SOCIOLOGY 339: SOCIOLOGY OF AGING

SYLLABUS---SPRING 2003

(January 21 - May 17, 2003)

Instructor: Dr. Yang Cai

Office: 4138 Arts Center

Telephone: 618-3624

Office Hours: Monday, 1:30 - 2:30pm, 4:30 - 5:30pm

Wednesday, 1:30 -2:30pm

Thursday, 12:00 - 1:00am and by appointment

Course meeting time and place: Monday, 7:00 - 9:30pm

6109 Academic Building

Course Description:

This course intends to help students understand the process of aging in a social context. The focus of the course is on the structural influence of society on individual decisions, values, behaviors, and experiences as we age. Since human aging does not occur in isolation, it is important to examine its interactions with the surrounding society, showing how we shape and are shaped by the social contexts in which we grow older. The goals of this course are: (1) to enhance students' ability to see the role of social forces in the individual experience of aging; (2) to help students understand how the dynamics of aging work to reshape the major institutions of society in critical ways.

Assigned Reading

Leslie Morgan and Suzanne Kunkel. 2001. Aging: The Social Context. Second Edition.

California: Pine Forge Press, A Sage Publications Company.

Recommended Optional Readings

Bengtson, Vern L., Kyong-Dong Kim, George C. Myers, and Ki-Soo Eun. 2000. Aging in East

and West: Families, Sates, and the Elderly. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Conner, Karen A. 2000. Continuing to Care: Older Americans and Their Families. New York:

Palmer Press.

Lechner, Viola M. and Margaret B. Neal. (eds.) 1999. Work and Caring for the Elderly:

International Perspectives. PA: Brunner/Mazel/Taylor & Francis Group.

Walker, Alexis J., Margaret Manoogian-O'Dell, Lori A. McGraw, and Diana L.G. White. 2001.

Families in Later Life: Connections and Transitions. CA: Pine Forge Press.

Wilson, Gail. 2000. Understanding Older Age: critical and global perspective. CA: SAGE

Publications.

Course Requirements

Attendance and participation: Class attendance is essential; some material will be covered only in lectures. Attendance will be taken at every class. Perfect attendance (no more than one absence) will add five points to your final grade. For every unexcused absence, you will lose one point on your final grade. Please read assigned reading before class meetings in order to get the most out of lectures and to participate in discussion. Participation in classroom discussion and in group activities, as well as group presentation will add another 15 points to your final grade. I encourage you to bring in news clippings or stories relevant to course topics.

Examinations: I will give TWO in-class exams. The exams are likely to include multiple choice and essay questions. I discourage make-up exams, and will give them only in extreme cases and with prior approval.

Project: I will assign one project (see Paper Requirements) during the semester. You may bring your paper to class or turn it in to my mailbox no later than 9:30pm on the due d y. If you submit your paper before the due date, you have the option to resubmit it with revisions before the end of the semester and improve your grade. Late paper will be downgraded one letter grade per day. Please keep a printed or xeroxed copy of your paper, even if you hand it to me in class.

Grading Exam #1 = 25%

Exam #2 = 25%

Project = 30%

Perfect attendance = 5%

Participation = 15%

Grading scale

95-100% A

90-92 A-

86-89 B+

83-85 B

80-82 B-

76-79 C+

70-75 C

66-69 D+

60-65 D

< 60 F

Other Policies

Any student who cheats on an exam or plagiarizes on a paper will receive a grade of "F" for the course. (See Caldwell College Code on Academic Integrity)

The following schedule is tentative. You are responsible for any changes announced in class.

Course Outline and Reading Assignments

1/27 Overview and requirements of the course

I. Understanding Aging: Frames of Reference

2/3 Chapter 1: "Aging and Society"

2/10 Chapter 2: "Studying Aging: Analytical Frames of Reference"

2/17 Presidents' Break

2/24 Chapter 3: "Aging People in an Aging World: Demographic Perspectives"

3/3 Review and Discussion of Paper

3/10 Chapter 6: "Sociological Perspectives on Aging"

3/17 Semester Break

3/24 *Mid-Term Exam*

3/31 Chapter 7: "Aging in Families"

4/7 Discussion of Paper

4/14 Chapter 8 "Employment and Retirement"

4/21 Chapter 9: "Economics and the Aging of Society"

4/28 Chapter 10: "Health and Health Care"

5/5 Project Presentation

5/5 *PAPER DUE*

5/12 *FINAL EXAM* (Monday, 7:00pm)

Spring 2003

DUE DATES: May 5, 2003

NO EXCEPTIONS

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to give you the opportunity 1) to learn about programs and services available to seniors, 2) to experience what it feels like trying to locate and determine eligibility for the programs and services, and 3) to help you apply some of the concepts discussed in the course.

Overview: For this project students will work in a group. Each group will be assigned a policy or program area: 1) housing; 2) community support services; 3) crime, fraud, abuse, and safety; 4) health care; and 5) income and employment. The group's goal is to locate as wide a variety of services and programs available to older persons and their caregiving families as possible. Each group will be asked to detail who is eligible for the various programs and services located and under what conditions, what the cost is, and how the services are delivered, administered, or obtained. Each group should end up with a comprehensive set of options. Last, the group will develop a proposal outlining what is missing in the policy area they covered, what needs to exist but does not or what is too expensive and needs to be provided more cheaply, for example. Each group will make a 20-30 minute professional presentation to the class, giving an overview of all services and programs located as well as a discussion of the policy proposals advocated.

Due Dates: 2/10 Introduction to problem area

3/3 List of programs and services to contact

4/17 Findings

4/21 Missing services and services/programs needing improvement

4/28 Policy recommendations

5/5 Final project

Class presentation

Project outline: The following offers some guidelines on how to complete each section of the project.

Introduction to the problem area

In this first part of the project provide an overview of the problem area, introducing the reader to the situations and needs that exist in the New York / New Jersey area. As you define the problem, you are essentially determining which sorts of services or programs you will then try to locate in the next few sections of the project. Thus, be very careful in how you set up this part of the project.

This section of the project should try to include the following information: identify and describe the problems (e.g., unaffordable housing, deteriorating housing…), suggest for whom in the elderly population these problems exist, and present any available statistics to support your points. You are required to use at least SIX scholarly sources. The concluding portion of the introduction should provide a transition into the next section of the paper (e.g., the kinds of services or programs that might be needed to deal with these problems of old age).

Note: To adequately present and discuss the problem area, this section should be a minimum of at least two pages in length.

List of program and service contacts

This portion of the project is a brainstorming exercise. The group should first list all conditions and problems identified in the previous section. Next to each of these conditions and problems, the group should identify all services and programs they can find (through phone books, the Internet, word of mouth, previous experience, etc.), that might alleviate the problems listed. Identify as many services and programs as possible, but, in general, you will want to limit yourself to the New York and New Jersey area. In some cases, however, you will be contacting national organizations or programs.

Be as creative as you can in thinking about possible contacts. Do not limit yourself to well-known public or non-profit programs and services. Explore small operations, private companies, less known options and so on. Try what you might consider to be non-traditional resources as well (such as churches, women's or men's clubs, or the YMCA).

At this point in the project, you should be trying to fill in phone numbers, mailing addresses, e-mail or Internet addresses, and so on. Pull together as much information as possible to cut down on your legwork once the "data collection" begins.

Finally, you should indicate how these resources will be contacted: by phone, e-mail/Internet, in-person, mail, and by whom in the group.

Findings

This is one of the most important sections of the project and will require your greatest amount of effort. Work very carefully on this.

Group members will begin calling and contacting all of the services and programs you have identified in part two of the project. You may have to call all senior centers, elderly information lines, state offices, or local chapters of interest groups representing various organizations or diseases to gather your "data." In some cases you may need to go to the library and look through reference books and in other cases you may want to request that organizations and agencies send you information in the mail (NOTE: contact these places first). Be sure to try and locate information on the Internet since many organizations and most government agencies have their own websites.

For each place you contact, you will be asking them what services are available for whatever condition of problem is that you are inquiring about. Ask them who is eligible for the service or program, how it is funded or what it costs, how long the service will be provided and how often, for whom, etc. Ask whatever questions are important and specific for the various programs and services and under what conditions, what the cost is, and how the services are delivered, administered, or obtained.

This portion of the project will seem tedious and frustrating at times. Don't give up! Be persistent and keep making phone calls or drop-in visits until your group either finds out the information or has exhausted all resources and has not found an answer.

The writ-up of for this section of the project will be lengthy and will involve detailing, STEP BY STEP, the procedures you went through to locate information and the information obtained.

Missing services and services/programs needing improvements

In this short section of the project, the group will identify any gaps in services or programs available and will indicate what it was expected group members would be able to find but were unable to locate. In the write-up, you should also discuss any services and/or programs that you feel need improvement (either because of the way the service is delivered or how people are admitted to it, for example).

Policy recommendations

In this final section of the project, the group will put forth a set of policy recommendations. These will indicate a desirable course of action for policy makers, program administrators, city or state planners, businesses, aging advocates, or other parties that may play a role in serving and helping the elderly and their caregiving families in the group's problem area. Keep in mind that these recommendations should be politically feasible.

Final project report

Your final project report will simply pull together the above five sections. The following sections should be clearly identified in the report:

I. Introduction to the Problem Area

II. List of Program and Service Contacts

III. Findings

IV. Missing Services and Services/Programs Needing Improvement

V. Policy Recommendations

Note: 1) Each section of the project that you hands in should be typed and double-spaced. Each time a new section is handed in; you should also hand in the previous parts of the project with my comments on them. This will help to remember the specifics of each particular project.

2) The final report should incorporate any revisions I have suggested throughout the semester and it should be consistent and have a good "flow" between sections. Remember that it is now a report and is no longer a series of sections, so the five parts should fit together nicely. Careful proofreading and editing will ensure a high-quality final product.

Class presentation

Each group will give a professional 20-30 minute presentation of their project to the class. In the presentation, the group will briefly discuss each of the five areas in the report. Preferably, each group member would be responsible for a section of the presentation. Although this is a professional presentation, groups can approach it creatively and use whatever technique to convey their information to the class.

Other policies

- All papers must be typed and double-spaced (not 1.5 spaced or triple-spaced), no

exceptions. All papers are to be no more than twelve (12) pages.

- Footnotes should be used properly. You can use footnotes, endnotes or notes within text.

If you do not use citations you are plagiarizing. If you plagiarize you will receive a

failing grade.

Appropriate style of footnotes/endnotes and references are required. I prefer the ASA style of author's last name; year of publication and page number in parentheses for citations in the text, which eliminates the need for footnotes and endnotes. I also prefer the reference format of the ASA. For students who are not using the ASA format, I recommend that you purchase either the APA Publication Manual or the Modern Language Association Handbook from the college bookstore. Both these manuals explain how to format appropriate style of footnotes/endnotes and references. If you do not use citations you are plagiarizing. If you plagiarize you will receive a failing grade.