Synopses & Reviews
Aging and the Life Course is a comprehensive interdisciplinary text in social gerontology. It provides students with a firm grounding in methodological and theoretical issues associated with aging and examines changes in social roles, relationships and the biological and psychological process that occur as people grow older. It also considers all major life transitions including retirement, widowhood, grandparenting, and changes in living arrangements. In addition, this text considers the economic and political issues that influence the context in which people grow old. Although the primary focus is on the U.S., considerable material on aging worldwide is included. Unique features include four featured boxes, a life course perspective and an emphasis on inequality by race, ethnicity and gender.
Synopsis
This groundbreaking text is the first to take a life course perspective, examining the relationship between the quality of one's life in old age and ones experiences, earlier choices, opportunities, and constraints. The text gives students a broad background for understanding current policy debates through a distinctive chapter entitled "Old Age and the Welfare State" (Chapter 11) and through boxed essays in every chapter called "An Issue for Public Policy." Each chapter also includes a box called "In Their Own Words" that allows older people to describe their own experiences. In addition, coverage of race, class, gender, and culture is integrated throughout and featured in the "Diversity in the Aging Experience" sections.
About the Author
Jill Quadagno is the Mildred and Claude Pepper Eminent Scholar Chair in Social Gerontology at Florida State University. She earned her B.A from Pennsylvania State University, her M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, and her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. Dr. Quadagno is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Section on Aging of the American Sociological Association, the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship. In 1994, she served as Senior Policy Advisor in the President's Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform. She is the author of numerous books on aging and social policy issues, and is presently serving as President of the American Sociological Society for 1997-1998.
Table of Contents
Part One: Defining the Field Chapter 1. The Field of Social Gerontology Chapter 2. Life Course Transitions Chapter 3. Theories of Aging Chapter 4. Demography of Aging
Part Two: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Aging Chapter 5. Old Age and the Welfare State Chapter 6. Biological Perspectives on Aging Chapter 7. Psychological Perspectives on Aging
Part Three: Social Aspects of Aging Chapter 8. Family Relationships and Social Support Systems Chapter 9. Living Arrangements Chapter 10. Work and Retirement
Part Four: Health Aspects of Later Life Chapter 11. Health and Health Care Chapter 12. Caring for the Frail Elderly Chapter 13. Death, Dying and Bereavement
Part Five: Aging and Society Chapter 14. The Economics of Aging Chapter 15. Poverty and Inequality Chapter 16. The Politics of Aging