Inequalities Based on Age (AQA GCSE Sociology)

What is age?

• There are different ways of looking at age:

  • Chronological age

    • This means simply how long they have been alive

    • For example, someone born in 2010 would be 14 years old in 2024

    • Chronological age determines your rights and responsibilities, such as learning to drive and being able to vote

  • Biological age

    • This means looking at age in biological terms

    • A person's age may be related to the physical changes taking place in their bodies

    • For example, the average age puberty begins in girls is 11 and the average age of menopause is 51

    • Biological changes are linked to chronological age

  • Age as a social category

    • Sociologists explore how age is seen in social terms

    • We may have different expectations of people and treat them differently depending on their age

    • For example, we may be surprised that an 80-year-old runs marathons and that a 4-year-old likes to knit

Childhood and power

• The experience of childhood has changed over time

  • In medieval times, children over the age of 5 were seen as small adults who took part in the adult world

    • Children and adults had the same status

  • In the 19th century, child labour was the norm among working-class families

    • For example, children worked long hours in cotton mills, factories and coal mines due to poverty

• There have been many legal changes relating to the education and employment of children

  • This means that the status of children has changed historically

    • Children now have a different status from adults

  • Childhood is seen as a separate stage to youth and adulthood

    • Children are regarded as dependent and vulnerable

    • Laws protect them against exploitation in the workplace

• However, expectations surrounding childhood vary between cultures

  • The line separating childhood from adulthood is less distinct in other cultures

    • Some children must take care of themselves and act like adults at work

Power relationships

• The family is an agency of social control in which parents or guardians are authority figures

  • They are supposed to be in charge of their children and discipline them when needed

  • Attempting to control their children's behaviour against their will is an example of parental power

• Traditionally, parents were powerful figures in families and children had few rights

  • Since the 1950s, there has been a shift of power and attention towards children in working-class families (Cunningham, 2007)

  • Parents and children have more equal or democratic relationships

  • It is now recognised that children have rights within families

Youth & inequality

• Youth is an important stage of development in which individuals transition from the status of a child to an adult, which involves:

  • increasing independence from families

  • moving out of the family home

  • finishing full-time education

  • moving into full-time employment

  • gaining more power and status in society

• Researchers believe that 'teenagers' emerged as a social category in the 1950s

Factors affecting the transition between childhood and adulthood

• Financial factors

  • Many young people continue to be financially dependent on their parents into their 20s and beyond

  • Full-time students may live at home because they cannot afford to live independently

  • Many boomerang children are returning home after university to live with their parents due to student debt, low income and poor housing

• Gender, ethnicity, social class and location

  • The unemployment rate for young people aged 16-24 years is higher than for older groups

    • Between July and September 2011, 16.9% of all 16-24 years in the UK were not in education, employment or training (NEETs)

    • Between April and June 2016, the proportion was lower at 11.7%

    • Between July and September 2024, the proportion of NEETs increased to 13.2%

    • Those from some ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely than others to experience unemployment

  • Some young people's access to secure employment or to higher education is limited by their lack of educational qualifications

    • Many young people without qualifications are likely to find work in only low-paid, insecure jobs or zero-hours contract work

  • Some young people may receive financial help from their families when going to university or during unpaid internships

    • Others may not be able to understand unpaid work experience

  • Some young people benefit from an expensive, elite education

    • Others have no choice over which secondary school they attend

Young people and power

• Teachers exercise power to enforce school rules over students based on their position within the school structure

  • This is limited to particular school contexts

  • Not all students conform to the school rules or authority structure, particularly those that belong to a deviant subculture

• Teachers may exercise a form of authority based on their charisma

  • Such teachers inspire their students

• Relationships between teachers and their students have changed over time

  • They have become more informal and democratic

  • Legal changes mean that teachers no longer have the power to use corporal punishment

  • By law, schools must now take students' views into account when deciding on policies that affect them

Older age & inequality

• Aspects of older age in modern Britain, such as retirement and pensions. are relatively recent developments

  • State pensions were introduced in 1908, before which people worked until they were physically unable to

  • Retirement has only been the norm in Britain since the mid-20th century

• The status of older people varies between cultures

  • In Britain, ageing is often seen as something to be avoided

  • In other cultures, older age is seen as something to look forward to

Inequalities continue to exist

• Ageism or age discrimination is when a person is treated differently and less favourably on the basis of their age

  • In the year ending 31st March 2011, 6,800 claims were filed with Employment Tribunals in Britain for age discrimination

    • This reduced to 3,700 at the end of March 2012

• Young people and older people tend to be more vulnerable to ageism than other groups

  • They may experience negative stereotyping based on their age

  • People in their 50s and 60s may be denied promotion because their employer believes they are too old to learn new skills

• There are regulations against age discrimination in employment and training

  • The Equality Act 2010 protects people from age discrimination, for example, at work and when accessing services in places like hotels and gyms

• The social position of older people varies between individuals and groups

  • It depends on whether they are 'young old' (65-74 years), 'middle old' (75-84 years) or 'old old' (85 years and over)

  • Some experience poverty, while others enjoy an affluent lifestyle with a high-status position in society

    • People who retire with an occupational pension are likely to enjoy a good standard of living

    • Those relying on a state pension are more vulnerable to poverty

  • Age and poverty may be linked to social divisions such as gender, ethnicity and class

    • For example, the life chances of an elderly, working-class, widowed black women may be much worse than those of a newly retired, middle-class, married white man

    • Middle-class men are more likely than other groups to have built up an occupational pension