Most studies of human development in developing societies have focused on the childhood stage, and in a few cases exploration has extended up to adolescence, since this age group represents about half the population in developing societies. The developed world, however, is experiencing a surge in the elderly population and this has spurred its study. There is growing recognition that studies are needed in order to understand aging in all contexts, and to discover how the experience may differ in developing and developed societies. In this book, the authors discuss the appropriateness or inappropriateness of applying Western theories and perspectives to studies of aging in the developing world.

The present study critically examines the major theories in the area of aging and adult development, covering such domains as the physical, psychological, and social aspects of aging, death and dying, and social and public policies. Applying the concepts of individualism and collectivism, as well as the global and environmental dimensions of the developing world, the authors have earmarked the theories that seem suitable only to the developed world and those that appear to be universally relevant.

Corruption in Society: Multidisciplinary Conceptualizations is the first book to address the notion of corruption in a truly multidisciplinary manner, augmented with empirical evidence. The prevalent definition in books and articles on corruption is that it is a dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those with political and/or economic power, typically involving bribery. This political-economy or public choice denotation, while very useful, is inadequate for a comprehensive understanding of the concept because the notion of corruption appears in every discipline. For example, in the field of chemistry, chemical corruption concerns (a) the incorporation of defective compounds into experiments to better simulate conditions on the early-Earth and to help us understand how the first molecules of life formed and (b) how to make chemicals appear safer, sometimes dodging restrictions on their use, by minimizing the estimates of how much is released into the environment. In order to address this shortcoming, this book provides a discipline-by-discipline conceptualization of corruption buttressed with evidence from the discipline.

This book addresses the troubling dearth of knowledge that many American undergraduate students have about Africa. Many scholars with research interest in Africa are caught by surprise at the superficial knowledge that students bring to their classrooms; it is a knowledge base that is bereft of an insightful analytical framework of the pertinent issues just as it is deprived of a well-informed historical context of the events. There is no mistaking of the import the mass media and neighborhood folklore in shaping the students' perception about the realities of Africa's developments. Mitigating these effects requires access to a college-level introductory textbook on Africa covering a gamut of themes that are germane to the contemporary realities of the continent. It is a textbook that does not romanticize Africa, but addresses the persistent stereotypes that characterize issues about the region. The book does so in two significant ways. First, it offers a refreshing examination of African issues from an afrocentric perspective. This allows the writers to present issues from which they have practical experience, and for the reader to examine them from insider scholarship. Second, it provides an opportunity for scholars and readers to analyze the issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. Interdisciplinarity is a testament that issues are complex and no single discipline can sufficiently address them. A combination of these two approaches ensures that the book does not develop into a limited and parochial view of issues. The themes covered in the book include: disciplinary perspectives in African studies, ethnocentricism in teaching human geography of Africa, and topics of geography, religion and spirituality, mathematics, psychology, government and public policy, the transformation of higher education, rural development, communication and socio-economic development, culture and decision making styles all as they relate to Africa.