Page 165 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

50 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

So often people say that we should look to elderly, learn from their wisdom, their many years. I
disagree, I say we should look to the young: untarnished, without stereotypes implanted in
their minds, no poison, no hatred in their hearts.When we learn to see life through the eyes of
a child, that is when we become truly wise. • Mother Theresa (1910–1997)

Pearson, M. N. (1998). Port cities and intruders:The Swahili coast, India, Many social roles are determined or available based on
and Portugal in the early modern era. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Uni- age. Events in the life cycle, such as education, employ-
versity Press.
Stavrianos, L. S. (1998). A global history: From prehistory to the 21st cen- ment, marriage, and birth, are based on age; thus, the
tury (7th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. social roles that accompany those events are directly
Toynbee,A.J (1947).A study of history. New York: Oxford University Press.
related to age. The appropriate age range for life-cycle
events varies between cultures and through time. Age
ranges may be relatively broad or relatively narrow. The
expression “acting one’s age” derives from societal expec-
Age Stratification tations that certain behaviors are appropriate only to cer-

tain ages.
ocieties stratify (differentiate) their members by a
Svariety of criteria, such as age, gender, race, and Age Integration
class.Age stratification—along with gender stratification and Segregation
—may be the oldest criteria for differentiation, resulting Age integration joins members of different age strata,
in the formation of roles and social statuses based on age. whereas age segregation separates groups of people and
People are born into an age cohort, which is all those differentiates their social roles. In the United States after
people born during the same time interval (usually a five- the American Revolution, poor older people lived in age-
or ten-year interval).The age cohorts in a particular soci- integrated almshouses. Co-residence of older parents
ety at a particular time represent all the age strata. Each and adult children is an age-integrated practice more
society has an age structure, which is composed of age common today in Asian than in Western cultures. During
strata and associated roles. Population trends, such as the twentieth century age-segregated housing arrange-
increasing life expectancy during the twentieth century ments among older adults became quite popular in the
and decreasing fertility in industrialized countries, affect United States. Some studies show that when older adults
the number of persons in each age stratum. Members of are congregated in housing facilities, greater opportuni-
an age stratum share certain aspects of life, such as a past, ties may exist for age integration with the local com-
present, and future. For example, a person who was age munity.
thirty in 1940 in the United States lived through World Age stratification affects all parts of the life cycle. For
War I and the Great Depression and was in the midst of example, among the Tiriki and Irigwe people of East and
World War II. West Africa, old men are accorded privileges and status
Each society has a distinctive way of structuring roles based on having had sons who produced grandchildren.
based on age. Biology partially determines how roles, At the other end of the life cycle, uninitiated Tiriki boys
such as the role of parent, are structured, but the great are socially part of the same group as children of both
variety of age-related roles and behaviors attests to the genders and women, separated from adult men. In Aztec-
social and historical construction of age structuring. Peo- era village life, historical accounts report, older males had
ple move through an age stratum, such as infancy or old the unique roles of speechmaker and preparer of corpses,
age, in roles and statuses related to that age stratum. As and older women were midwives and arranged mar-
people pass through the life cycle, they change. At the riages. Both groups were permitted to drink in public, a
same time, the social structure consisting of roles, privilege not extended to other age strata.
cohorts, and institutions changes. Elements of culture,
such as the socially determined segments of a life cycle or Kinship Systems
the perceptions of what is appropriate for persons of var- Age stratification intersects with gender and kinship sys-
ious ages, change as well. tems. Since the beginning of agriculture unilineal (tracing