Answer to Question 1
(1 ) The first federal plan for retirement was proposed by Dr. Francis Townsend in 1930. Under the Townsend Plan, every American over 65 would receive 200 a month, supported by a 2 percent national sales tax. When the plan came before Congress, there was concern that it was too lavish and would encourage people to stop saving for the future.
(2 ) As an alternative, the more modest Social Security plan was proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt and was passed the Congress in 1934.
(3 ) The Social Security plan is most aligned with the conflict perspective because it came about as a struggle between competing interest groups.
Answer to Question 2
Functionalists focus on why retirement is beneficial for society and how individuals adjust to retirement.
(1 ) Disengagement theory explains retirement as a mechanism for ensuring that the society's positions of responsibility are passed smoothly from one generation to the next. The individual starts to disengage during middle age by beginning to reassign priorities to goals and tasks and continuing this process as time goes on.
(2 ) Activity theory looks at how retired people replace their usual activities with other activities. The hypothesis is that the more activities the elderly engage in, the more satisfaction they will have in life.
(3 ) Continuity theory stresses that in retirement, people adjust to old age by continuing ties with their past. When they retire, people take up new roles similar to the ones they gave up. Research shows that people who are used to handling multiple roles and those who are more financially prepared adjust better to retirement.
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