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Disengagement Theory

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging

Synonyms

Disconnect from social roles; Disengagement model; Goal adjustment; Social inclusion; Social isolation; Withdrawal from social life

Definition

Disengagement theory postulates that people gradually disengaged from social life as they grow older, which was originally proposed by social scientist Elaine Cumming and colleagues in 1960, and later in 1961, Cumming and Henry systematize this theory into the book – Growing Old – arguing that aging is an inevitable, mutual withdrawal. The theory was based on a longitudinal study conducted by scholars from the University of Chicago, which observed and followed 211 adults between the ages of 50 and 90 in Kansas City. The result found that growing old is not a cheerful time in which granny keeps an eye on the children while basking on the balcony instead of having meetings in the office, suggesting that older adults gradually fade away from the social system where they have played an important role in adulthood.

At the individual level,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Xin Zhang & Hongmei Lin

Authors
  1. Xin Zhang
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  2. Hongmei Lin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xin Zhang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Population Division, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY, USA

    Danan Gu

  2. Department of Population Health Sciences, Department of Sociology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Matthew E. Dupre

Section Editor information

  1. Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY, USA

    Danan Gu Ph.D.

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Zhang, X., Lin, H. (2021). Disengagement Theory. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22009-9_645

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