Week 8 study guide

Age-adaptive brands (pg. 476)

age-adaptive brands, are brands that are more functional in nature and help seniors to recognize age-related issues and proactively adjust to the effects of aging.

Universal design (pg. 470)

A positive element here is the emergence of so-called universal design for appliances, household devices, and other consumer products, as well as interior architecture (Steinfeld & Maisel, 2012). By making products accessible for people with disabilities, the same products can become easier to use for the whole population.

Branding, (pg. 475)

Age branding is the creation of brands that are targeted to older consumers, such as AARP or Sun City. Given the demographic shifts taking place in the United States, age branding is a strategy that will continue to grow in importance.

Age-affirmative brands (pg. 478)

Age-affirmative brands are brands that promise us a positive benefit linked to age. Age-affirmative brands do not ignore or deny age but instead focus on elements we can celebrate and affirm. Age-affirmative branding conveys a message of hope and positive aging. Some marketers are beginning to see this as an opportunity in a time of demographic change. One way to accomplish this goal is to carefully construct the brand's personality to make certain that it reflects the personality of the consumer. To create a long-lasting relationship with aging consumers, then, age-affirmative brands need to highlight the positive facets of aging and speak to older consumers in a tone that is credible.

Aging interest groups (pg. 324)

Age-based movements again appeared in the United States in the 1960s. Today, the most prominent of these is AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, now the country's largest voluntary organization of older people. Founded in 1958 as an outgrowth of the National Retired Teachers Association, the AARP today is open to anyone over the age of 50. AARP provides a range of services and benefits to members, such as health and life insurance, prescription drugs, and travel service (Lynch, 2011). Its magazine is one of the most widely read periodicals in the United States. AARP is joined by other important aging interest groups, such as the National Council on Aging, the Gerontological Society of America, the American Society on Aging, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Age effects (pg. 445)

Aging effects are those described earlier in this book, especially in Controversy 2 (Why Do Our Bodies Grow Old?). Chronological age effects are familiar to us all. They are effects brought about by the physiological process of aging, along with social responses by others to those effects. For example, people get gray hair, and reserve capacity tends to diminish. Declining vision or hearing may be age-associated changes, and there will be responses to those changes by other people.

Cohort effects (pg. 445)

Aging effects are those described earlier in this book, especially in Controversy 2 (Why Do Our Bodies Grow Old?). Chronological age effects are familiar to us all. They are effects brought about by the physiological process of aging, along with social responses by others to those effects. For example, people get gray hair, and reserve capacity tends to diminish. Declining vision or hearing may be age-associated changes, and there will be responses to those changes by other people.

Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid outlays as % of Gross Domestic Product (pg. 326)

Currently, Medicare spending as a share of the gross domestic product is approximately 3.6 and is projected to continue to increase into the future (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2015).

Mandatory retirement (legality of...; pg. 412)

Earlier criticism of mandatory retirement at a fixed age led to legal abolition of the practice in 1986. Mandatory retirement is still permitted for high-level executives in private industry and for jobs where age is a bona fide occupational qualification. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 forbids older workers from being limited or treated in any way that would harm their employment possibilities. Nonetheless, most observers recognize that age discrimination in the workplace remains widespread. Yet empirical studies have not shown older workers to be less effective in their job performance (Shea & Haasen, 2005).

Age-denial brands (pg. 476)

Every age-denial brand, explicitly or not, appeals to the illusion of Peter Pan, to the fantasy of never growing up and never becoming old. Denying one's age involves seeking out brands such as Botox that help older consumers look young. Importantly, successful age-denial brands have recognized that the purchase of these age-denial brands may also be accompanied by information-processing strategies that help older consumers also feel young.

Generational equity (pg. 327)

Furthermore, the most successful aging programs have all been based on a presumption of need or dependency. Both Social Security and Medicare arose from a "permissive consensus" that depicted the aged as weak, needy, and dependent (Hudson, 1978). That image is what Kalish (1979) called the "failure model" of old age. To the extent that older Americans today are healthier, better educated, and more affluent, the permissive consensus is likely to be eroded (Binstock, 1985). Related to this point is the issue of generational equity. Older adults already receive a substantial portion of the federal budget and will likely receive more as the retired population grows. At the same time, federal expenditures on children and families have decreased.

Age-irrelevant brands (pg. 477)

If the older consumer market is growing, what would be more natural than to pitch products directly to older people as such? In fact, explicit appeals linked to age can be a disaster, as many examples confirm.

Older people and voting (pg. 325)

Is "Gray Power," then, a reality? Political scientists who have studied the matter tend to argue that aging interest groups are not all that effective except in preventing cuts in popular programs, such as Social Security (Binstock, 1972). Voting in high numbers does not necessarily guarantee political results (Binstock, 2006-2007). Other analysts have found that, over time, participation in politics and government programs actually reinforce each other. Perhaps the best example is Social Security, which helped transform older people from a vulnerable group in society to the most politically active age group, at least as measured by voting rates. In that respect, public policy has profoundly influenced the role of citizenship in an aging society (Campbell, 2003).

Are baby boomers a homogenous group? (pg. 448)

No, Despite the tendency to talk about the boomers and other older generations as if they are homogeneous groups, given previous discussions in this book, you probably won't be surprised to hear that the older adult market is composed of distinct segments, whether based on age, cohort, or other characteristics.

Townsend Movement/Ham and Eggs Movement (pg. 324)

One of the first groups established was the Townsend Movement, founded in 1934 to eliminate old-age poverty and stimulate the economy (Holtzman, 1963). Some scholars believe that the Townsend Movement was influential in the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935, which marked the birth of a federal government policy on aging. A similar group was the colorfully named "Ham and Eggs Movement," also based in California, which urged a pension for those over age 50 who were unemployed (Putnam, 1970). The passage of Social Security and the end of the Great Depression caused these age-based movements to go into eclipse. Social Security grew during the 1940s and 1950s, although not in response to political pressure or social upheaval.

Needs-based benefits (pg. 327)

Rates of homelessness, poverty, malnutrition, and poor health have increased among younger Americans. Is it fair or wise to continue distributing benefits on the basis of age alone, or do we need to take a more needs-based benefits approach? The great strength of social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare has been universality and egalitarianism.

Means testing (pg. 326)

Social Security and Medicare have grown rapidly because they have been available on the basis of age alone, without means testing. These programs serve all older adults without reference to need. In fact, beneficiaries of this spending are mostly the middle-class older adults, not the poor. Even more affluent older adults collect Social Security because they paid into it.

Baby Boomers (years born, how many are there, their traits; pg. 443)

Some facts are clear. There were 77 million people born in the United States between the years 1946 and 1964, and this group of people is generally referred to as the generation of the boomers. We can see this group graphically displayed as a bulge in the population pyramid featured in Exhibit 51. Aging boomers have a strong hold on political power in the United States, symbolized by the fact that two boomers, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, were the Democratic and Republican candidates for president in 2016. Moreover, 80% of all state governors and more than 60% of U.S. senators are boomers. Boomers also have most of the financial assets. Americans over age 50 hold nearly two thirds of the total net worth among U.S. households, according to the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act (pg. 323, 412)

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 forbids older workers from being limited or treated in any way that would harm their employment possibilities. Nonetheless, most observers recognize that age discrimination in the workplace remains widespread. Yet empirical studies have not shown older workers to be less effective in their job performance. A key breakthrough was the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which gave protection to older workers; it was significantly expanded in 1978.

History of retirement (have people always retired at age 65?; pg. 403)

Widespread retirement by workers became possible only after the industrial revolution of the 19th century (Costa, 1998). It was Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck who first introduced age 65 as the basis for a pension. By the early 20th century, many European countries began to institutionalize retirement through government pension systems. The United States followed with Social Security in 1935, a law that made leaving the labor force much more attractive to people. In 1890, 68% of men ages 65 and older were in the labor force, but that proportion dropped to 54% in 1930. In 1950, after improvements in Social Security, the number of older men in the labor force dropped further to 46% and continued to decline to less than 17% in 1989.

Senior Centers (pg. 323)

Among the key service programs under the OAA are senior centers, which have grown from the first, founded in 1943, to more than 11,000, according to the National Institute of Senior Centers (n.d.). Despite that growth, OAA programs reach only a tiny proportion of Americans over age 65—at most, 5% to 10%.

Aging market sectors (pg. 466)

As the new aging marketplace expands in the years to come, certain market sectors are likely to grow faster. These sectors, which we may term silver industries, include the following: Financial services. As noted, older consumers control the vast majority of financial assets. Banking, brokerage, investment, and insurance services are all likely to grow in the years ahead. Health care. Rates of chronic illness increase with advancing age, and health care spending rises with age, too. Aging boomers may be especially interested in products such as vitamins and supplements, which are promoted as preventing disease. Travel and hospitality. The cruise industry has long understood that retirees are a key segment of its business. Others in the travel business are looking eagerly at the market now, too. Retirement housing. Traditional retirement communities such as Sun City, Arizona, are being overtaken by new growth in "active adult" communities. Only a small number of people actually move at the point of retirement, but recent retirees can be a significant market share in some parts of the country (Wolf & Longino, 2005). Those who stay in their own homes may be customers for home adaptive products and services (Lawlor & Thomas, 2008).

Period effects (pg. 445)

Period effects are those affecting all age groups in society at the same time: for example, the change in communications prompted by the Internet and e-mail beginning in the 1990s. In the year 1995, such a period effect probably had a different impact on, say, a 5-year-old, whose entire life experience would be to take the Internet for granted, than it did on, say, an 80-year-old, for whom learning about e-mail might be a novelty and a challenge. Although members of all age cohorts are exposed to the same period effects, the influence of these effects is modified by where in the life course one happens to be due to chronological age. Thus, period effects continue to shape our common life: For example, the political world changed in many ways after September 11, 2001.

Aging network (pg. 323)

The OAA, first passed in 1965 and amended in 1973, created a national aging network of services for older people, such as nutrition programs, senior citizen and older adult community centers, and information and referral services (Niles-Yokum & Wagner, 2014). A key element of the aging network is local Area Agencies on Aging, generally based in city or county government and responsible for planning and organizing services to older people in that region.

Labor force participation rates (pg. 402, 403, 409)

The United States followed with Social Security in 1935, a law that made leaving the labor force much more attractive to people. In 1890, 68% of men ages 65 and older were in the labor force, but that proportion dropped to 54% in 1930. In 1950, after improvements in Social Security, the number of older men in the labor force dropped further to 46% and continued to decline to less than 17% in 1989. Exhibit 46 shows the major trends over the period from 1990 through 2006.

Generation (pg. 444)

The term generation is often used very loosely, as part of a narrative to make sense of relationships among people of different ages (Edmunds & Turner, 2002). But we need to be more precise if we want to understand what the aging of baby boomers will mean in the future. The term generation can mean several different things: It can mean a group of people born in a certain time period (e.g., the GI generation or children of the Great Depression). The term generation can also refer to people who are a certain age at a single point in time (e.g., the older generation or young people today). We use the technical term cohort to speak about people born in a certain time period (e.g., between 1946 and 1964). To draw objective conclusions about who the boomers are, we can make use of what is known as the age-period-cohort analysis in epidemiology and demography (Yang & Landman, 2013). Boomers as a group will be influenced by each of these different factors: age, period, and cohort.

Entitlement programs like Social Security (pg. 328)

There are yet other ways to look at poverty rates in later life. Here again we see the impact of successful entitlement programs. If we were to ignore all government cash transfer programs, such as Social Security, then approximately 40% of Americans ages 65 and older would fall below the poverty line (National Academy of Social Insurance, n.d.). This is another way of stating how important Social Security has been in preventing late-life poverty.

Pig in a Python (pg. 365; see aging pyramid, pg. 444)

This is a phenomenon demographers call the "pig in the python" pattern, that is, a big bulge in an otherwise skinny snake—or the age distribution—a bulge that moves along as baby boomers grow older.

Congregate Housing Services Act (pg. 322, 323)

people has been the direct provision of social services. The Congregate Housing Services Act of 1978 brought housing and social services for the aged together, an important step for long-term-care policy. The enactment of comprehensive social service programs was made possible by the OAA in 1965.