Compare historical and contemporary perspectives on age
What will be an ideal response?
People are assigned to different roles and positions based on the age structure and role structure in a particular society. Age structure is the number of people of each age level within the society; role structure is the number and type of positions available to them.
Over the years, the age continuum has been chopped up into finer and finer points. Two hundred years ago, people divided the age spectrum into "babyhood," a very short childhood, and then adulthood. What we consider "childhood" today was quite different two hundred years ago, when agricultural societies needed a large number of strong arms and backs to work on the land to ensure survival. When 95 percent of the population had to be involved in food production, categories such as toddlers, preschoolers, preteens, teenagers, young adults, the middle-aged, and older persons did not exist. If the physical labor of young people is necessary for society's survival, then young people are considered "little adults" and are expected to act like adults and do adult work. Older people are also expected to continue to be productive for the benefit of the society as long as they are physically able.
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As more minorities enter high-status jobs,
they are confronted by new forms of discrimination in the form of __________ that limit their access to top-level jobs. A) fake jobs B) glass escalators C) job ceilings D) glass elevators
Native Americans often remain largely unassimilated into mainstream American life
Indicate whether the statement is true or false
Precision and accuracy are synonyms
Indicate whether the statement is true or false
______ argued that racial inequality was in part due to the fact that African Americans could easily be distinguished visually.
A. Max Weber B. Émile Durkheim C. W. E. B. Du Bois D. Karl Marx