The Sociology of Cougars

I'm not precisely sure why this is my third or fourth post on the cougar phenomenon, but I've finally stumbled upon an article in the NY Times this morning that offers a much deeper, social-scientific and demographically intelligent look at the issue.  Television and other forms of popular media, it seems, resemble a bunch of insecure cool kids, nervously poking, prodding and jesting at this or that aberration that makes them feel just a touch uncomfortable, just a touch less sure of themselves.  Beyond the pop-cultural smokescreen of Cougar-dome, we have a major shift in demographics, marriage patterns, and a rise in confident, educated and (perhaps newly) single women who are more likely to transcend boundaries not only of age, but of class, religion, and race.  


Sharon Caron, who has conducted studies on the phenomenon, notes that the days when women to defer to older, wealthier men for support--the old idea of a 'kept' woman--are coming to a close. And men are more comfortable with women as the higher wage-earner as well.  All of this stuff about demographic shifts and cultural enlightenment, however, is not going to pack a theater or boost the ratings.  Leave it to television to take progress and and isolate it as potentially pernicious peculiarity.  

A Thoroughly Modern Malady

(click on comic to enlarge!)








Oh Cathy, you’re the woman of all women! You tell us how it is. My dear, I do agree. How it is… is thrifty. ‘Tis the state of the modern lady in uncertain times. Sorry times call for strong lines.

Your bold words make me wonder just how much economic times define the modern woman. If this fad continues, the modern woman’s way of life will be changing as much as her choice of shoes. So what to make of the modern woman’s image? If my great-grandkids were to borrow books about the modern woman’s style, I don’t know if there’d be enough room to explain every style change. What a strange thought! Is there nothing that can describe the modern me? There was the 1950s mom of apple pie, the 1970s mom of free love, and now, the 2000s Brittany Spears, Coach, Target, Wal-Mart, wallets, working mom of…?

Youth, the Media, and Rock and Roll

Americans spend an estimated $13 to 14 billion a year on Botox. Forbes publishes an annual list of the best-paid celebrities under 30. And on the current list of the top 10 best selling songs on iTunes, only one artist is over the age of 30 (that would be rapper/producer Jay-Z, coming in at the ancient age of 39). So what’s driving this American obsession with youth in the entertainment industry? Since when does experience constitute success less than age?

In the coming weeks, I hope to explore the roots behind western fascination with youth, with a particular emphasis on how this obsession impacts the entertainment industry. I hope to explore when and where the youth obsession started (if you can target that at all) as well as the overall trends of the fascination (i.e. have there been historical times when the media has become more focused on young individuals, or when young performers seem to thrive?)

I first became interested in the topic of American reverence of youth while reading a book on evolutionary psychology. In their book, Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters, authors Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa challenge the assumption that the media perpetuates our need to feel young, and instead assert that it’s our very biology as humans that has hardwired us toward this inclination. After reading countless articles blaming the media for people’s need to feel young and sexy, I started wondering which it was- nature or nurture? I hope to explore more on this topic during the course of my research.

Depression among the elderly??

"Why don't my children care about me anymore?" "Has everyone forgot about me?" "Am I no longer important to my family?" These types of negative questions are typically a manifestation of depression among the senior citizen population, especially in America. According to this recent article "approximately 6 million American age 65 and older suffer from depression. Among them, only 10 percent receive proper treatment." Typical symptoms of depression include sadness, fillings of guilt, insomnia, social withdrawal, inability to enjoy activities that were once pleasurable, aches and pains, and suicidal thoughts, to name a few. There are many factors that can trigger depression, such as social isolation, death of loved ones, and dealing with health problems. Sad to say, many senior citizens suffer needlessly, due to not seeking professional help. Depression IS a treatable condition--which is the good news.

I will be discussing the psychological aspects of aging, and why I believe depression is increasingly common among senior citizens. Then, I will discuss some of the factors that I deem triggers of depression in the senior citizen community. Lastly, I will talk about preventative measures that senior citizens can take in combating depression before it occurs. Some proactive measures for combating depressions include practicing healthy thoughts/behaviors, regularly engaging in social activities, and living with a purpose, to name a few.

The Terminal Gender Illness

I get blog updates every so often from the family of a terminally ill girl. They update pictures of her smiles, tell me about her chemo, and leave me with the hopeful knowledge that everything she is going through will make her better. But I can feel the sad little voice in the back of my head, wondering what the blog will look like when her illness takes control. Her smiles stay with me for a long time afterward.

What would a blog have looked like for a boy’s illness? Would there have been the same shining hope that threads through this girl’s fight? For these next weeks, I’ll be blogging about how the world portrays females and males with terminal illness, looking at the two gender groups and how the rhetoric compares. I’ve seen much of the terminally ill female: poems, images, articles, whole anthologies. But what about the male? I’ll specifically be looking for if, why, and how young and middle-aged men and women are represented and how their media representation and/or gender have an impact on the care they receive. How much does gender play a role in this uniquely devastating stage of aging? Do gender stereotypes have an effect on care, and would these potential stereotypes change depending on the age of the individual? I think this’ll be an interesting journey for us all.

From Potter to iPods: Millennial Pop Culture

A boy wizard tromps through adolescence, battling dark magic along the way. Amateur singers participate in the world's most glorified karaoke contest in hopes of becoming the next Kelly Clarkson. Jon and Kate Gosselin rear their brood of eight while America eagerly stands by TVs and tabloid stands in anticipation of their next move. What do these three have in common and why have all of them struck solid gold among American main-stream popular culture? According to generational experts William Strauss and Neil Howe, all appeal to the ideals of the Millennial Generation, the newest generation to drive the forces that dictate popular American pop entertainment. In their book Millennials and the Pop Culture the two authors first describe this burgeoning generation before outlining how their values and beliefs shape popular culture today.

One of the aspects of the book that I found to be particularly interesting was the description of the Millennials' values. I had previously learned from reading some of Jean Twenge's Generation Me that the post Gen-X generation has grown up with constant reminders by everyone from their parents to the government that they are indeed the most special people in the world. But what surprised me was how the Millennials are the least rebellious and best protected generation in recent memory. Based on every hysterical article I have read bemoaning youth today, I had always assumed that each generation becomes a little more wild and gets in a little more trouble. Strauss and Howe exposed this inclination toward expecting the worst from each young generation by posting a chart of youth trends since 1955. For each trend listed, for example "tobacco use among high school students" the reader was supposed to guess whether it had increased or decreased. Shockingly, for every single "bad" trend such as suicide rate, violent crime rate, and alcohol use among high schoolers, the numbers had in fact decreased. Meanwhile, "good" trends like average SAT score and percentage of teens who share their parents' values had all increased. This use of statistics revealed that this may be the most wholesome and family values orientated generation since the GI Generation.

In the second part of their book, Strauss and Howe explain how the family values and self-absorption shared by Millennials have dictated pop cultural phenomena. For example, Millennials love stories about youths who are predestined for individual greatness. Sound like a certain boy wizard we all know and love? Self-loving Millennials identify with shows featuring non-celebrities rising to greatness. American Idol perhaps? And Millennials crave shows featuring families and children. Jon and Kate may not depict family values, but they sure have a lot of kids. Overall, the authors extensively expound upon how each of the different traits of this generation guide what we listen to, watch, read, download and ingest in anyway from the media.

True To Your Heart

"True to your heart

You must be true to your heart
That's when the heavens will part
And baby shower you with my love
Open your eyes
Your heart can tell you no lies
And when you're true to your heart
I know it's gonna lead you straight to me"

-98 Degrees

If we were to "trust our hearts" will we really "see the light" like the song proposes? Well, according to Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. in Generation Me, "[we] can be anything [we] want to be." Throughout our childhoods, we were always asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. The most common answers were: astronauts, firefighters, teachers, and Michael Jordan. It didn't matter how far-fetched or absurd our responses were; we were always applauded and encouraged to pursue our dreams. But when reality crushes up to our dreams, what can we trust? Surely not our hearts. Twenge declares that this current generation, GenMe, is one prone to anxiety, depression, and stress due to high expectations and fierce competition. Some individuals become so burnt out that they become cynical, believing that there's "no point in trying." Those are the kind of people that need some 98 Degrees in their lives. As for the rest of us toiling slaves, we shouldn't lose sight of our lofty childhood dreams but keep them in perspective with reality. What we really need is hope for the present and future:

"When things are getting crazy
And you don't know where to start
Keep on believing baby
Just be true to your heart
When all the world around you
It seems to fall apart
Keep on believing baby
Just be true to your heart "

Duh...Isn't It Obvious

In Red, Blue, & Purple America, the editor Ruy Teixeira conglomerates a variety of articles on generational thinking including "Aging of Boomers and Rise of Millennials" by Scott Keeter. In the article, Keeter discusses the quintessential qualities of most Millennials as: coming from non-traditional homes, being exposed to electronic innovation (exposure to internet, networking sites, etc), possessing looser views on marriage and sex, and being unaffiliated with one religion. But do we, the Millennials, really need an article, much less a book, to tell us this? Isn't it quite obvious that we have become very "demoralized" compared to our decrepit parents and elders? And who gives Keeter the right to document our lives and judge us based on how we choose to spend our time and resources? I personally have the right to live my life the way I want and do what I want when I want. He can't blame the demise of civilization on me!

But wait...if all Millennials were to possess my attitude, how would we coexist? Is his critique really a warning for our future? Uhoh...we might be pretty messed up...

Globalization=Homogenization?

In the age of globalization, it seems that materialism and competitive nature of the West knows no bounds. The working population in rural China has even abandoned centuries of reverence for their elders in hopes of striking it rich in the allusive cities.

Over the next few weeks, I will blog about articles and books concerning the work ethic and values of different generations in two cultures.

I find the influence of the West on Eastern cultures very fascinating; what makes the lure of the sophisticated West so appealing? I want to understand how children from two cultures view their parents and work/school, and vice versa. How do ethnic values and practices shape one's work ethic? What happens to a recent immigrant who is absorbing values from their heritage as well as from their new society? Will they absorb values from both societies and develop a melting-pot outlook on life?

Those Darn Tech-Savvy Kids

Generation Y (the current twenty-somethings) is really irritating. Here they are, with all of this modern technology know-how, and they refuse to share it with their Baby Boomer coworkers. As this article exposes, those kids don't bother explaining to their elders how they fix computer problems...they just fix them. The Millennials need to pay back the Baby Boomers for all those years of higher education. Young adults need to take some of the hours a day they spend texting the person sitting next to them and methodically explain technology. After all, don't those young hotshots understand that they need to hold their elders' hands through their technological woes? They need to understand that older adults cannot figure things out independently. How dare younger people overestimate the intellectual and technological capacity of their seniors? Come on, Generation Y. Show some respect.

Newly Endangered Species: ChildsPlay

Obama, if kids could give you ratings, I believe your ratings just plummeted. MORE SCHOOL? The horror of it all! Life just got shorter. Childhood is doomed to die… I know it. What kind of man is this?!

But wait! Wait for me, my inner child. Who told you that childhood gets left behind when it comes to school? Did the friends you make tell you that? Was it in the notes you passed during conference hour? Was it The Gossip at the lunch table?

I bet childhood use to be the idea of playing out in the backyard with your friends and your neighbor’s dog, taking breaks for lemonade, having to be called in five times as dusk. But now, childhood seems a different thing. For me, my best childhood memories were with people I found at school. The lessons I learned came not only from the classroom, but also from the world that lived around the classroom.

Hey. Maybe my life is just me. But when childhood and education go hand-in-hand like they can do now, why not give the president man his due? Obama, me and my inner child support you.

Don't Lose Your Head a Quarter-Way through Life

Volcanically greasy, artificially gooey, lusciously bubbly. Rich, warm years of adolescence tucked into a breaded role of cheese, brimming with vitality. Say goodbye to those mozzarella sticks of youth because college graduation has passed, and it’s time to face… life!

From this point forward I intend to blog about articles that deal with the ups and downs; ins and outs; overs and unders of quarter-life crises. Not only have I been consciously ignoring the fact that I’ll be twenty in less than six months, but I’m also just slowly coming to terms with the concept of life after graduation. Sooner or later I’m going to hit the quarter-life mark, and I’m looking forward to exploring the ranges of emotions, experiences, and longings that instigate such “trauma.”

What are the major factors that cause the onset of a quarter-life crisis, and how have its effects and results changed from generation to generation? Are there any preventative measures that can be taken to mitigate the negative repercussions of facing the real world?

I’m also planning on researching how the symptoms of this crisis may vary across various portions of the American or even international population. If are any particular racial, socio-economic, or gender-related trends, I’d like to take them into consideration as I narrow my overwhelming number of questions related to this topic to a single research point.

The Secret Life of a Centenarian

The average life expectancy for people back in the early 1900’s was around the age of 40-45 years. Lets fast-forward a century. The life expectancy today is well above 75 years of age in America. Living, breathing, experiencing life for 75+ years is quite a feat to some; for others who live in Okinawa, Japan or Ovadda, Sardinia, 75 years is an extension of their midlife. For those who live in Okinawa or Ovadda, life expectancy is 100 + years. This rare group of people is known as the centenarians. For the weeks to come, I plan to update everyone on my findings about centenarians through news articles, photos, videos, and books.

This unique group of people intrigues me because they are able to live for a long time without any medical surgeries or alterations. Longevity is something we all desire, yet these people don’t have to because they live it. I wonder what specific factors contribute to their longevity: the environment or is it the people themselves who possess a unique genetic makeup? Why hasn’t the world adopted the practices and lifestyles of the centenarians in Sardinia and Japan? Do the off-springs of the centenarians also live to be 100 years of age? What benefits and challenges do these people face? What effects do or will the population of centenarians have on society? Stay tuned as we delve into the world of centenarians

The Social Role Theory: Why we do what we do!

Why do we criticize the 12-year-old that wears too much make-up? Or the old man that hangs out at singles bars? And why was it even an issue that basketball star Troy Bolton joined his High School's Musical? These questions may seem to have blatant answers, but do they really? In psychology, the Social Role Theory is one of many theories that concerns human development and accounts for why we act the way we do at different ages. This is a subject that I have been recently intrigued by. So in the next few weeks, I will blog about new things that I read concerning explanations of behavior at different ages for different genders, as proposed by the Social Role Theory. This topic is interesting because it concerns everyone: it (attempts to) explain why I am diligently completing my assignments now, why I will go for a run afterwards, why I am dressed in a particular way -- the list goes on. So in a narrower sense, I'd like to investigate stereotypes of females in Western culture and examine how prevalent social role expectancies are in today's generation. Through this I will ask several questions: How do stereotypes change and differ from young to old age? Where did these expectations originate? In what institutions or settings are they most present? These questions, I hope, will allow me to achieve a more thorough understanding of my topic of specific focus.

Human Development: Emphasis on the Environment's Influence

The book "Theories of Human Development" presents three major families of theories that attempt to account for the "how" and the "why" we are the way we are. The three categories are biological theories, environment-based theories, and theories that emphasize an interaction between biological environmental and self-directed forces. I gave special attention to the theories that emphazised the environmental forces that shape human growth; namely the Learning Theory and the Social Role Theory. In the Learning perspective, a phenomenon called "Social Learning" is explained. Here, Albert Bandura suggested that "much learning takes place[...]because of the person's tendency to ovserve and imitate other people's behavior." I can see how this is true, as we see many teenagers today dressing up and acting like their favorite celebrities, young athletes always trying to be the hero, and young children playing "doctor." The theory also suggested that modeling depends on the conditions in the environment and the type of model; and can take place at any age so long as the model is influential enough.

In Social Role Theory, we see that there is movement through age roles. In other words, as one ages, they are forced to change and take on different roles in society. These social roles are "meaningful, demanding, and compelling aspects of [...] identity." This theory accounts for the differences in behavior between parents, children, teachers, competitors, lovers, salesmen -- the list goes on. There is an emphasis on the environment as a determining factor in one's acquisition of new skills that allow them to adapt to the restrictions and opportunities of a new age role. When we achieve these new age roles, we have to give up our old ones. It is this theory that accounts for why we tell our tattle-tale classmate to "stop being such a baby" and why we criticize old people that get facelifts and hair transplants for not "growing old gracefully."