Ageism In America Essay

Aging can prove to be a very intimidating problem in the life of an American citizen. The various social groups in the American society are handling the aging matter very differently. In this matter, there are three distinct social groupings that are of importance and they are inclusive of the low class, middle class and high class groupings. In all the groupings, aging is of great concern to them. The low classes including the peasants of the communities in America look at aging as a curse upon them considering that the conditions in which they are leading their lives are not favorable therefore; most of them fear the growing old. In this case, they are already struggling while they have the strength to do so and so growing old in those similar conditions is only to prolong the pains in their lives. Most of the low income families end up struggling to care for their elderly parents at home (Blanchard 2014).
The middle class societies are better off than the low class societies considering that they can fend for themselves properly. Despite this, there is still a concern for livelihood as they earn enough and not extra wage that can be used for other reasons other than caring for the family. Growing old is therefore a matter that is disheartening to them considering the extra baggage they will be on the family that is pretty average on the income level. The high class on the other hand possesses loads of extra income in their pockets and so can afford to serve the extra needs that their families have. On their side, growing old is simply not a big problem. In the American society, the aging are transferred to the nursing homes where the old are cared for as they should be, for both the middle and high class groups (Blanchard 2014).

Reference

Blanchard, J. Aging in Community: The Communitarian Alternative to Aging in Place, Alone. Journal of the American Society on Aging, American Society on Aging (ASA). 2 April 2014. Web. 25 March 2015. http://www.asaging.org/blog/aging-community-communitarian-alternative-aging-place-alone