Readings In The Political Economy Of Aging

Includes 16 essays which address many issues from a different perspective suggested by the experience of aging in America. This study explores the political, social, and economic realities which have an impact on Americans as they grow older.

This groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive treatment of the political economy of aging. From the founder and key thinker in the field comes a work that aims to contribute to the understanding of old age and aging in the context of problems and issues of the larger social order in America. Since Carroll Estes' first writing on the political economy of aging in 1979, there has been growing recognition and incorporation of her critical perspective as one of the major paradigms in the field of aging. The only comprehensive book-length treatment of the subject, Social Policy and Aging addresses the globalization of capital and developments in health care restructuring. Combining social gerontological theory and major theoretical advances in work on the welfare state, this text keeps readers abreast of the new development within the discipline. Students and researchers alike will appreciate this critical perspective, widely acknowledged as one of the major paradigms in the field of aging. [Ed.]

This timely new collection presents the most important and influential articles and papers on ageing and later life of the past half century. The editors examine policy creation and implementation, practice and critical gerontology including both feminist and international perspectives. Including an original introduction and key works not available in scholarly libraries, this is a critical assembly of work and will be of immense assistance to anyone looking to understand the consequences of our ageing population on society.

This unique volume brings together 20 critical essays on aging within the context of the broad social, political, and economic factors that help shape and determine the realities of growing old. Rather than viewing aging in isolation, it explores the social creation of old age dependency and the profound influence of race, gender, and social class on what it means to grow old. It looks too at such topics as the "biomedicalization" of aging; the role of business and the media in changing societal images of the old; the fact and fiction behind "senior power"; the multibillion dollar nursing home industry; and the role of advanced capitalist nations in creating economic dependency among elders in the Third World.

From a non-neoclasssical economic and sociological analysis--after deflating neoclassical arguments, Jackson (economics, U. of York, UK) concludes that conventional economic theory overstates negative effects of the graying of the population on the economy, while calling for managed flexibility in planning policies. The author considers theoretical approaches to such demographics, particularly in relation to the perceived rising dependency burden re: Social Security and pensions, along with less traditional issues such as informal economic activity and informal care of the elderly within the context of long-term structural changes. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR