Across the life course, new forms of community, ways of keeping in contact, and practices for engaging in work, healthcare, retail, learning and leisure are evolving rapidly. Breaking new ground in the study of technology and aging, this book examines how developments in smart phones, the internet, cloud computing, and online social networking are redefining experiences and expectations around growing older in the twenty-first century. Drawing on contributions from leading commentators and researchers across the world, this book explores key themes such as caregiving, the use of social media, robotics, chronic disease and dementia management, gaming, migration, and data inheritance, to name a few.

This book focuses on the emerging global old age care industry developing as a response to tackle the "old age care crisis" in richer countries. In this global industry, multiple actors are involved in recruiting, skilling and placing migrant care workers in different spheres of the receiving country's old age care system. This book delves into the analysis of these actors and the multiple levels influencing their activities. Accordingly, it examines the significance of old age care regimes and policies as well as intermediaries and promoters for initiating, shaping and perpetuating old age care arrangements based on migrant labor and the relationships within them. Particular emphasis is placed on the risks and implications of these arrangements for the well-being and the social protection of the different actors involved. The book analyzes these processes and structures from a global perspective including different countries and regions of the world.

This major reference is a substantially revised edition of Palmore's "International Handbook on Aging," which was voted Choice Outstanding Academic Book of 1980. The reference collects and summarizes information on programs and research in gerontology in most countries where significant work is taking place. The chapters are arranged alphabetically, with each chapter devoted to a particular country. The countries selected represent a wide range of social, political, geographic, and economic conditions, and ten new countries are included in this edition.

Each chapter provides current information on the unique features of the country profiled; the roles and status of the aged; problems of the elderly; programs for older adults; research in biomedical, psychological, and sociological aspects of aging; and sources of additional information. Each chapter closes with a list of works for further consultation, and the handbook concludes with an appendix of gerontological associations and a bibliography. Gerontologists, social scientists, and policymakers will find this reference a valuable and current guide to developments and research on aging around the world.

The core of the research reported in this study was a survey of men and women 55 years and older sampled from a comprehensive list of residents. The authors asked questions about social networks, control over household assets, household composition, life satisfaction, and subjective health, among other things. The social network questions had been used in an earlier study done in Kentucky. Nearly everything else had been developed for the Delhi study. The findings were similar to those in the earlier study: the size of people's networks does not decline materially until they are older (80 plus). Age itself did not seem that important, but health was crucial. Persons who reported they were healthy had larger networks.

As one might expect, joint family life has great impact on the nature of social life among older people. This has to do with the big difference in the situation of men and women in India. In addition to being patrilineal kin groups, joint families are dominated by male economic interests. The males as a collective group inherit property. Women have much less control of household assets. This ethnographic fact appeared very clearly in the answers to questions about participation in household decision making. High involvement in decisions, which the authors construed as a measure of power, spilled over into other aspects of the social aging process. Persons who were powerful in their households tended to have large networks, better subjective health, and much higher life satisfaction. They also tended to be men. The women tended to have small networks, low life satisfaction, lower subjective health, and less power. These differences between men and women were all substantial and highly significant. Gender is an extraordinarily important factor in the outcomes of social aging processes in India.

""Taking Care of Barbara" is an inspirational resource book for anyone living in the world of Alzheimer's. There are clear and concise caregiver tips and references in dealing with the everyday struggles that come with the progression of the disease. What a gift to know and be able to anticipate the needs of our loved one when they may not be able to communicate them. Most importantly, this book is a celebration of family and the relationship between the caregiver and the patient. It lifts the caregiver above the everyday struggles and reminds us of where to find the strength and joy in the frequent frustrations of the day. It inspires us to love beyond the external happenings and shows us there lies a deeper and greater gain that will enrich our spirit. The world of Alzheimer's may feel overwhelming, but this book encourages caregivers to get out of bed, put their feet on the floor and face the day with renewed strength and purpose."
-Kelly Cason Hunter, Hospice Volunteer, Pediatric Nurse

This first-hand empirical study of elderly Soviet Jews who immigrated to Israel during the Great Exodus of 1989 to 1991 demonstrates the double jeopardy of transnational relocation in later life. The book traces the depletions that occurred in the elderly immigrants' social networks and examines the impact of a range of network factors on their personal well-being. Given the dearth of systematic field research into the problems and needs of elderly immigrants, and of this group in particular, gerontologists and sociologists will find this case study invaluable. Students, teachers, policymakers, social service providers, and other professional practitioners will gain from the findings about elderly immigrants' network relationships and from practical suggestions for the planning of effective network interventions on their behalf.

This book focuses on descriptions of the developments in legal frameworks and policies regarding the human rights of older persons. First, it covers the policies adopted and practices developed at the universal system, particularly within the sphere of the United Nations. Second, it includes a side-by-side comparison of the work of regional human rights mechanisms, which have picked up some momentum in the past decade. Through its inclusion of law, policy, and current processes, the widest net possible has been cast to collect a descriptive resource for advocates. Overall, we hope that this book contributes to a better understanding of the current limitations and possibilities that international institutions offer to uphold the human rights of older persons. We expect that this information will allow states and other policy makers to move forward with the international recognition of the human rights of older persons. We know this is only a first effort in compiling and reporting the standards that are being produced by different international institutions. But we have no doubt that many others will follow with their expert analysis of these emerging standards, and that the ongoing discussion will finally crystalize in international human rights binding instruments explicitly recognizing the universal rights of older persons.

By supporting and influencing their families and communities, grandparents--and those who act as grandparents--can play a key role in today's society. Their special mission is derived from a strong sense of purpose and direction that develops from making significant contributions to family life. These include compiling and recounting family histories, maintaining meaningful relationships among different generations, opening up family communications, explaining social changes, and participating in community life. With the aid of real-life examples of intergenerational family dynamics, the author--a clinical sociologist who has practiced family therapy for more than 25 years--presents principles, techniques, and perspectives for today's grandparents.

This very first comprehensive book-length reference guide dealing with older adult education synthesizes current information about theoretical developments with specific practical details about the latest programs, policies, and research in the field. It is unique in placing the subject of lifelong learning into historical perspectives, discussing ways in which programs have been transformed over the last 15 to 20 years, and in considering the impact of institutional policies on older adult education. This guide points to demographic trends relating to aging and older learners; discusses older learner motives in relation to program missions and rationales; describes new opportunities for retirement-age people and the special role of education today; reviews the history of 12 different types of programs; compares five community-based model programs in college and universities, senior centers, shopping centers, and churches and synagogues; considers computer and electronic learning programs; reviews research and programs dealing with intergenerational education; and assesses future prospects in the field. Appendices describe important organizations, programs, sources of information, state tuition waiver policies, and other guidelines and data. Relevant statistics, research findings, numerous tables, original documents, and anecdotes about the experiences of older learners further enrich this state-of-the discipline reference guide for academic, professional, and public libraries and broad audiences of teachers, students, professionls, and general readers concerned with older Americans.

A deliciously funny and sage guide to midlife - an unscientific, flaws-and-all account of one woman's adventures and misadventures through the dark comedy of the wilderness years.

Through her own experiences as a fifty-something woman, and those of her three sisters, her indomitable mum and rebellious auntie, Charlotte tackles the big questions every woman seeks answers to at this time of our lives - chiefly: How the hell am I going to get over being young in a world obsessed with youth?

Written with warmth, wisdom and irreverence this guide to midlife is perfect for readers of Nora Ephron, Caitlin Moran and India Knight.

Aging in America imposes dramatic personal, social, and economic changes. Retirees have substantial power to affect both business and public policy decision making. This book analyzes the expenditure patterns of older households to characterize their comparative lifestyles and quality of life. Expenditure patterns of various elderly households are examined over time and compared with the non-elderly. Particular emphasis is placed on analysis of necessity and health care expenditures.

The authors empirically test the dominant theories of consumer life-cycle behavior. They conclude that these theories do not provide a consistent explanation for the expenditures of heterogeneous age and income groups and that alternate theories--the precautionary theory of elderly savings or the theory of positional goods--have credence.

When Congress enacted Social Secuirty in 1935, with the age of retirement set at age 65, average life expectancy was 62 years. By the time Medicare was enacted 30 years later, life expectancy had risen to age 70. Since the enactment of Medicare, life expectancy has risen to age 76 today and may be expected to increase further in the decades to come. Clearly, the increase in post-retirement life expectancy has significant implications for the level of national expenditures attributable to an aging population. One of the approaches suggested as a solution to the so-called income transfer problem is to redefine old age, that is, to push retirement and its associated benefits off to a later age. This would effectively increase the size of the workforce, with older workers continuing to contribute their payroll taxes for an extended period of time. The critical question Sicker poses is, will there be enough appropriate employment opportunities for a growing number of older workers in the workforce of the future? The evidence for a positive response is far from clear or compelling.

Sicker examines the prospective place of the aging worker in the employment environment of the 21st century in light of the restructuring of American business and the world of work in the final decades of the last century. In doing so, he raises serious concerns about the validity and utility of some of the neoclassical economic ideas and assumptions that have become part of the conventional wisdom of our time. Sicker contends that these dubious propositions have unwittingly contributed signficantly to the problem through their manifestation in public policy. However, the principal focus of his analysis is not on economic theory as such, but on the realities and uncertainties that an aging American workforce will face in the decades to come. This book is significant reading for scholars, researchers, and the general public interested in labor force and aging policy issues.

The toughness model proposed in this book incorporates psychological research and neuroscience to explain how a variety of toughening activities - ranging from confronting mental and physical challenges to meditation - sustain our brains and bodies, and ultimately build our mental and psychological capacities degenerated by stress and by aging.

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Ageing, Narrative and Identity: New Qualitative Social Research outlines the methodology and results of the Fiction and the Cultural Mediation of Ageing Project (FCMAP), led by a research team from Brunel University, UK. In investigating how older people resist stereotypical cultural representations of ageing, the study demonstrates the importance of narrative understanding to social agency. This book will therefore be of interest not only to students and researchers in the growing interdisciplinary field of Ageing Studies, but also to those with interests in Social Policy, Social Narrative and wider socio-cultural conceptions of the interaction between representation and everyday life.

In this deeply considered meditation on aging in Western culture, Jan Baars argues that, in today's world, living longer does not necessarily mean living better. He contends that there has been an overall loss of respect for aging, to the point that understanding and "dealing with" aging people has become a process focused on the decline of potential and the advance of disease rather than on the accumulation of wisdom and the creation of new skills.

To make his case, Baars compares and contrasts the works of such modern-era thinkers as Foucault, Heidegger, and Husserl with the thought of Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Cicero, and other Ancient and Stoic philosophers. He shows how people in the classical period--less able to control health hazards--had a far better sense of the provisional nature of living, which led to a philosophical and religious emphasis on cultivating the art of living and the idea of wisdom. This is not to say that modern society's assessments of aging are insignificant, but they do need to balance an emphasis on the measuring of age with the concept of "living in time."

Gerontologists, philosophers, and students will find Baars' discussion to be a powerful, perceptive conversation starter.

This book provides a critical understanding of contemporary issues within global society and how these relate to six case study examples (UK, USA, China, India, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Japan). The authors draw on their diverse experience to explore four major themes of contemporary relevance: overall aging of societies; governance and institutions; emergency services and public health provisions; and community activism and involvement. The key issues within the book--sociability, social capital, and community development--are examined in the context of an ever increasing aging world. The authors' sense of optimism is linked to growing evidence that community activism is on the rise and can effectively plug the gap between public need and provision of service.

Successful survivors speak for themselves in this exhaustive study of the lives, attitudes, and lifestyles of more than 500 centenarians. A product of the late pioneer gerontological researcher Belle Boone Beard's over forty years of teaching, study, research, and writing in the field of aging, the book extends the author's belief that centenarians have a grasp of the essence of life itself. The volume, not a statistical research report, is based on the largest collection of data on centenarians to date. The centenarians describe their characteristics, lifestyles, and personal philosophies in response to questions such as: What characteristics and daily living patterns aided their longevity? and Do centenarians have answers about survival and successful living? Separate sections address the areas of health, education, socioeconomic status, work, social life, philosophy, romance, and individuality. Beard's insights regarding the personal characteristics and principles by which centenarians live contain some unexpected findings in the areas of social relationships and social environments. This posthumously edited volume is faithful to Beard's goals, writing style, and content themes. The five-part volume begins with an introduction that contains an overview of centenarians from the point of view of the author's forty years of study. Part II describes some of the personal characteristics of centenarians' daily lives and points up important commonalities in actions, thought, and goals. Centenarians' contributions in the areas of work, family, and community are presented in Part III, which highlights their imagination, work ethic, and persistent romantic feeling about all of life. The focus of Part IV is on the relationship between personal growth achievements and national history. The last part reports on the study's findings and suggests further research implications. The appendices contribute documentation, fifteen short stories by or about centenarians, and a form for contacting the Belle Boone Beard Gerontology Center. Excellent supplemental reading for courses in Interdisciplinary Gerontology, Sociology of Aging, Psychology of Aging, and Demographics, this volume will also be of interest to any reader who wishes to learn about the correlates of extreme longevity.

This volume develops a comprehensive multivariate paradigm of the process of aging, delineating the factors underlying age-related degeneration. The model is aimed at understanding the conditions under which age sets into motion a process of degeneration. Accumulating evidence suggests that age per se is not the decisive factor in age-related regression--leading scholars to distinguish between chronological and functional age. The process of degeneration is evidently due to the combined impact of deleterious biophysiological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors and the interaction among them.

Based on this evidence, Zeev Ben-Sira shows how age-related degeneration can be viewed as a product of a damaging cycle of reciprocally activating stimuli from the person's internal and external environment. Consequently, aging is conceptualized as a process of bio-psychosocial regression. The paradigm outlined in this volume identifies factors that are likely to accelerate or decelerate the process of aging.

This multidisciplinary guide to the literature and research about the physical and psychological aspects of successful, normal, and productive aging is designed for students, teachers, and practitioners who deal with the elderly. The introduction discusses perceptions of aging well. The 500 entries are arranged alphabetically by author under nine topics: physical aging, psychological aging, social aging, family, living arrangements, work and economics, education and leisure, politics, and religion. An appendix covers sources dealing with the measurement of aging well. The careful author and subject indexes make this annotated bibliography easy-to-use for researchers in the fields of history, economics, psychology, sociology, law, theology, demography, public health, political science, home economics, family studies, women's studies, pharmacy, and health administration, among others.

The monograph disseminates the very topical issue of retirement and its timing as the key to one of the greatest challenges facing ageing societies. Postponing retirement is now almost universally regarded as indispensable in order to relieve European welfare states from the demography-related financial pressures. This seminal study, derived from a statistical analysis of a large-scale survey data, provides a thorough understanding of the micro- and macro-level determinants of retirement timing in contemporary Western Europe. The book is the first monograph to combine the analysis of the retirement attitudes with the analysis of the retirement behaviour within one research. It tackles the question as to whether early retirement can be explained by "early exit culture", triangulating life course theory with a social stratification approach. The author used a novel and innovative approach to obtain the results. The methodology includes: tobit models of proscriptive age norms; simulations of the impact of class structure on a country's average retirement age; competing risks models of different work-exit modalities; duration selection models of retirement timing.

There has been a widespread fascination with age-dissimilar couples in recent years. This book examines how the romantic relationships of these couples are understood. Based on qualitative research, McKenzie investigates notions of autonomy, relatedness, contradiction, and change in age-dissimilar relationships and romantic love.

"Dying With Open Eyes" is a valuable resource for caregivers of those suffering from the devastating effects of Alzheimer's disease. After eleven years of caring for her mother, author Jennie Swanson Dincecco, EdD, shares her insight into the daily struggles and emotional upheavals, as well as the helplessness and frustration she encountered during this trying period. Packed with helpful information, "Dying With Open Eyes" offers hope for caregivers and their families. From early warning signs to in-depth descriptions of each stage of the disease, Dinececco provides answers to commonly asked questions about Alzheimer's disease, such as: What is Alzheimer's? What causes Alzheimer's? What does it cost to care for an Alzheimer's patient? When is Alzheimer's usually diagnosed? Is Alzheimer's genetic? How long can a person live with Alzheimer's? Can the onset of Alzheimer's be delayed? Nothing can prepare someone to be a caregiver for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease. In "Dying With Open Eyes," Dincecco captures her touching story of surviving one of the toughest experiences of her life, and how she found comfort, peace, and finally--happiness. All proceeds of "Dying With Open Eyes" will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association.