On the Significance of Age in Sociology

Riley, Matilda White

doi:10.2307/2095388

Cited by 424Aging and Gerontology ResearchContemporary Sociological Theory and PracticeAging, Elder Care, and Social Issues

On the Significance of Age in Sociology

Riley, Matilda White·1987·American Sociological Review

DOI 10.2307/2095388

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Life course sociology offers insights into how age operates as a system of inequality.
“Another area of sociological scholarship-life course sociology-also offers insights into how age operates as a system of inequality.”
From Centering Age Inequality: Developing a Sociology-of-Age Framework (2022) · cites this paper as Riley 1987
Life course sociology highlights age as a social category, as indicated by its focus on age, cohort, and generational groups.
“It highlights age as a social category, as indicated by its focus on age, cohort, and generational groups (e.g., Dannefer 2003, Elder 1975, Elder et al. 2003, Riley 1987, Settersten 2017), and while it often fails to draw an explicit link between these categories and age inequality, it nevertheless lays theoretical groundwork by orienting to age as a meaningful dimension of difference.”
From Centering Age Inequality: Developing a Sociology-of-Age Framework (2022) · cites this paper as Riley 1987

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“Examples of these perspectives include age stratification (Riley, 1987) and gender stratification (Huber, 1990).”
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“Theoretically, individuals live their lives in particular birth cohorts that are structured by unique opportunities, constraints, and normative contexts (Carlson 2008; Crimmins and Finch 2006; Easterlin 1980; Pampel 2005; Riley 1987; Ryder 1965).”
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“There is surely a segment of people who would be hard pressed to imagine giving up their justly deserved period of leisure at the end of years of productive labor (Riley, 1998).”
Background
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“…institutions, at least for most white-collar and unionized blue-collar men, a linear, lockstep process beginning with a period of education, followed by years of continuous full-time paid work, and then by a permanent exit from the workforce (Kohli, 2007; Moen & Roehling, 2005; Riley, 1987).”
Background
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“These hypotheses were presaged in Matilda White Riley’s work on individual ageing and social change (Dannefer et al. 2005; Riley 1987; Riley, Foner and Waring 1988).”
Method
Act Your Age
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Cheng, S., & Song, X. (2019) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/0003122419884497 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
“Therefore, the reproduction of economic inequality operates along the family line partly through the intergenerational transmission process and partly through the long-lasting intragenerational accumulation process (Cheng 2014; DiPrete and Eirich 2006; Riley 1987; Warren et al. 2002).”
Background
Beyond the Career Mystique: “Time In,” “Time Out,” and “Second Acts”
Moen, P. (2005) · Sociological Forum · doi:10.1007/s11206-005-4100-8 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Theoretical Perspectives on the Sociology of Aging
Marshall, V. W., & Bengtson, V. (2011) · Handbooks of sociology and social research · doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-7374-0_2 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Childhood as Generation or Life Phase?
Närvänen, A., & Nasman, E. (2004) · doi:10.1177/1103308804039637 · Cited by 54
The Changing Social Construction of Age and the Life Course: Precarious Identity and Enactment of “Early” and “Encore” Stages of Adulthood
Mortimer, J. T., & Moen, P. (2015) · Handbooks of sociology and social research · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-20880-0_5 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Generational Conflict Or Methodological Artifact?
Fullerton, A. S., & Dixon, J. C. (2010) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nfq043 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Where people live and die makes a difference: Individual and geographic disparities in well-being progression at the end of life.
Gerstorf, D., Ram, N., Goebel, J., Schupp, J., Lindenberger, U., & Wagner, G. G. (2010) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/a0019574 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
“Theoretical accounts of developmental contextualism propose that individuals live in contexts that provide both affordances and limitations for individual development (Baltes, 1987; Elder, 1974; Lerner & Kauffman, 1985; Magnusson, 1996; Riley, 1987).”
Value Change and Demographic Behaviour in the Czech Republic
Rabušic, L. (2001) · Czech Sociological Review · doi:10.13060/00380288.2001.37.11.15 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
“Later on, Riley [1987] expressed the view that cohorts actually contributed to social change on the basis”
Background
Generational categories: A broken basis for human resource management research and practice
Parry, E., & Urwin, P. J. (2021) · Human Resource Management Journal · doi:10.1111/1748-8583.12353 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Towards a Social Bioarchaeology of Age
Sofaer, J. R. (2011) · doi:10.1002/9781444390537.ch10 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
The Invisibility of Age: Gender and Class in Later Life
Arber, S., & Ginn, J. (1991) · doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.1991.tb02981.x · Cited by 50

Authors: Riley, M. W.
Corresponding author: Riley, Matilda White
Venue: American Sociological Review
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 1987-02
Volume: 52
Issue: 1
Pages: 1
ISSN: 0003-1224 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.2307/2095388
OpenAlex: W1969819482
Cited by: 424
References: 0
Citations by year: 2026: 11 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 16
FWCI: 13.66
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: American Sociological Review (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice
Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
Keywords: age, aging, age differences, age groups

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