This concise introduction to the study of aging challenges students to think critically about key topics in the field such as the aging of populations in Canada and around the world, the status of aging peoples and ageism, and the social participation of older adults.
Note: Every chapter includes:
- Learning Objectives
- Introduction
- Conclusion
- Questions for Critical Thought
- Suggested Readings
- Suggested Websites
1. Choices and Constraints in Aging: Theoretical Approaches and Sociological Contributions
A Sociological
Perspective: Examining Social Structure and Aging
Inequality, Stratification, and Exclusion in the Sociological Study of Aging
An Overview of Dominant Theoretical Positions in Sociology
The Effects of Societal Industrialization: Theories of Disengagement, Exchange and Modernization
-
The Disengagement of Older Adults
- Exchange Theory and Aging
- Modernization and the Status of Older Persons
Increasing Attention to Time and Social Context: Generation and Cohort, Age Stratifiction, and the Life Course Perspective
- Age Stratification Theory
- Life Course
Perspective
Social Constructionism
Political Economy, Feminism and Critical Gerontology
Aging in Postmodern Society
2. Population Aging, Ageism, and Intergenerational Relations
Population Aging in Demographic, Global and Historical perspective
The Concept of Apocalyptic
Demography and Myths of Population Aging
Conceptualizing Ageism
Sociological Perspectives to Explaining Ageism in Canadian Society
- Social Psychological Theories of Socialization
- Modernization Theory and Social Change
- Critical Gerontology and Political Economy
From
Ageism to Age Relations
Intergenerational Relations: From Families to Cohorts and Generations
3. The Aging Body, Biomedicalization, and Life Extension
Cultural Ageism, Individual Body Image, and Beauty Work
Embodiment and Aging: Toward a Postmodern Understanding of
Bodies
Embodiment and Aging: Contributions of Symbolic Interactionism
The Biomedicalization of Aging as a Disease
Life Extension: A Sociological Perspective
- The "Anti-Aging" Movement
- Societal Implications of Prolongevity
4. Health Systems and Care for Older
Persons
The Social Determinants of Health
The Canadian Health Care System: Backgrounder
Self, Informal and Formal Care: Distinctions
Home Care in Canada
- Experiences: Older Persons, Their Families, and Paid Care Providers
Residential Care in Canada
- Experiences: Older
Persons, Their Families, and Paid Care Providers
Voluntary Providers of Care for Older Persons
5. The Economic Security of Older Persons in a Changing World
Canada's Retirement Income System
Older Workers
Retirement as a Social Institution: Changes over Time
Retirement Timing
Decisions
Diversity and Flexibility in Retirement: Destandardization of the Life Course
Financial Security in Old Age and Retirement
Economic Insecurity: Older Groups at Risk
Economic Security Across the Life Course: Examining Income Inequality in Older Cohorts
6. Beyond
Participation: The Social Inclusion of Older Adults
Social Participation and Well-Being
Age, Social Participation, and Integration
Barriers to Participation: A Focus on Social Inclusion
- Exclusion from Meaningful Social Relations
- Exclusion from Material Resources
-
Exclusion from Civic Activities or Civil Society (Including Political Engagement)
- Exclusion from Basic Services
- Geographic or Spatial Exclusion
- Cultural Exclusion
- The Social Exclusion of Gay and Lesbian Older Adults
- The Social Exclusion of Older
Immigrants
Interventions and Broader Solutions
7. The Family Lives of Older Persons: Implications of Change
Sources and Types of Family Change
Emerging Trends in Late-Life Family and Intimate Relationships
- Late-Life Stepfamilies
- Living Apart Together Relationships
-
Long-Distance and Transnational Older Families
Exchanges of Support to and from Older Persons in Families
- Grandparenting
- Older Persons' Needs for Family Support: Root Factors
- Family Support for Older Persons: Myths about the Past and Present
- Families' Capacities to
Support Older Persons: Root Factors and Implications
- Changing Expectations of Family Responsibility?
8. Emerging and Salient Topics in the Sociology of Aging
Indigenous Elders
Social Change and Aging
- Globalization and Social Change
- Aging and Human Rights
Individual
Agency and the Sociology of Aging
Spotlight on Sociological Research on Aging in Canada
E-Book (ISBN 9780199008339)
Laura Funk is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Manitoba. Prior to this, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research at the University of Victoria. She is a research affiliate with the Centre on Aging at both
the University of Manitoba and University of Victoria, and with Riverview Health Centre (Winnipeg). Sociological Perspectives on Aging is her first book.
Making Sense in the Social Sciences - Margot Northey, Lorne Tepperman and Patrizia Albanese
Aging as a Social Process - Andrew V. Wister and Barry D. McPherson