Aging And The Life Course : Introduction To Social Gerontology - 4th edition

Summary: 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 one's 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 Poli ...show morecy." 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.

New Features

• New content includes a profile of older Americans (Chapter 1), the political economy of long-term care (2), critical gerontology (2), vision and hearing impairment (6), older drivers (6), calcium supplements and osteoporosis (6), personality and health (7), assisted living facilities (9), private long-term care insurance (10), Medicare advantages (10), Medicare prescription drug benefits (10), home ownership by race and ethnicity (16), and the "ownership society" (17).
• Updated statistics include those for living arrangements (Chapter 9), labor force participation of older workers (12), nursing home costs (10), Social Security (11), causes of death (12), pensions, savings, and wealth (15), income and wealth by race and ethnicity (16), and voting patterns in the older population.
• New "In Their Own Words" boxed features include The Botox Diary (Chapter 1), Mourning a Lost Relationship (3), Cotton Mather's Disdain for the Aged (5), A Grandfather's Hope (8), Disbanding a Household (9), and Involuntary Retirement (12).
• New "An Issue for Public Policy" boxed features include Should the World Bank Determine Public Pension Policies? (Chapter 2), Defining the Transition to Old Age (3), Medicare's Prescription Drug Benefit (13), The Legal Battle over Terri Schavio (14), and Should Pension Plans Be Invested in Employer Stocks? (15).
• New "Diversity in the Aging Experience" boxed features include Gender Inequality Across the Life Course(Chapter 3), Racial Differences in Depression in Later Life (7), and The Red Hat Society (17).
• New "Aging around the World" boxed features include Parent-Child Relationships among Chinese and Korean Immigrants to the United States (Chapter 8), Growing Old in the City of Light (9), The Effect of the One-Child Policy on Family Caregiving in China (10), Age Discrimination in Great Britain (12), Patterns of Lung Cancer Rates in European Women (13), and Suicide Rates among the Ederly in Denmark (14).
• Gives students a broad background for understanding current policy debates through a distinctive chapter entitled "Old Age and the Welfare State" (Chapter 11) and boxed essays found in every chapter titled "An Issue for Public Policy".

Edition/Copyright: 4TH 08
Cover: Hardcover
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
Published: 01/04/2007

View Table of Contents

Part One: Defining the Field

Chapter 1. The Field of Social Gerontology
Chapter 2. Theories of Aging
Chapter 3. Life Course Transitions
Chapter 4. Demography of Aging

Part Two: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Aging

Chapter 5. Historical Perspectives on Aging
Chapter 6. Biological Perspectives on Aging
Chapter 7. Psychological Perspectives on Aging

Part Three: Social Aspects of Aging

Chapter 8. Family Relationships and Support Systems
Chapter 9. Living Arrangements
Chapter 10. Caring for the Frail Elderly

Part Four: Managing Transitions

Chapter 11. Old Age and the Welfare State
Chapter 12. Work and Retirement
Chapter 13. Health and Health Care
Chapter 14. Dying, Death, and Bereavement

Part Five: Aging and Society

Chapter 15. The Economics of Aging
Chapter 16. Poverty and Inequality
Chapter 17. The Politics of Aging

Other Editions of Aging And The Life Course : Introduction To Social Gerontology:

Aging and the Life Course : An Introduction to Social Gerontology - 5 edition

ISBN13: 978-0073528229