Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

2001

Thesis Director

Gary S. Foster

Abstract

As we enter the twenty-first century, issues of aging and the aged are becoming more prominent in scholarly literature due to advances in medical technology that enable more individuals to live to old age, increasing the proportion of elderly in society. This study examines the social construction of "old age" as it has been perceived historically. Using burial records from a large cemetery located in central Illinois, this thesis compares all cases said to have died of "old age" or "senility" to all cemetery cases in the same age range that died of causes other than "old age" or "senility." Although the variations in the patterns between and within the two populations are often small and not statistically significant, the findings are generally in the predicted directions, and illustrate "old age" as a social construction.

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