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.

This volume addresses the conditions allowing the transformation of specific children s rights into capabilities in settings as different as children s parliaments, organized leisure activities, contexts of vulnerability, children in care. It addresses theoretical questions linked to children s agency and reflexivity, education, the life cycle perspective, child participation, evolving capabilities and citizenship. The volume highlights important issues that have to be taken into account for the implementation of human rights and the development of peoples capabilities. The focus on children s capabilities along a rights-based approach is an inspiring perspective that researchers and practitioners in the field of human rights would like to deepen. "

It is now well-known that there was a separate age of youth in sixteenth-and seventeenth-century society (and before) but in much of the writing on this subject, youth has emerged as a passive construct of the adult society, lacking formative experiences. Paul Griffiths seeks to redress this imbalance by presenting a more `positive' image of young people, showing that they had a creative presence, an identity, and a historical significance which has never been fully explored. The author looks beyond the prescriptive codes of moralists and governors to survey the attitudes and activities of young people, examining their reaction to authority and to society's concept of the `ideal place' for them in the social order. He sheds new light on issues as diverse as juvenile delinquency, masculinity, the celebration of Shrovetide, sexual behaviour and courtship, clothing, catechizing, office-holding, vocabularies of insult, prostitution, and church seating plans. His research reveals much about the nature of youth culture, religious commitment, and master/servant relations, and leads to the identification of a separate milieu of `masterless' young people. Contemporary moralists called youth `the choosing time', a time of great risks and great potential; and the best time to incalculate political conformity and sound religion. Yet the concept of choice was double-edged, it recognized that young people had other options besides these expectations. This ambiguity is a central theme of theis book which demonstrates that although there was a critical politics of age during this period, young people had their own initiatives and strategies and grew up in all sorts of ways.

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.

Despite being labeled as adults, the approximately 200,000 youth under the age of 18 who are now prosecuted as adults each year in criminal court are still adolescents, and the contradiction of their legal labeling creates numerous problems and challenges. In Courting Kids Carla Barrett takes us behind the scenes of a unique judicial experiment called the Manhattan Youth Part, a specialized criminal court set aside for youth prosecuted as adults in New York City. Focusing on the lives of those coming through and working in the courtroom, Barrett's ethnography is a study of a microcosm that reflects the costs, challenges, and consequences the "tough on crime" age has had, especially for male youth of color. She demonstrates how the court, through creative use of judicial discretion and the cultivation of an innovative courtroom culture, developed a set of strategies for handling "adult-juvenile " cases that embraced, rather than denied, defendants' adolescence.

Product information not available.

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.

Drawing on diverse theoretical perspectives, this book examines questions of youth citizenship and participation by exploring their meanings in policy, practice and youth experience. It examines young people's participation in non-government and youth-led organisations, and asks what can be done to bridge the democratic disconnect.

This book traces the development of sexuality in the child from the prenatal, through birth and up to puberty and adolescence. Very little has been written about children's sexuality in spite of a large literature on child abuse. Western society has been slow to recognize sexual experiences and conceptualizations as an important part of a child's development. This is the only work that has been written in a frank and open manner about the many sexual encounters that children have on a daily basis as part of their normal psychological development. Martinson's study is unique in that children speak for themselves in telling about their explorations, confusions, fears, and satisfactions. The book traces the life of children in their day-to-day encounters as they grow and develop. It complements and rounds out Robert Coles's important works on "The Moral Life of Children," "The Political Life of Children," and "The Spiritual Life of Children."

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.

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.

On the basis of a national research project undertaken in England, this volume explores how and why young people's engagement is so important globally in education and society, and looks at what teachers and students think about citizenship and community. The authors make recommendations to enhance understanding and the potential for engagement.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

"In this remarkable volume, Paula S. Fass, a pioneer and pace-setter in the burgeoning field of children's history, demonstrates that a knowledge of history is essential to understanding contemporary controversies over child protection, the commercialization of childhood, multiculturalism in public schools, and the impact of globalization."
--Steven Mintz, author of "Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood"

aThought-provokinga--"Choice"

Paula S. Fass, a pathbreaker in children's history and the history of education, turns her attention in Children of a New World to the impact of globalization on children's lives, both in the United States and on the world stage. Globalization, privatization, the rise of the "work-centered" family, and the triumph of the unregulated marketplace, she argues, are revolutionizing the lives of children today.

Fass begins by considering the role of the school as a fundamental component of social formation, particularly in a nation of immigrants like the United States. She goes on to examine children as both creators of culture and objects of cultural concern in America, evident in the strange contemporary fear of and fascination with child abduction, child murder, and parental kidnapping. Finally, Fass moves beyond the limits of American society and brings historical issues into the present and toward the future, exploring how American historical experience can serve as a guide to contemporary globalization as well as how globalization is altering the experience of American children and redefining childhood.

Clear and scholarly, serious but witty, Children of a New World provides afoundation for future historical investigations while adding to our current understanding of the nature of modern childhood, the role of education for national identity, the crisis of family life, and the influence of American concepts of childhood on the world's definitions of children's rights. As a new generation comes of age in a global world, it is a vital contribution to the study of childhood and globalization.

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 book examines the transformations of Egyptian childhoods that occurred across gender, class, and rural/urban divides. It also questions the role of nostalgia and representation of childhood in illuminating key underlying political, social, and cultural developments in Egypt.

Rationality is widely regarded as being at odds with the very concepts of metaphysics and transcendence. Yet it is easy to forget that the thinkers who pioneered rationality and the scientific method did not subscribe to this view. For instance, Aristotle described God as the source of reason in Eudemian Ethics, and Newton and Galileo both believed that our ability to investigate the world scientifically has a divine origin.

Despite the fear surrounding the issue of drug use by our children, there is little information to guide those interested in providing help to children vulnerable to substance abuse. "Children and Addiction" addresses the needs of counselors, teachers, parents, and other concerned parties by describing the influence of habit formation, opportunity, access, predisposition, family relationships, the educational environment, and interpersonal communication as precursors to the addictive process. The effects of addiction and its impact upon the individual, family, school, and society are discussed in detail. Additional information is provided on types of drugs, treatment, relapse, self-help groups, and the recovery process. Interspersed throughout the text are descriptive case histories to assist the reader in their understanding of the process of addiction.

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.

"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.

Why does sex and relationship education (SRE) continue to have mixed success? Why is teaching SRE difficult? And why do some adolescents practice safe sex according to the SRE messages while others still engage in risky sexual behaviour? To answer these questions, this book explores a cutting edge Youth Work-based SRE programme that examines how young people aged 15-21 engage with SRE, describing how a range of socioeconomic, cultural and sexual norms, values and attitudes differently shape their decision-making on sex, intimacy and future pathways. The empirical data presents young people's rich accounts from diverse socioeconomic contexts and relationships, as well as sex educators' views on the efficacy of SRE. Important key themes are family and friendship networks, education and employment expectations, and personal and romantic relationships. Uniquely theorising classed circumstances and expectations with gendered heterosexual practices, Understanding Sex and Relationship Education, Youth and Class reveals that understanding the contextual specifics of teens lives is crucial for the relevancy of SRE. Drawing on SRE and Youth Service practice, alongside policy debates in the UK and international context, means that this book will be useful for readers worldwide, and those interested in sociology, social policy, sexual and public health studies, as well as policymakers and youth practitioners.

This book examines the complex and under-researched relationship between recruitment experiences and reintegration outcomes for child soldiers. It looks at time spent in the group, issues of cohesion, identification, affiliation, membership and the post demobilization experience of return, and resettlement.

They say if you love someone, you have to let them go. But what if they are your child?'A book that will break your heart and then piece it slowly back together.' Sinead Moriarty 'Touching and poignant, this book took me on an emotional ride. A gripping and absorbing read.' Leah Mercer 'A story that will stay with you long after the last page. Beautiful!' Brooke Harris All Sarah McIntyre has ever wanted was a loving, happy family. So when her husband JP announces on Christmas Day that he is leaving her and their two children, 9 year old Harry and 4 year old Robyn, Sarah is left reeling. But things are set to get worse when Robyn is diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. Can JP and Sarah unite to fight their biggest battle yet? or will they be on opposing sides once again? With the couple at loggerheads and with Robyn's condition deteriorating day-by-day, precious time is running out and JP is getting desperate... The Last Days of Us is a tender story of hope and forgiveness that asks the question how far would you go to save your child? Perfect for fans of Clare Mackintosh's After the End and Sinead Moriarty's The Good Mother. What readers are saying about The Last Days of Us:'I just finished your beautiful book. It's a book that will break your heart and then piece it slowly back together. A story of unconditional love, loss and compassion that will pull at your heartstrings.' Sinead Moriarty 'Heartbreaking and heart-warming. I fell head-over-heels for this family and I wanted to hug them all. A story that will stay with you long after the last page. Beautiful!' Brooke Harris 'A moving and sensitively told account of a family's worst nightmare, and how our biggest challenges can bring about the most profound change.' Roisin Meaney