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Sociologist Elaine Cumming and developmental psychologist William E. Henry call the shift from an active to a relatively passive type of life the process of disengagement. Cumming and Henry argue that withdrawing from other people is a natural way to adapt to old age. They believe that old people who successfully disengage experience higher morale than those who attempt to remain involved.
The idea of disengagement has been criticized by other social scientists for several reasons.
1. Many old people never become highly engaged and therefore do not disengage.
2. For other old people, physical problems and loss of mobility are the causes of withdrawal.
3. Disengagement may be a decision of society, not the individual.
The last criticism of Cumming and Henry's theory of disengagement may be the best criticism. As we have seen, people tend to be displaced as they grow older. It is society that disengages from the elderly. At best, perhaps, the process is mutual. Older people don't want all the responsibilities and involvements of a younger person, and society offers few substitutes. What appears to be adaptation is, in reality, making the best of things. Think of some elderly people you know and ask yourself how disengaged they are. It's surprising the number of eighty- and ninety-year-olds who, given the opportunity, remain active, keen-minded participants in the life around them.
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