Pioneer study of the need for an inner female authority in a masculine-oriented society. Interprets the journey into the underworld of Inanna-Ishtar, Goddess of Heaven and Earth, to see Ereshkigal, her dark sister. So must modern women descend into the depths of themselves. Rich in insights.

The fears of aging have been one long cascading domino effect through the years: twenty year-olds dread thirty; forty year-olds fear fifty; sixty fears seventy, and so it goes. And there is something to worry about, though it isn't what you'd expect: research shows that having a bad attitude toward aging when we're young is associated with poorer health when we're older. These worries tend to peak in midlife; but in Lighter as We Go, Mindy Greenstein and Jimmie Holland show us that, contrary to common wisdom, our sense of well-being actually increases with our age - often even in the presence of illness or disability. For the first time, Greenstein and Holland - on a joint venture between an 85 year-old and a fifty year-old - explore positive psychology concepts of character strengths and virtues to unveil how and why, through the course of a lifetime, we learn who we are as we go. Drawing from the authors' own personal, intergenerational friendship, as well as a broad array of research from many different areas - including social psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, the humanities, psychiatry, and gerontology - Lighter as We Go introduces compassion, justice, community, and culture to help calm our cascading fears of aging.

Attention to social class is a major issue confronting the study of ageing in the 21st century, yet it has been significantly overlooked to date. Social class in later life provides the most up-to-date collection of new and emerging research relevant to contemporary debates on the relationship between class, culture, and later life It explores the interface between class dynamics and later life, whilst acting as a critical guide to the ways in which age and class relations 'interlock' and 'intersect' with each other, whilst examining the emergence of new forms of inequalities alongside the interrogation of more traditional divisions. Social class in later life brings together a range of international high profile scholars to develop a more sophisticated, analytical and empirical understanding of class dynamics in later life. It will be of major interest to students and researchers examining the implications of global ageing, and will appeal to scholars concerned with the development of a more critical and engaged gerontology.

As our global demographic shifts towards an increasingly aging population, we have an opportunity to transform how we experience and think about getting older and embrace the diversity and contribution that this population can bring to society. The International Handbook of Positive Aging showcases the latest research and theory into aging, examining the various challenges faced by older adults and the ways in which we can bring a much-needed positive focus towards dealing with these. The handbook brings together disparate research from medical, academic, economic and social community fields, with contributions from NHS partners, service users, universities across the United Kingdom and collaborations with international research leaders in the field of aging. Divided into sections, the first part of the book focuses on introducing the concept of positive aging before going on to cover the body over the life course, well-being and care delivery. All contributors recognise the fact that we are living longer, which is providing us with a tremendous opportunity to enjoy and flourish in healthy and fulfilling later lives, and this focus on the importance of patient empowerment is integral to the book. This is a valuable reference source for those working in developmental psychology, clinical psychology, mental health, health sciences, medicine, neuropsychological rehabilitation, sociology, anthropology, social policy and social work. It will help encourage researchers, professionals and policymakers to make the most of opportunities and innovations to promote a person's sense of independence, dignity, well-being, good health and participation in society as they get older.

In this compelling tour of the classical world, Peter Jones reveals how it is the power, scope and fascination of their ideas that makes the Ancient Greeks and Romans so important and influential today. For over 2,000 years these ideas have gripped Western imagination and been instrumental in the way we think about the world. Covering everything from philosophy, history and architecture to language and grammar, Jones uncovers their astonishing intellectual, political and literary achievements. First published twenty years ago, this fully updated and revised edition is a must-read for anyone who wishes to know more about the classics - and where they came from.

Ageing and Memory are two cultural processes that establish their own relationships with time. They affect our ways of living, in the present, and for a future, as we move through life. This book focuses on the cultural mediations of ageing and memory, teasing out their complex and largely unpredictable relationships and interconnections. Its overall purpose is to explore different practices, commodities, daily routines, sounds, images and technologies that configure memory and ageing and shape our experiences of living in time and with time. By covering a variety of phenomena, from biopics, music by elderly, and artefacts among other, this edited collection considers the cultural stuff that ageing and memory are made of and interconnected in singular ways, for and by particular people, in specific socio-historical locations.

Grandparenting: Contemporary Perspectives is one of the first books of its kind to offer a dedicated account of the social and psychological research on this important life stage. Reflecting the contemporary positive approach to ageing, it covers many of the issues that impact the grandparent experience today, such as care-giving and changing family structures, to reveal the health and wellbeing benefits of the grandparent role. It examines biological, psychological, social/ familial, gender, cultural and economic dimensions to map out the current landscape in this emerging field. Moore and Rosenthal draw on quantitative and qualitative, experimental, survey, observation and case study research, including unique data on grandfathers. They examine how people respond to the challenges and possibilities of grandparenting, and how this influences intergenerational relationships and adapting to growing older. The book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date evidence base for students in health, sociology and psychology and those interested in gerontology and the lifespan.

In the 1990s providing mental health services to the elderly and particularly to elderly Native Americans had been an issue of some concern for the last several decades. Despite this, many public decisions made at the time were based on inadequate data. Due to this lack of data, there had been little research devoted to determining the factors associated with mental health among elderly Native Americans. Instead, the growing body of mental health research had "been based on limited samples, primarily of middle-majority Anglos." Originally published in 1994, the purpose of this research was to utilize existing data to close the gap in our understanding of mental health among elderly Native Americans.

About 30 percent of hospice patients report a "visitation" by someone who is not there, a phenomenon known in end-of-life care as a deathbed vision. These visions can be of dead friends or family members and occur on average three days before death. Strikingly, individuals from wildly diverse geographic regions and religions-from New York to Japan to Moldova to Papua New Guinea-report similar visions. Appearances of our dead during serious illness, crises, or bereavement are as old as the historical record. But in recent years, we have tended to explain them in either the fantastical terms of the supernatural or the reductive terms of neuroscience. This book is about how, when, and why our dead visit us. Allan Kellehear-a medical sociologist and expert on death, dying, and palliative care-has gathered data and conducted studies on these experiences across cultures. He also draws on the long-neglected work of early anthropologists who developed cultural explanations about why the dead visit. Deathbed visions conform to the rituals that underpin basic social relations and expectations-customs of greeting, support, exchange, gift-giving, and vigils-because the dead must communicate with us in a social language that we recognize. Kellehear emphasizes the personal consequences for those who encounter these visions, revealing their significance for how the dying person makes meaning of their experiences. Providing vital understanding of a widespread yet mysterious phenomenon, Visitors at the End of Life offers insights for palliative care professionals, researchers, and the bereaved.

The exploration of what May Sarton calls the "foreign country of old age" usually does not go far beyond the familiar: the focus of aging studies has thus far clearly rested upon North America and Western Europe. This multi-disciplinary essay collection critically examines conditions and representations of old age and aging in Eastern and Southeastern Europe from various perspectives of the humanities and social sciences. By shedding light on these culturally specific contexts, the contributions widen our understanding of the aging process in all its diversity and demonstrate that a shift in perspectives might in fact challenge a number of taken-for-granted positions and presumptions of aging studies.

Later years are changing under the impact of demographic, social and cultural shifts. No longer confined to the sphere of social welfare, they are now studied within a wider cultural framework that encompasses new experiences and new modes of being. Drawing on influences from the arts and humanities, and deploying diverse methodologies - visual, literary, spatial - and theoretical perspectives Cultural Gerontology has brought new aspects of later life into view. This major new publication draws together these currents including: Theory and Methods; Embodiment; Identities and Social Relationships; Consumption and Leisure; and Time and Space. Based on specially commissioned chapters by leading international authors, the Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology will provide concise authoritative reviews of the key debates and themes shaping this exciting new field.

Research documents that rural elders are poorer, live in less adequate housing, and have far fewer health and service options available to them than their urban counterparts, yet there is a critical lack of current and detailed information on the problems facing rural elders and on the professional practices that serve this population. This text fills this gap by introducing readers to rural areas and their residents and discussing the issues, programs, and policies designed to meet their needs. Through a multidisciplinary lens, it examines and defines specific competencies required for successful work with older adults and their families in these communities.

The text presents a research-driven, competency-based approach for the health and human service professionals who work with older rural residents. It discusses both the problems facing older adults and their families and evidence-based solutions regarding policy and best practices. Key issues examined include health and wellness, transportation, housing, long-term care, income, employment, and retirement, along with the needs of special populations (ethnic minorities, immigrants, and the LGBT population). Case examples reinforce an interdisciplinary model that addresses practice with rural elders that encompasses professional competencies, values and ethics, and the roles of a spectrum of health and human service professionals. The text also examines current policies affecting health and social services to rural elders and recommendations for policy change to build an effective health and human service workforce in rural communities. Links to Podcast interviews with scholars and respected professionals working in the field and "Spotlight" excerpts from the text reinforce information. In addition, the text provides discussion questions, PowerPoint slides, a test question bank, and suggested activities and exercises.

Key Features: Fills a vacuum regarding information on health and social services for rural elders Provides current and comprehensive knowledge about issues besetting this population and programs and policies designed to meet their needs Examines and defines specific competencies required for effective health and social services Based on a research-driven, competency-based, interdisciplinary approach to policy and best practice Includes links to Podcast interviews with scholars and respected professionals in the field

The Elements of Cognitive Aging provides a qualitative overview (mostly using graphical meta-analysis) of the vast literature on aging and speeded tasks-bringing together, for the first time, almost everything we know about aging and processing speed. The book investigates age-related slowing in elementary tasks (including updated parameters for the Aging Human Information Processor) and tasks of executive control (inhibition, task shifting, and task coordination). It examines regularities in the age-related effects of these tasks that might hint at underlying brain-related mechanisms, while having a keen eye for alternative explanations (such as increased caution with age). It models the course of speed-of-processing over the lifespan and investigates the influence of generational differences on mental speed. Finally, it examines the influence of age-related mental slowing on other aspects of cognition (working memory, executive control episodic memory, aspects of fluid intelligence), and provides the first systematic review of age-speed-cognition mediation in a longitudinal context.

This is a comprehensive reference for long-term care administrators, practitioners and students who want to understand the options, issues, and trends related to the effective administration and management of long-term care communities. The book is unique in its in-depth focus on what needs to be accomplished and the evidence-based information about what actually works. Multifaceted insights address the ever-changing world of the long-term care industry and offer best practices and model programs in eldercare.

This multidisciplinary book covers the most crucial aspects of management including federal and/or state regulations required to provide long-term care services and operate long-term care communities. It offers advice on care at home, naturally occurring retirement communities, and continuing care retirement communities, client care, staff retention, preventing elder abuse and neglect, anticipating and managing litigation and arbitration in long-term care, aging and human diversity, Alzheimer's Disease, palliative care, care transitions, and much more. Distilling many years of practical, research and teaching experience, the authors provide the necessary tools and tips that will enable professionals to maximize the quality of care and the quality of life for older adults living in long-term care communities. Each chapter includes helpful pedagogical features such as learning objectives, case studies, effective practices, and/or model programs in eldercare.

Key Features: Based on federal and/or state regulations required to provide long-term care services and operate long-term care communities Examines the complex operations of long-term care options for effective eldercare Highlights the most cost-effective practices and model programs in long-term care communities that are currently used throughout the United States Provides useful tips about client care and staff retention as well as marketing and census development, financing and reimbursement, and legal issues Promotes innovative collaboration between education, research, and practice that is reflected by the training of the editors and contributing authors

Das Thema Alter und Altern mit seinen vielfaltigen Aspekten, von der kontinuierlichen Zunahme der mittleren Lebenserwartung seit 1850 um etwa 3 Monate pro Jahr und der erheblichen Abnahme der Fortpflanzungshaufigkeit bis zur Gefahrdung des Generationenvertrags und der Altersversorgung jungerer Jahrgange, wird seit einigen Jahren, wenn auch mit beachtlicher Verspatung, in der Offentlichkeit und Politik wahrgenommen.

Die daruber kursierenden Vorstellungen entbehren nicht einer gewissen, mitunter erheblichen Einseitigkeit.

Die Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften hat mit der Natur- und Geisteswissenschaften ubergreifenden Kompetenz ihrer Mitglieder und mit Forderung durch die Robert-Bosch-Stiftung, die auf dem Gebiet der Altersforschung und fursorge umfangreich und erfolgreich tatig ist, das Thema aufgegriffen. Der grundlegende Ansatz, die Frage nach Ursprung, Wesen, Folgen und Bewaltigung des Alterns aus dem Blickwinkel aller relevanten Wissenschaften analysieren zu lassen, von der Molekularbiologie und Medizin uber die Politik- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften "

An estimated 10,000 baby boomers retire every day, and many of them are gardeners. As part of maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle, they need to adapt how they garden to ensure they can continue enjoying the hobby for years to come. In The Lifelong Gardener, popular garden speaker Toni Gattone shares adaptive gardening techniques that help readers garden smarter, not harder. Gattone offers tried-and-true methods that help eliminate the physical strain of gardening like buying new ergonomic tools, using raised beds, making small adjustments like using kneeling pads, and dozens of simple ways to make the garden comfortable. Throughout, Gattone maintains a positive and empowering tone that honors the garden and the gardener and focuses on the joy of aging. The perfect gift for older home gardeners, The Lifelong Gardener shows how a little advanced planning can make gardening a safe and fun daily activity.

Working with the needs of patients with Alzheimer's disease can be a major challenge for primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and other mental-health professionals. Alzheimer's wreaks havoc on the patient, and its degenerative nature can create a protracted period of anguish and anxiety for the patient's family. Dr. Marc Agronin has put his years of experience as a geriatric psychiatrist to work to create an eminently useful resource for psychiatrists and others who treat patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. Now in its third edition, Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias uses concise and clear language to outline the symptoms, effects and treatments used to combat the progress of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias likely to be suffered by older patients. Enriched by case studies from his own clinical practice, Dr. Agronin creates a volume full of humanity, insight, and knowledge that is sure to inform and improve the habits and methods of any clinician who deals with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

The binary construction of "young" and "old," which is based on a biogerontological model of aging as decline, can be redefined as the ambiguity of aging from a cultural studies perspective. This concept enables an analysis of the social functions of images of aging with the aim of providing a basis for interdisciplinary exchange on gerontological research. The articles in this publication conceive the relationship between living and aging as a productive antagonism which focuses on the interplay between continuity and change as a marker of life course identity: aging and growing older are processes which cannot be reduced to the chronology of years but which are shaped by the individual's interaction with the changing circumstances of life.

This book provides a theoretical critique and analysis of the development and consolidation of power in China as it applies to ageing. In seeking to deal with this increased proportion of elderly people, Chinese state policy seeks to introduce ways of reducing the fiscal burden of ageing upon the state, and indeed upon those many families who have been markedly affected by the modernisation process. This book, however, fundamentally questions the assumption that populational policies in the Chinese state are unbiased in their social practices with older people. The book explores new topics of ageing in China grounded in and drawing from developments in social theory, (ie), Foucauldian theory and postmodernism.

The demographic phenomena of increased life expectancy, increasing global population of older adults, and a larger number of older people as a proportion of the total population in nations throughout the world will affect our lives and the life of each person we know. The changes will result in challenges and benefits for societies and people of all ages. These events need to be understood, explained, and their consequences addressed; sociological theories about aging are an essential part of this process.

In "Understanding Aging and Diversity: Theories and Concepts," Patricia Kolb presents important sociological theories and concepts for understanding experiences of older people and their families in a rapidly changing world. She explores concepts from phenomenology, critical theory, feminist theory, life course theory and gerotranscendence theory to explain important issues in the lives of older people. This book investigates similarities and differences in aging experiences, focusing in particular on the effects of inequality. Kolb examines the relationship of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation and social class to international aging experiences.

This book explores the relationships between older people and social systems in different ways, and informs thinking about policy development and other strategies for enhancing the wellbeing of older adults. It will be useful for students and scholars of sociology, gerontology, social work, anthropology, economics, demography and global studies.

Finding Meaning in Later Life: Gathering and Harvesting the Fruits of Women's Experience is an exploration in understanding the psychological tasks inherent for women in creating and maintaining purpose as they mature and enter their later years. With ever-increasing lifespan for elders, it becomes important for a society that glorifies youth to meet the challenges of this developmental milestone. Many books and articles on post-midlife are written from a biological and behavioral stance-with quantitative data supporting concrete lifestyle recommendations for "successful aging." Using this lens, successful aging is often defined as having good to excellent health, no disabilities in activities of daily living, good cognitive functioning, and living in the community. That "received wisdom" leads to the conundrum that the only path to successful aging is by not aging! This book challenges current thoughts on aging, expanding our perspective such that purpose and meaning in later years derives from inner resources that are not dependent on biological and physical states of being. Its conclusions stem from the direct experience and voices of mature women, obtained through qualitative research. The results of this study shed light on existential theories, bringing them to life with added weight and traction. Ultimately, the ideas explored here unfold as a map to navigate this often-misunderstood stage in life.

Issues in Aging combines social, psychological, biological, and philosophical perspectives to present a multifaceted picture of aging. Novak illustrates both the problems and the opportunities that accompany older age. This text helps students understand the tremendous variability in aging and introduces them to careers working with older adults. This new edition reflects the continued changes in the way we age. The fourth edition has been updated to include emerging issues in aging. These include the prevalence of HIV/AIDs in later life, current research on mental potential in old age, the creation of age-friendly cities, and new options for end-of-life care. Each chapter begins with a set of learning objectives to guide students in their reading, and concludes with a list of main points, questions for discussion or study, suggested readings, and relevant web sites to consult. Each chapter also includes up-to-date charts and graphs as well as key terms to help students understand the issues presented. Break out boxes reveal the human side of aging through the stories of individuals in real life and in the media.

What makes for a meaningful life? In the Japanese context, the concept of ikigai provides a clue. Translated as "that which makes one's life worth living," ikigai has also come to mean that which gives a person happiness. In Japan, where the demographic cohort of elderly citizens is growing, and new modes of living and relationships are revising traditional multigenerational family structures, the elderly experience of ikigai is considered a public health concern. Without a relevant model for meaningful and joyful older age, the increasing older population of Japan must create new cultural forms that center the ikigai that comes from old age. In Making Meaningful Lives, Iza Kavedzija provides a rich anthropological account of the lives and concerns of older Japanese women and men. Grounded in years of ethnographic fieldwork at two community centers in Osaka, Kavedzija offers an intimate narrative analysis of the existential concerns of her active, independent subjects. Alone and in groups, the elderly residents of these communities make sense of their lives and shifting ikigai with humor, conversation, and storytelling. They are as much providers as recipients of care, challenging common images of the elderly as frail and dependent, while illustrating a more complex argument: maintaining independence nevertheless requires cultivating multiple dependences on others. Making Meaningful Lives argues that an anthropology of the elderly is uniquely suited to examine the competing values of dependence and independence, sociality and isolation, intimacy and freedom, that people must balance throughout all of life's stages.

When a country emerges from violent conflict, the management of the environment and natural resources has important implications for short-term peacebuilding and long-term stability, particularly if natural resources were a factor in the conflict, play a major role in the national economy, or broadly support livelihoods. Only recently, however, have the assessment, harnessing, and restoration of the natural resource base become essential components of postconflict peacebuilding. This book, by thirty-five authors, examines the experiences of more than twenty countries and territories in assessing post-conflict environmental damage and natural resource degradation and their implications for human health, livelihoods, and security. The book also illustrates how an understanding of both the risks and opportunities associated with natural resources can help decision makers manage natural resources in ways that create jobs, sustain livelihoods, and contribute to economic recovery and reconciliation, without creating new grievances or significant environmental degradation. Finally, the book offers lessons from the remediation of environmental hot spots, restoration of damaged ecosystems, and reconstruction of the environmental services and infrastructure necessary for a sustainable peace. Assessing and Restoring Natural Resources in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding is part of a global initiative to identify and analyze lessons in post-conflict peacebuilding and natural resource management. The project has generated six books of case studies and analyses, with contributions by practitioners, policy makers, and researchers. Other books address highvalue resources, land, water, livelihoods, and governance.