The Futures of Old Age - Softcover

John Vincent; Chris Phillipson; Murna Downs

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1412901081 ISBN 13: 9781412901086

Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

What is the future of old age? How will families, services, and economies adapt to an older population? Such questions often provoke extreme and opposing answers: some see ageing populations as having the potential to undermine economic growth and prosperity; others see new and exciting ways of living in old age. The Futures of Old Age places these questions in the context of social and political change, and assesses what the various futures of old age might be.

Prepared by the British Society of Gerontology, The Futures of Old Age brings together a team of leading international gerontologists from the United Kingdom and United States, drawing on their expertise and research. The book's seven sections deal with key contemporary themes including: population ageing; households and families; health; wealth; pensions; migration; inequalities; gender and self; and identity in later life.

About this title

Review:

`The greatest strengths of this book are it's breadth of aging-related topics and its ability to provoke thought in the reader. The presentation of both British and American perspectives on elder issues will aid researchers in developing broader perspectives for their work and more sophisticated research questions. As lengthening life spans challenge society to extend it's understanding of late-life development, issues of aging are becoming some of the most important for social scientists to examine, and The Futures of Old Age offers a significant contribution to this field of study.' - PsychCritiques

About the Author:

am currently working on ‘anti-ageing medicine', death and immortality and the insights they provide for the cultural construction of old age . These studies identify a crisis in understanding ‘old age' which stems from significant advances in the control and manipulation of biological ageing. Claims to the technical ability to control the human ageing process are far from new but challenging issues about the meaning of old age arise with the prospect of significantly enhanced longevity claimed by contemporary bio-gerontology. I have written journal articles, chapters and given seminars on the significance of the biologisation of old age many of which can be accessed from this page.

About this edition

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1412901081
• ISBN 13: 9781412901086
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272