Questions & Correct Answers
- Stereotypes generalize people into groupings or categories based on chronological age and
leads to an "us vs. them" mindset
- When groups of people are age separated, their networks are segregated and limit
opportunities to learn about other people
- This can lead to barriers which prevents older people from successfully finding employment
and other opportunities - correct answer ✔✔Ageism
- Older population is becoming increasingly diverse with a greater representation from
individuals of colour and those who identify as LGBTQ+
- Not evenly distributed worldwide - correct answer ✔✔Diversity of Elders
- Lifestyle choices of older adults mirror activities they engaged in when they were younger
adults, as long as they are financially and physically able to
- Travelling or owning a car may be a luxury to some since many older adults live on a fixed
income, such as pension or investment/RRSP
- Many older adults continue to work well into older age and/or are engaged in
volunteer/religious, and/or organizational activities daily
- Older adults also engage with technology and spend time watching TV, browsing the internet,
and/or streaming - correct answer ✔✔Lifestyle of Older Adults
A type of retirement plan that provides monthly income in retirement. - correct answer
✔✔Lifestyle of Older Adults: Pension
Registered retirement savings plan - correct answer ✔✔Lifestyle of Older Adults: RRSP
,- As an individual gets older, their social class shapes what is possible in old age, including the
option to decide how to spend one's time in work or retirement
- Social class is often a result of economic status
- Although net worth of older adults tends to be higher, those assets may not necessarily
translate to disposable income
- Older adults need about 80% of their preretirement income to maintain their standard of
living in retirement - correct answer ✔✔Social Class and Economic Status
- Canada pension and social security (USA)
- Other pensions
- Assets (interest-bearing savings and checking accounts, investments, home equity, and
personal property)
- Employment earnings
- Welfare (i.e. Ontario Works) -- Public assistance established to provide a minimum guaranteed
income for people living on the margin of poverty - correct answer ✔✔Social Class and
Economic Status: Major Sources of Income
- Refers to new "retirement jobs", placing emphasis on working by choice and for enjoyment
- Supplements income but also is a movement which includes non-profit groups and programs
that aim to help older workers find public service jobs that benefit society - correct answer
✔✔Changing Conceptions of Work and Retirement: Encore Careers
- May be offered to some older employees as a way to slowly transition from the workplace to
retirement
- Greater labour market diversity among the older population and greater variations in the
reasons for retirement, employment, and economic well-being - correct answer ✔✔Changing
Conceptions of Work and Retirement: Gliding Out
Also associated with age-related discrimination:
, - Failure to be offered training
- Change in status from senior manager position to managerial position with less authority
(even w/ same salary and benefits)
- Transfer, even with the same pay, to a dead-end job
- Gradual demotion by taking away job responsibilities
- Poor evaluation for same quality - correct answer ✔✔Changing Conceptions of Work and
Retirement: Gliding Out Continued
Older adults may have a difficult time in their employment search can be due to the following
reasons:
1) Their own or their employer's lack of confidence in their skills
2) Businesses assume that older adults have special needs and don't want to accommodate
them
3) Age-based employment discrimination persists (No longer competent to do the job)
4) Negative stereotypes about aging and productivity persists - correct answer ✔✔Older Adults
in the Workforce
- Serve to open up or close off roles that people of a given chronological age can play
- Assumptions made about age-related capacities and limitations - correct answer ✔✔Social
Gerontological Theory Basics: Age Norms
- Lifelong process by which individuals learn to perform new roles, adjust to changing roles,
relinquish old ones, learn a "social clock" of what is age appropriate and thereby become
integrated into society - correct answer ✔✔Social Gerontological Theory Basics: Socialization