"Steve Lopez is insightful, ingenious, and often hilarious as he navigates one of life's biggest questions." --Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Dark Hours Four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and longtime Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez explores the meaning of work and how it defines us in this captivating book that combines memoir, investigatory interviews, and practical application. Grappling with his own decision of whether to retire, Lopez uses his reporter skills not only to look inward but also to interview experts and peers to collect a variety of perspectives as he examines the true nature of a person's time, identity, and ultimate life satisfaction. In Independence Day, Lopez talks to those who have chosen to extend their working life to its (il)logical extreme--people like Mel Brooks, still working at 94--those who have happily retired and reinvented themselves outside of the constraints of work, and those who would like to retire but can't because of financial constraints. He also turns to professionals on the matter, like two aging scientists, a geriatric specialist, and a psychiatrist, to understand the research-based reasons to retire. With his trademark poignancy, wisdom, and humor, Lopez establishes a useful polemic for himself and others in planning ahead, as he also evaluates questions of identity, financial limitations, and ultimately what to do with your life when the obituary pages are no longer filled with strangers.

This second edition of the Handbook of Communication and Aging Research captures the ever-changing and expanding domain of aging research. Since it was first recognized that there is more to social aging than demography, gerontology has needed a communication perspective. Like the first edition, this handbook sets out to demonstrate that aging is not only an individual process but an interactive one. The study of communication can lead to an understanding of what it means to grow old. We may age physiologically and chronologically, but our social aging--how we behave as social actors toward others, and even how we align ourselves with or come to understand the signs of difference or change as we age--are phenomena achieved primarily through communication experiences. Synthesizing the vast amount of research that has been published on communication and aging in numerous international outlets over the last three decades, the book's contributors include scholars from North America and the United Kingdom who are active researchers in the perspectives covered in their particular chapter. Many of the chapters work to deny earlier images of aging as involving normative decrement to provide a picture of aging as a process of development involving positive choices and providing new opportunities. A recuring theme in many chapters is that of the heterogeneity of the group of people who are variously categorized as older, aged, elderly, or over 65. The contributors review the literature analytically, in a way that reveals not only current theoretical and methodological approaches to communication and aging research but also sets the future agenda. This handbook will be of great interest to scholars and researchers in gerontology, developmental psychology, and communication, and, in this updated edition, will continue to play a key role in the study of communication and aging.

This second edition of the "Handbook of Communication and Aging Research" captures the ever-changing and expanding domain of aging research. Since it was first recognized that there is more to social aging than demography, gerontology has needed a communication perspective. Like the first edition, this handbook sets out to demonstrate that aging is not only an individual process but an interactive one. The study of communication can lead to an understanding of what it means to grow old. We may age physiologically and chronologically, but our social aging--how we behave as social actors toward others, and even how we align ourselves with or come to understand the signs of difference or change as we age--are phenomena achieved primarily through communication experiences.
Synthesizing the vast amount of research that has been published on communication and aging in numerous international outlets over the last three decades, the book's contributors include scholars from North America and the United Kingdom who are active researchers in the perspectives covered in their particular chapter. Many of the chapters work to deny earlier images of aging as involving normative decrement to provide a picture of aging as a process of development involving positive choices and providing new opportunities. A recuring theme in many chapters is that of the heterogeneity of the group of people who are variously categorized as older, aged, elderly, or over 65. The contributors review the literature analytically, in a way that reveals not only current theoretical and methodological approaches to communication and aging research but also sets the future agenda.
This handbook will be of great interestto scholars and researchers in gerontology, developmental psychology, and communication, and, in this updated edition, will continue to play a key role in the study of communication and aging.

Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The 'Can-Do' Girl Versus the 'At-Risk' Girl 2. Jobs for the Girls? Education and Employment in the New Economy 3. Citizenship and the Self-Made Girl 4. Spaces of Regulation: School Halls and Shopping Malls 5. Being Seen and Being Heard: The Incitement to Discourse 6. Future Girl Politics Conclusion Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

Contents:
Introduction: Changing Generations in Japan Today Gordon Mathews and Bruce White
Part One: The Japanese Generational Divide
1. The Generation Gap in Japanese Society since the 1960s Tetsuo Sakurai
2. Why are Japanese Youth Today so Passive? Satoshi Kotani
3. The Local Roots of Global Citizenship: Generational Change in a Kyushu Hamlet Bruce White
Part Two: How Teenagers Cope With the Adult World
4. How Japanese Teenagers Cope: Social Pressures and Personal Responses Peter Ackermann
5. Youth Fashion and Changing Beautification Practices Laura Miller
6. 'Guiding' Japan's University Students through the Generation Gap Brian McVeigh
Part Three: How Young Adults Challenge the Social Order
7. Seeking a Career, Finding a Job: How Young People Enter and Resist the Japanese World of Work Gordon Mathews
8. Mothers and Their Unmarried Daughters: An Intimate Look at Generational Change Lynne Nakano and Moeko Wagatsuma
9. What Happens When They Come Back: How Japanese Young People with Foreign University Degrees Experience the Japanese Workplace Shunta Mori
10. Centered Selves and Life Choices: Changing Attitudes of Young Educated Mothers Ayumi Sasagawa

Children's Places examines the ways in which children and adults, from their different vantage points in society, negotiate the proper place of children in both social and spatial terms. It looks at some of the recognized constructions of children, including perspectives from cultures that do not distinguish children as a distinct category of people, as well as examining contexts for them, from schools and kindergartens to inner cities and war-zones. The result is an insight into the notions of inclusion and exclusion, the placement and displacement of children within generational ranks and orders, and the kinds of places that children construct for themselves. Based on in-depth ethnographic research from Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, Australia and New Zealand, it challenges Eurocentric theories of childhood.

Children's Places examines the ways in which children and adults, from their different vantage points in society, negotiate the proper place of children in both social and spatial terms. It looks at some of the recognized constructions of children, including perspectives from cultures that do not distinguish children as a distinct category of people, as well as examining contexts for them, from schools and kindergartens to inner cities and war-zones. The result is an insight into the notions of inclusion and exclusion, the placement and displacement of children within generational ranks and orders, and the kinds of places that children construct for themselves. Based on in-depth ethnographic research from Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, Australia and New Zealand, it challenges Eurocentric theories of childhood.

This book offers an analysis and summary of the uses, abuses and limitations of attachment theory in contemporary child welfare practice. Analysing the primary science and drawing on the authors' original empirical work, the book shows how attachment theory can distort and influence decision-making. It argues that the dominant view of attachment theory may promote a problematic diagnostic mindset, whilst undervaluing the enduring relationships between children and adults. The book concludes that attachment theory can still play an important role in child welfare practice, but the balance of the research agenda needs a radical shift towards a sophisticated understanding of the realities of human experience to inform ethical practice.

Hearing the Voices of Children takes as its main theme the emergence of 'the child's voice' and the implications of this for social policy. Each contributor explores the various new perspectives on social policy that emerge when the 'voices of children' are listened to. The book explores social and cultural resources for children, comparing like with like across countries and continents. The editors argue that children's voices need to be taken more into account when policy is initially shaped, and that more attention needs to be paid to fostering children's active participation when implementing social policy.

Hearing the Voices of Children provides a fresh perspective on social policy. At the heart of the book is the emergence of 'children's voices' and the implications of this for social policy. The authors argue that children's voices should be heard much more strongly in the process of policy formation at all levels. Although there is growing support for this idea, it is not without opposition, and the authors themselves make many critical points about the current attempts to put it into practice.

The book is divided into four main themes: hearing children's voices; discourses of childhood; children and services; and resources for children. Childhood experts from the UK, Scandinavia, Germany and Australia, examine how assumptions and models about childhood and discuss ways in which children's voices might become more influential in shaping policy. There are many obstacles to overcome, but the contributors to this volume show that children's participation is possible, and needed, if services are to be improved.

This book is essential reading for students and academics in the field of childhood studies, sociology, social policy and education. It will also be of interest to practitioners in the social, child and youth services.

This text provides a survey of the relationship between children and those mass media found in the home--radio, television, and the Internet. Using a theory-based approach, with attention to developmental, gender, ethnic, and generational differences, author Rose M. Kundanis explores the nature of these relationships and their influences on children and families, looking at the experiences children have at various developmental ages and across generations. She reviews children's own experiences with media and examines the variety of effects that can operate due to children's perceptions at different ages, including fear, aggression, and sexuality. The text includes theory and research from mass communication, developmental psychology, education, and other areas, representing the broad spectrum of influences at work. Features of this text include: *side-bar interviews with teens who work in media and people who develop policy or programming for children's media; *in-depth explanations of the Generational Theory and the Developmental Theory as they apply to children and the media, plus a survey of other applicable theories; *description of the key points of the Children's Television Act of 1990, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and other relevant legislation; and *questions and activities to extend the exploration of topics. This text will help students develop a critical understanding of the relationship of children and the media; the variables affecting and influencing children's response to media; the theories that explain and predict this relationship; and the ways in which children use the media and can develop media literacy. It is appropriate for courses at the advanced undergraduate and graduate level, including children and media, media literacy, mass communication and society, and media processes and effects, as well as special topics courses in education, communication, and psychology.

Developmental and clinical researchers have only just discovered the phenomenon of adolescent romance as a topic of serious scientific inquiry. This discovery may be related to the overwhelming evidence that adult romantic relationships are failing at alarming rates. Dramatic increases in the rates of divorce, out of wedlock childbirth, and relationship violence lead to questions about the developmental precursors of romantic love and commitment. What's wrong with love and can it be fixed?
This book brings together a diverse group of experts from various disciplines to address a serious gap in the understanding of adolescent development. Part I focuses on romantic relations and sexual behavior from the perspective of normative adolescent development. Part II centers on high-risk adolescents and Part III explores the practical implications of current theory and research for clinicians, educators, and health administrators. Together the chapters in this integrative and clinically useful book lay a foundation for understanding how adolescents successfully navigate the tumultuous waters of young love.

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.

This text provides a survey of the relationship between children and those mass media found in the home--radio, television, and the Internet. Using a theory-based approach, with attention to developmental, gender, ethnic, and generational differences, author Rose M. Kundanis explores the nature of these relationships and their influences on children and families, looking at the experiences children have at various developmental ages and across generations. She reviews children's own experiences with media and examines the variety of effects that can operate due to children's perceptions at different ages, including fear, aggression, and sexuality. The text includes theory and research from mass communication, developmental psychology, education, and other areas, representing the broad spectrum of influences at work.
Features of this text include:
*side-bar interviews with teens who work in media and people who develop policy or programming for children's media;
*in-depth explanations of the Generational Theory and the Developmental Theory as they apply to children and the media, plus a survey of other applicable theories;
*description of the key points of the Children's Television Act of 1990, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and other relevant legislation; and
*questions and activities to extend the exploration of topics.
This text will help students develop a critical understanding of the relationship of children and the media; the variables affecting and influencing children's response to media; the theories that explain and predict this relationship; and the ways in which children use the media and can develop media literacy. It is appropriate forcourses at the advanced undergraduate and graduate level, including children and media, media literacy, mass communication and society, and media processes and effects, as well as special topics courses in education, communication, and psychology.

The lives and futures of children and animals are linked to environmental challenges associated with the Anthropocene and the acceleration of human-caused extinctions. This book sparks a fascinating interdisciplinary conversation about child-animal relations, calling for a radical shift in how we understand our relationship with other animals and our place in the world. It addresses issues of interspecies and intergenerational environmental justice through examining the entanglement of children's and animal's lives and common worlds. It explores everyday encounters and unfolding relations between children and urban wildlife. Inspired by feminist environmental philosophies and indigenous cosmologies, the book poses a new relational ethics based upon the small achievements of child-animal interactions. It also provides an analysis of animal narratives in children's popular culture. It traces the geo-historical trajectories and convergences of these narratives and of the lives of children and animals in settler-colonised lands. This innovative book brings together the fields of more-than-human geography, childhood studies, multispecies studies, and the environmental humanities. It will be of interest to students and scholars who are reconsidering the ethics of child-animal relations from a fresh perspective.

The topic of adolescent development in Europe is one which has received little academic attention in recent years. Developmental Tasks in Adolescence makes an exciting contribution to the field by applying socialisation theory to four major developmental tasks of life: Qualifying, Bonding, Consumption and Participation, arguing that if the tasks in these areas are mastered, then personal individuation and social integration can take place, a prerequisite for the formation of self-identity. In highly developed societies, adolescence encompasses a period of about 15 years on average. Puberty, or the transition from childhood, starts earlier and earlier, and the transition to adulthood is increasingly postponed. Developmental Tasks in Adolescence proposes that the way in which adolescents master the tasks of everyday life has become a pattern of orientation for the life stages which follow because of the new lifestyle requirements that are typical for modern democratic societies. Today, a life full of uncertainties and ambiguities is no longer limited to adolescence, but rather continues into adulthood. Hurrelmann and Quenzel's sociological approach is valuable reading for students and academics in psychology, sociology, education, social work and youth studies, and for those on professional training courses in these fields.

The topic of adolescent development in Europe is one which has received little academic attention in recent years. Developmental Tasks in Adolescence makes an exciting contribution to the field by applying socialisation theory to four major developmental tasks of life: Qualifying, Bonding, Consumption and Participation, arguing that if the tasks in these areas are mastered, then personal individuation and social integration can take place, a prerequisite for the formation of self-identity. In highly developed societies, adolescence encompasses a period of about 15 years on average. Puberty, or the transition from childhood, starts earlier and earlier, and the transition to adulthood is increasingly postponed. Developmental Tasks in Adolescence proposes that the way in which adolescents master the tasks of everyday life has become a pattern of orientation for the life stages which follow because of the new lifestyle requirements that are typical for modern democratic societies. Today, a life full of uncertainties and ambiguities is no longer limited to adolescence, but rather continues into adulthood. Hurrelmann and Quenzel's sociological approach is valuable reading for students and academics in psychology, sociology, education, social work and youth studies, and for those on professional training courses in these fields.

This timely and thought-provoking book explores how social and family change are colouring the experience of childhood. The book is centred around three major changes: parental employment, family composition and ideology. The authors demonstrate how children's families are transformed in accordance with societal changes in demographic and economic terms, and as a result of the choices parents make in response to these changes. Despite claims that society is becoming increasingly child-centred, this book argues that children still have little influence over the major changes in their lives.
This book breaks new ground by researching family change from the child's point of view. Through combinations from childhood experts in Scandinavia, the UK and America, the book shows the importance of studying children's lives in families in order to understand how far children are active agents in contemporary society.
Students of childhood studies, sociology, social work and education will find this book essential reading. It will also be of interest to practitioners in the social, child and youth services.

This timely and thought-provoking book explores how social and family change are colouring the experience of childhood. The book is centred around three major changes: parental employment, family composition and ideology. The authors demonstrate how children's families are transformed in accordance with societal changes in demographic and economic terms, and as a result of the choices parents make in response to these changes. Despite claims that society is becoming increasingly child-centred, this book argues that children still have little influence over the major changes in their lives.
This book breaks new ground by researching family change from the child's point of view. Through combinations from childhood experts in Scandinavia, the UK and America, the book shows the importance of studying children's lives in families in order to understand how far children are active agents in contemporary society.
Students of childhood studies, sociology, social work and education will find this book essential reading. It will also be of interest to practitioners in the social, child and youth services.

The republication of "From Generation to Generation"-almost half a century after its first appearance in 1956-constitutes a good occasion for a look at the way in which problems of youth and generations developed in contemporary societies. In this brilliant, pioneering effort, different approaches in the social sciences to the analysis of these issues receive close scrutiny. Eisenstadt reexamines these issues by including in this edition several new chapters on this theme. New to this edition are essays on "The Archetypal Patterns of Youth;" "Intellectual Rebellion and Generation Conflict;" and "Youth, Generation Consciousness and Historical Change." All of these articles shift emphasis from the structural-institutional analysis presented in the original edition of "From Generation to Generation" to the importance of cultural definitions of youth and generations in radically different societies. In a new introduction, "Sociological Analysis and Youth Rebellion," Eisenstadt undertakes a historical as well as analytical treatment of young people. He reviews decades of alienation of the young, the rebellion of students, and more generally, intergenerational conflict. His major finding is that youth groups tend to arise in those societies whose integrative principles are set aside from family and kinship relations. His work now considers recent dynamic specifics of youth culture as they relate to existing theory, the social and political policies of institutional entrepreneurs as they attempt to bring youth back into the fold of adult society, and the impact on society of the ideology of rebellion. The author states that with the young, any given situation of change opens up a variety of possibilities for development of new types of institutional, organizational, and behavioral patterns. Hence, in the crystallization of institutional frameworks a crucial part is played by those people who evince a special capacity to set up broad orientations to propound new norms and to articulate new goals. The same, of course, applies to the analysis of age groups and youth activities, which Eisenstadt undertakes in this classic work. Professor S. N. Eisenstadt teaches at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is frequently a visiting professor at American universities. He is the author of "The Political Systems of Empires," which won the 1964 McIver Award, and which has been published by Transaction in a new paperback edition.

The Handbook of Research Methods in Human Memory presents a collection of chapters on methodology used by researchers in investigating human memory. Understanding the basic cognitive function of human memory is critical in a wide variety of fields, such as clinical psychology, developmental psychology, education, neuroscience, and gerontology, and studying memory has become particularly urgent in recent years due to the prominence of a number of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's. However, choosing the most appropriate method of research is a daunting task for most scholars. This book explores the methods that are currently available in various areas of human memory research and serves as a reference manual to help guide readers' own research. Each chapter is written by prominent researchers and features cutting-edge research on human memory and cognition, with topics ranging from basic memory processes to cognitive neuroscience to further applications. The focus here is not on the "what," but the "how"-how research is best conducted on human memory.

Aging and Work in the 21st Century, 2nd edition, reviews, summarizes, and integrates existing literature from various disciplines with regard to aging and work, but with a focus on recent advances in the field. Chapter authors, all leading experts within their respective areas, provide recommendations for future research, practice, and/or public policy. Fully revised and updated, the second edition takes up many of the same critical topics addressed in the first edition, and incorporates twelve new authors across the volume and three brand new chapters on recruitment and retention, legal issues, and global issues in work and aging. The intended audience is advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers in the disciplines of industrial and organizational psychology; developmental psychology; gerontology; sociology; economics; and social work. Older worker advocate organizations, such as AARP, will also take interest in this edited book.

"Understanding Storytelling Among African American Children: A Journey From Africa to America" reports research on narrative production among African American children for the purpose of extending previous inquiry and discussion of narrative structure. Some researchers have focused on the influence of culture on the narrative structures employed by African American children; some have suggested that their narrative structures are strongly influenced by home culture; others posit that African American children, like children in general, produce narrative structures typically found in school settings. Dr. Champion contributes to previous research by suggesting that African American children do not produce one structure of narratives exclusively, but rather a repertoire of structures, some linked to African and African American, and others to European American narrative structures. Detailed analyses of narratives using both psychological text analysis and qualitative analysis are presented.
An informative introduction provides background for the study, including a history of storytelling within the African American community. Part I offers a framework for understanding narrative structures among African American children. In Part II, evidence is presented that African American children produce a repertoire of narrative structures that are complex in nature. Part III connects the research findings to implications for educating African American children. Researchers, students, and professionals in the fields of literacy education, language development, African American studies, and communication sciences and disorders will find this book particularly relevant and useful.

This timely and thought-provoking book explores children's lives in contemporary cities. At a time of intense debate about the quality of life in cities, this book examines how they can become good places for children to live in. Through contributions from childhood experts in Europe, Australia and America, the book shows the importance of studying children's lives in cities in a comparative and generational perspective. It also contains fascinating accounts of city living from children themselves, and offers practical design solutions.
The authors consider the importance of the city as a social, material and cultural place for children, and explore the connections and boundaries between home, neighbourhood, community and city. Throughout, they stress the importance of engaging with how children see their city in order to reform it within a child-sensitive framework.
This book is invaluable reading for students and academics in the field of anthropology, sociology, social policy and education. It will also be of interest to those working in the field of architecture, urban planning and design.

The Poetics of Childhood investigates the sensibility of childhood and the way writers try to recapture it. It explores the earliest conceptions of innocence and the development of literature about children to the present day. It encompasses the pastoral, the dark pastoral, the anti-pastoral; it addresses picture books, fantasy and realism. It looks with originality at the literature of childhood, so that the child and adult can be seen reflectively - the child in the adult and the various stages of childhood as they are remembered and retained in adulthood. It confronts issues of primal and socially constructed desire and the issue of childhood to talk about desire. It is a poetic way of imagining the experience of childhood and explores childhood as a particularly fluid and porous time, it also addresses issues of creativity. This is an essential reference for teacher, parents, artists and writers.