ASA logo
Listening for Age: Analyzing Song Lyrics’ Messages about Age and Aging
Top 10 Hits: Age Messages in Music
Cover Page
Requires Subscription DOCX
Requires Subscription DOCX

Keywords

age
aging
life course
ageism
songs
popular culture
Gerontology
music
pop culture

How to Cite

Barrett, Anne, Skyler Bastow, Rachael Dominguez, Melissa Frost, Cherish Michael, Hope Mimbs, and Brianna Soulie. 2023. “Listening for Age: Analyzing Song Lyrics’ Messages about Age and Aging”. TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology, April. Washington DC: American Sociological Association. https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/listening-for-age-analyzing-song.

Abstract

Ideas about age pervade popular culture, including songs. They convey “age messages” – in other words, ideas about particular ages or life stages or about the experience of growing older. The ideas are often consistent with those that are dominant in society, like the assumption that “youth” is a positive life stage while “old age” is the...

Download this resource to see full details. Download this resource to see full details.

Details

Subject Area(s):
Aging/Social Gerontology
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any

Usage Notes

This assignment was developed for an undergraduate ageism course integrating life course sociology, age studies, and gerontology. It examines how age inequality manifests and operates – and compares it with other inequalities (e.g., gender, race) receiving more attention from sociologists. Ageism is more socially accepted, which introduces challenges...

Download this resource to see full details. Download this resource to see full details.

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

  1. 1. Identify and summarize song lyrics that convey an age message
  2. 2. Describe the song's age message
  3. 3. Explain how the message relates to dominant views of age or aging
  4. 4. Explain how the message reinforces (or challenges) ageism

Goal Assessment(s):

  1. 1. Students identify an age message and summarize relevant lyrics
  2. 2. Students accurately describe the age message
  3. 3. Students accurately explain the message's (in)consistency with dominant views of age or aging
  4. 4. Student accurately explain how the message reinforces (or challenges) ageism

When using resources from TRAILS, please include a clear and legible citation.

Cover Page
Requires Subscription DOCX
Requires Subscription DOCX

Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience, to increase the speed and security for the site, to provide analytics about our site and visitors, and for marketing. By proceeding to the site, you are expressing your consent to the use of cookies. To find out more about how we use cookies, see our Privacy Policy .