1st Edition

The Need for Theory Critical Approaches to Social Gerontology

    The "Need for Theory" speaks to the burgeoning need for critical thinking in social gerontology. The editors have brought together some of the foremost contributors to theoretical advances in the field. This volume incorporates state-of-the-art theorizing with a focus on selected topical areas facing gerontologists around the world. Using their keen insights into substantive issues, the contributors examine personal and structural changes affecting individuals over the life course. Extolling the need for theory is not enough; the contributors focus their insights on a panoply of substantive issues, linking the personal with the political and with the structural parameters that shape the process of aging, no matter where it occurs.

    The Need for Theory in Gerontology Simon Biggs, Jon Hendricks, and Ariela Lowenstein

    SECTION ONE Theorizing Gerontology

    Chapter 1 Critical Gerontological Theory: Intellectual Fieldwork and the Nomadic Life of Ideas Steven Katz

    Chapter 2 The Perils and Possibilities of Theory Ruth E. Ray

    Chapter 3 The Legacy of Social Constructionism for Social Gerontology Hans-Joachim von Kondratowitz

    Chapter 4 Structure and Identity—Mind the Gap: Toward a Personal Resource Model of Successful Aging Jon Hendricks

    SECTION TWO Theorizing Micro Relations

    Chapter 5 Sense and Structure: Toward a Sociology of Old Bodies Emmanuelle Tulle

    Chapter 6 Contemporary Later-Life Family Transitions: Revisiting Theoretical Perspectives on Aging and the Family— Toward a Family Identity Framework Ariela Lowenstein

    Chapter 7 The Aging Paradox: Toward Personal Meaning in Gerontological Theory Gerben J. Westerhof, Freya Dittmann-Kohli, and Christina Bode

    Chapter 8 Negotiating Aging Identity: Surface, Depth, and Masquerade Simon Biggs

    SECTION THREE Theorizing Macro Relations chapter 9 Globalization and the Reconstruction of Old Age: New Challenges for Critical Gerontology Chris Phillipson

    Chapter 10 Theoretical Approaches to Problems of Families, Aging, and Social Support in the Context of Modernization Merril Silverstein, Vern L. Bengtson, and Eugene Litwak

    Chapter 11 Theorizing Age Relations Toni Calasanti

    Chapter 12 Theoretical Perspectives on Old Age Policy: A Critique and a Proposal Carroll L. Estes

    CONCLUSION

    Where is Theory Headed? Simon Biggs, Jon Hendricks, and Ariela Lowenstein

    Contributors

    Index

    Biography

    Simon Biggs (Author) ,  Jon Hendricks (Author) ,  Ariela Lowenstein (Author)