The government and the state can put so many regulations, but at the end of the day, this is a capitalist country and we have a free market. There is always a loophole to bypass the law. So, there is not much an individual can do about it.
3) The reason I chose this article is because it tells us what we are dealing with. Ageism is a serious problem, and it is a kind of problem that cannot be solved easily. It may take many years to find a solution to solve this problem, and it is possible that we may not stop it completely.
Angelina D.
Delete1. Upon reviewing Arlen’s response to “Too Much Experience to be Hired? Some Older Americans Face Age Bias,” I did agree with what he said. He stated that employers have their preferred qualifications for new hires because these help their bottom line. I believe this is true. An older employee may fight for better pay, knowing their experience is well beyond that of a 25 year-old. On the contrary, a younger person may not even know what an appropriate salary would be, allowing a company to low-ball them. I think this topic is known, but not spoken about openly. I think people expect for older generations to sit in a rocking chair sipping tea, not realizing these older generations still yearn to be connected to society. This is an important sociological topic because it involves older generations that are already beginning to feel separation from society. On top of losing touch with the times, they’re being forced out of the jobs they are comfortable in and know well. This is supported by the disengagement theory which would infer that society and older peoples sever ties eventualy.
2. As far as a sociological perspective goes, I would apply the functionalist perspective in a dysfunctional element. The functionalist perspective would say that society is balanced. It would say that all elements of society contribute to social stability. Unless they’re dysfunctional. I would say this type of discrimination would make a functional society, dysfunctional by excluding those members of advanced age from obtaining employment and eventually alienating these members of society. In a functional society, the inclusion of these older members would give an opportunity to share wisdom and knowledge to younger generations, contributing to the stability of society as a whole.
Raul Parra
ReplyDelete1) when one isnt' offered a job that they had applied for it becomes very easy for that person to come up with a world of excuses as to why they didn't get the job and occasionally being too old or overqualified may spring up as potential explanation, but in this article Ageism is demonstrated to be more than just conjectured justification. A recruiter from a tobacco company turned into a whistleblower when he released the guidelines he was given when seeking potential employees, this led to a multi-plaintiff lawsuit against the tobacco company. A study was conducted where several identical resumes were submitted to job openings with the only difference being the age of the applicant on the resume. The resume's with a younger age had a higher callback rate than those middle-aged and the middle-aged got a higher callback rate than the senior citizen aged resume's submitted.
The problem is that, though living a long life is truly a great thing and a privilege, this new study might be shining some light on an emerging problem that could potentially affect all of those fortunate to live long enough. People are living longer and retiring later in life, yet this isn't sufficient enough to sustain them when they actually do retire which leads to them seeking part time employment or other means of income. This may potentially lead to a rise in suicide rates among the elderly population caused by feelings of helplessness and continuous struggling until they pass away of natural causes. The older you get, the harder things will continue to get, contrary to what we were raised to believe as we had our hard earned money taxed with the expectation of relaxing at age 65.
2) A functionalist would argue that simply filtering out the older population does not make them nonexistent. IF we are fortunate enough then us too will live a long life, but by the way things are going currently we are also going to have to struggle to later find employment unless we are to do something about it now. Also, by hiring a range of ages , you get a variety of experience and knowledge that may have latent benefits interdependently. Where an elderly person may potentially not be as savvy with technology, a younger person may lack the experience to efficiently approach a goal or situation. we must invest in the plasticity of people, their ever amazing ability to adapt themselves to multiple situations and scenarios only adds to how universally applicable anyone is to anything in one form or another.
3) I think that this blog post highlights something that is merely a suspicion to most, the notion that the elderly tend to be underestimated. We now have at least a study that can be referred to when discussing ageism in the labor force. I chose this specific blog post because I have no significant elderly people in my life, but even so the issue discussed isn't one exclusive to those with elderly loved ones. we all love ourselves and even when we are old we will still love ourselves, if you're not doing this for other people then at least see it as an investment in your future when you're optimistically submitting resumes at age 69. This issue is very relevant to the field of sociology due to what may become a growing fear of getting old and general worriment of those elderly loved ones in our lives. The biggest luxury of being young is that we can make mistakes or endure hard times with the optimism of a better tomorrow, but when you've worked all your life, saved as much as possible, realize it wasn't enough and someone is blocking your only chance at fighting; you have nothing left.
Minami Y. assignment#4
DeleteIn response to Raul’s post, I agree with your comment because nowadays, people who are retiring are finding some difficulties to get hired. Therefore, those people are facing age discrimination while finding a job. As you wrote, although life expectancy has been longer than ever, the retirement age is earlier now. It means life which is after retirement will be longer. In addition, if people are not hired, they have nothing to do usually so they become farther to integrate within society. You wrote that “This may potentially lead to a rise in suicide rates among the elderly population caused by feelings of helplessness and continuous struggling until they pass away of natural causes.” stood out to me. I really think the same way because people apply a job to survive, eat and live. However, when they are not hired, they are stressed out and think in a negative way such as being left out from the society. It leads to that they may commit suicide, get a mental problem and so on. I choose to comment on this post because I was surprised that even though The U.S. does not have an age limit of working by law and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 was established, there is the age bias behind the people’s backs. In my opinion, the reason why a lot of companies have thought that they do not want to hire retirement people is they want to people who are on high level of technological things. These days, technology has been developed rapidly so many companies would like to hire the young people who can manage technology faster. In addition, there are even companies which operate to work without people such as unmanned factories. Hence, elder people are judged by recruiters even before they go to an interview. However, I think there are a lot of retirement people that are still energetic and no problem to work. They are also one of a member of our society, so we can work together to maintain and become better in this society. The article says older women are worse than older men about call-back rates after they send resume. In my opinion, still some people have gender role stereotyping. In this century, women work hard and many women are active about their work, so we should not think like men should work or women should do house work. It is not a time to conflict between retirement people and non-retirement people. We need to help each other and achieve our goals together.
2. I apply this article to conflict perspective since comparison with retirement people, young people are easy to get their job. It could say an unequal working system exists in this modern society. There are some patterns of conflict such as the conflict between recruiters and retirement people, and the conflict between elder people and young people. As I answer in the question no.1, companies would like to hire young people who can work flexibly with technology such as computers than elder people because they are much faster to memorize how to work. These conflict pattern make lead more complicated ageism. Retirement people are also one of the member of society, so they have a right to get a job. To be better society, the government need to back up the re-employment people. For example, the government ought to make facilities which retirement people can participate such as how to get used to computer at work shop. Even though current social problem makes us to oppose each other, it is actually drives force to change the better society.