Sociology Of Aging Research Articles

Culturally Competent Practice with Elderly Latinos

This chapter describes a framework for culturally competent practice with elderly Latinos. The poverty rate was estimated at 20.6 percent, twice the rate for white elderly cohorts. Health reasons and low-paying jobs have also resulted in many elderly leaving the workforce before retirement age, thereby dramatically reducing their income security and pension benefits upon retirement. A starting point for culturally competent practice begins with an understanding of three broad fields of study known as the sociology, biology and psychology of aging which represent the foundation for gerontological social work practice. The sociology of aging , also referred to as the non-physical aspects of aging, focuses on the social forces and theories of aging. Social work knowledge is based on a range of perspectives and content areas derived from various schools of thought. Ethnicity is an equally significant concept in the ecological perspective with multiple definitions and relevance to service providers.

The Sociology of Aging: A Social Problems Perspective

Chapter Review, Glossary, Suggested Readings, and References follow each chapter. 1. Growing Older: A Sociological Explanation. Aging: A Definition. The Definition of a Social Problem. The Importance of Research. Critical Connection: The Importance of History. 2. Two Realities: Demography and Aging. The History of Aging. Aging in America: An Historical View. Aging Around the World. Future Prospects. Critical Connection: The Importance of Numbers. 3. The View From the Tower: Theoretical Perspectives. Sociology and Social Theory. Sociological Frameworks. Gerontological Frameworks. Critical Connection: What We Believe is What We See. 4. Society, Socialization, and Stereotypes. The Structure of Society. The Influence of Society. Stereotypes of Aging: A Consequence. Critical Connection: What We See is Socially Constructed. 5. Family Relationships Among the Elderly. Family Relationships. The Formal and Informal Support System. Critical Connection: It's Who You Know That Counts. 6. Aging in a Changing Economy. The World of Work. The Changing Job Market. Age Discrimination. The Meaning of Retirement. The World of Unemployment. Poverty. Critical Connection: What You Have Determines What You Get. 7. Aging and Health Care. The Health of the Elderly. The Crisis of Health Care Coverage to the Elderly. The Future of Health Care for the Elderly. Critical Connection: If I Have My Health I Can Do Anything. 8. Aging and the Political Process. Governmental Attitude and Action. Who Decides Who Governs. The Elderly in Politics. Aging and Powerful. Critical Connection: The Powerful Don't Change, They Just Get Older. 9. Double Jeopardy/Triple Jeopardy. The Significance of Sex, Marital Status, Race and Ethnicity. Women and Aging. Feminism Among the Elderly. The Importance of Marital Status. The Feminization of Poverty Among the Elderly. Aging Among Minority Populations. Critical Connections-Ageism, Sexism, and Racism-Conditions for Discrimination. 10. Living Arrangements. Migration. Location of the Elderly. Physical Settings. Independent Living Arrangements. Critical Connection-Integrated or Segregated Living Arrangements-Democratic Ideals or Safety. 11. Victims and Criminals. Victimizing the Elderly. The Elderly as Criminals. Critical Connection: Victimization is not Just Physical. 12. Death and Dying. The Historical Context of Death and Dying. The Sociology of Death and Dying. Who Dies and How. Suicide and Euthanasia. The Institutionalization of Death. Critical Connection: There is More to Growing Older than Dying. 13. A Reassessment: Aging in America. Growing Old in America: The Sociology of Aging. Intergenerational Relations. A Window of Opportunity for the Future-The Importance of Social Policy. Critical Connection: Demographic Realities and the Power of Definition.

Rational choice and the sociology of age: Heuristic models

Rational choice is contrasted with the sociology of age as two broad frameworks to aid the search for conceptual models to integrate our fragmented discipline. Some suggestive differences and convergences between them point to the desirability of a more dynamic emphasis in rational choice theory, and to consideration of the philosophical and moral assumptions underlying the “purpose” of action in the sociology of age.

Teaching Sociology of Aging

Teaching Sociology of Aging

Tracing the course of theoretical development in the sociology of aging.

The emergence of sociological theorizing in the field of aging is described as a sequence of two transformations in gerontological thinking. Each transformation signals a principal change in the conception of the nature and practice of gerontological inquiry. The first transformation was marked by Cumming and Henry's book Growing Old: The Process of Disengagement (1961), in which a formal theory of aging is laid out for the first time by social scientists. This set the stage for the development of a range of alternative theoretical challenges. There is a second transformation that began in the late 1970s and early 80s which involved not so much the recognition of theory as a reflection of that recognition itself, being metatheoretical. The issues raised represented a fundamental concern with the so-called "facts" of aging themselves, focusing on the socially constructive and ideological features of age conceptualizations-social phenomenological and Marxist concerns, respectively. More recently (in the late 1980s and early 90s), social gerontologists have turned to critical theory and feminist perspectives to also examine these issues.

<Age, generation et temps> chez les Meru tigania-igembe du Kenya

AbstractOur understanding of the sociahorganisation of the Meru Tigania-Igembe (Kenya) now makes it possible to propose a new approach to those East African societies which have age and generation classes. The way these classes are defined and the various rules by which they are set up and recruit members reveal the interconnections between the system of classes and other aspects of Meru society. Most illuminating is the way an individual's actual progress through the stages of life does or does not match his or her progress through the age classes, with their ramifications into descent and marriage as well as into territorial organisation. It is now possible, we believe, to construct a sociology of age and generation class societies, building a model that can be used comparatively. With the data from Meru, we can now include Bantu societies alongside the well known Cushitic and Nilotic examples, and thereby elucidate both the social variables involved and the underlying structures.

Evaluation Research and Social Gerontology

The development of the sociology of aging and, more particularly, social gerontology has been strongly influenced by the demographic imperative of a growing older population, which, in turn, has led to a proliferation of programs and policies focusing on the elderly and their well-being. As a consequence, one would expect that evaluation research would play a prominent role in the creation of knowledge in these fields. This article presents an assessment of the amount and type of evaluation research that has been published over the past 9 years in seven mainline research journals concerned with social gerontology. The assessment indicates that, contrary to what would be expected, evaluation research has been incorporated into the general literature of social gerontology to a limited degree. As in many other social science fields, evaluation research has been and continues to be treated separately from basic research in social gerontology and the sociology of aging -a circumstance that may not optimize accumulation of knowledge.

Introducing the Demography of Aging: Relating Population Processes to the Aging Society

A steadily growing and increasingly recognized area ofsociological pedagogy is the teaching of the demography ofaging. This article provides a brief description of the substantive domain of the demography ofaging,followed by illustrations of the range ofperspectives used to teach the subject in the context of the sociology ofaging. The remainder ofthe article offerspersonally tried and recommended strategiesfor teaching afirst-level course on the demography ofaging.

Teaching Health Care and Aging: Toward a Conceptual Integration

Increasingly common among the course offerings of sociology departments is the combination course, where the objective is to present knowledge that constitutes the intersection of at least two of the more established subspecialty areas within the discipline. This article discusses the general problem of conceptual integration when preparing and teaching such a course and provides an example of how conceptual integration was achieved in a course that combined medical sociology and the sociology of aging. Major readings for the course are discussed and a topical outline is described.

Ageing as a Challenge for Sociological Theory

ABSTRACTThe sociology of ageing has often turned to general sociology in search of useful theoretical approaches, but there has been little cognitive influx back into general theory. By this one-sided relation, the sociology of ageing has typically constituted itself as an applied field. It can be argued, however, that the problems of an ageing society bring forth not only a new topical area but also a challenge for some of the foundations of sociological theory, which were largely laid before these problems became visible. The paper deals with some of the systematic issues that arise in this respect. It takes as its point of departure that modern society has been theoretically conceived as a ‘work society’. If social life is structured around work and its organisation, how can we theoretically cope with a situation in which a large (and still growing) part of the population has left the domain of formally organised work? This question is discussed on three levels: (I) the structure of social inequality (e.g. welfare classes instead of production-based classes); (2) cultural meaning structures (e.g. leisure instead of productivity and achievement); and (3) socialisation (e.g. biographical anticipation and reminiscence instead of a ‘situational’ orientation).

Age and the Meaning of Work in the United States and Japan

This paper joins central concerns in the sociology of work and the sociology of aging. Age differences in work commitment and work values are examined, as well as their work and nonwork determinants, using data from 4,567 American and 3,735 Japanese employees. Our results show that older men are more committed to work than younger men in both Japan and the United States. This pattern also holds for American women, but there are no age differences in work commitment among Japanese women. Moreover, there are greater age differences among the Japanese in the importance placed on good pay. This is consistent with the view that there has been greater cultural change in recent years in Japan than in the United States.

Age and the Meaning of Work in the United States and Japan

This paper joins central concerns in the sociology of work and the sociology of aging. Age differences in work commitment and work values are examined, as well as their work and nonwork determinants, using data from 4,567 American and 3,735 Japanese employees. Our results show that older men are more committed to work than younger men in both Japan and the United States. This pattern also holds for American women, but there are no age differences in work commitment among Japanese zwmen. Moreover, there are greater age differences among the Japanese in the importance placed on good pay. This is consistent with the view that there has been greater cultural change in recent years in Japan than in the United States. The study of age differences in the meaning of work joins two important strands of sociological inquiry. People's work commitment and work values are important barometers of the quality of their work roles, a central concern in the sociology of work, while age is increasingly becoming recognized as one of the major bases of social stratification. Despite the complementarity of these concerns, most discussions of the meaning of work do not address the ways in which work attitudes differ at various points in the life course. Nor has research on aging and social change

Book Reviews : The Sociology of Aging: An Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook, by Diana K. Harris. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985, 283 pp. $40 hardcover

Book Reviews : The Sociology of Aging: An Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook, by Diana K. Harris. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985, 283 pp. $40 hardcover

The New Sociology of Aging and the Life Course

The New Sociology of Aging and the Life Course

Growing Pains: The Sociology of Aging.

Growing Pains: The Sociology of Aging.

Book reviews / Comptes rendus

Book reviewed in this article:RICHARD F. TOMASSON, Iceland: The First New Society.KEN HESKIN, Northern Ireland: A Psychological Analysis.MICHALINA VAUGHAN, MARTIN KOLINSKY and PETA SHERIFF, Social Change in France.PAUL CRAVEN, ‘An Impartial Umpire’: Industrial Relations and the Canadian State, 1900–1911.JOHANNES M. PENNINGS, Interlocking Directorates.ALFRED A. HUNTER, Class Tells: On Social Inequality in Canada.JACK BATTEN, Lawyers.VICTOR W. MARSHALL. Last Chapters: A Sociology of Aging and Dying.BAHA ABU‐LABAN, The Olive Branch on the family Tree: The Arabs in CanadaSTEPHEN E. HENBERG, The Analysis of Cross‐classified Categorical Data (2nd ed.).DAVID K. FOOT., Canada's Population Outlook: Demographic Futures and Economic Challenges.DALLAS W. SMYTHE. Dependency Road: Communication, Capitalism, Consciousness, and Canada.MICHAEL RUSE, Is Science Sexist? DordrechtJOHN C. KENNEDY. Holding the Line: Ethnic Boundaries in a Northern Labrador Community. Social and Economic Studies no. 27. St.BRUCE WINTERHOLDER and ERIC SMITH (eds), Hunter‐gatherer foraging strategies.

Last Chapters: A Sociology of Aging and Dying

Last Chapters: A Sociology of Aging and Dying

Book reviews

Abstract Abstracts on Aging. A review of Empirical Studies in the Psychology and Sociology of Aging, abstracted by Irene M. Hulicka. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1977. Pp. 289, ISBN: 0-690-01509-7, $10.50

Social Gerontology and the Sociology of AgeLast Home for the Aged: Critical Implications of Institutionalization.Sheldon S. Tobin , Morton A. LiebermanThe Aged in the Community: Managing Senility and Deviance.Dwight FrankfatherThe Gray Lobby.Henry J. Pratt

Previous articleNext article No AccessReview EssaySocial Gerontology and the Sociology of Age Last Home for the Aged: Critical Implications of Institutionalization. Sheldon S. Tobin , Morton A. Lieberman The Aged in the Community: Managing Senility and Deviance. Dwight Frankfather The Gray Lobby. Henry J. Pratt Matilda White RileyMatilda White Riley Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 86, Number 6May, 1981 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/227395 Views: 4Total views on this site Copyright 1981 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Clinical Social Workers Knowledge About Aging:

This study explores clinical social workers' knowledge about old age using Palmore's (1977) Facts on Aging quiz to measure knowledge about persons 65 years of age and older. Data are based on a mailed questionnaire completed by 200 MSW social workers from the state of Ohio who were listed in the NASW 1976 Register of Clinical Social Workers. Key findings are as follows: (1) the average number of corret responses on the facts quiz is 17 (68% correct); (2) examination of the items which 60% or less of the respondents answered correctly reveals five items that indicate a negative bias toward the elderly, three items a positive bias, and two which are neutral; and (3) rank order of the content areas in which items are most often missed indicates sociology of aging and demography of aging are the two areas where knowledge is most lacking. Implications for graduate education and in-service training for clinical social workers are discussed.