Book Description
This best-selling book on social aging takes a multidisciplinary approach by considering the many factors - biological, psychological, historical, cultural - that affect the way aging individuals experience the world. The book provides a comprehensive, holistic view of aging that considers an older person's interactions with their social and physical environments, including the immediate environment of family, friends, and home, as well as the larger social structure of community, organizations, and society. Based on the latest research findings, the book offers greater depth and breadth to the critical issues of aging, attending to differences by age and cohort, gender, ethnic minority status, sexual orientation and socio-economic status. For sociologists, social workers, psychologists, health professionals, and students planning to work with the elderly.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Aging is a fact of life. We see our parents and grandparents go through it. We even see ourselves go through it. As we get older, we enter a distinct stage of life, complete with its own biological issues and psychological and social ones too. Yet most books on social aging ignore the psychological and biological aspects of aging that make the social issues so important. This book provides a complete look at aging so that we can better understand the older stage of life for both ourselves and those around us. This book presents a multidisciplinary perspective on social aging. It takes the approach of the older person in context, and how age-related changes in the biological, functional, and psychological domains can influence the older person's interactions with his/her social and physical environment. Unique features include an original approach, a multidisciplinary perspective, a framework based on research findings, and attention to differences by age, gender, ethnic minority status, sexual orientation, and socio-economic class. Social workers, psychologists, gerontology professionals, and professors.

SYNOPSIS

This one semester textbook surveys the major biological, psychological, and physiological changes that affect older people's daily functioning, along with common chronic conditions, social theories of aging, and government programs. The sixth edition adds a chapter on caregiving.

Annotation © Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

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