A woman's middle age had traditionally been regarded as a time of loss and decline. But, in the wake of the women's movement and other societal and cultural events, a profound shift has taken place. Far from being marginalized, midlife women stand at the forefront of a great transformation of cultural perceptions and attitudes. They are rejecting stereotypes, embracing new opportunities, and forming what this important book terms a new collective middle-aged identity. Women over Fifty: Psychological Perspectives analyzes the challenges, benefits, coping strategies, problems, and accomplishments associated with the midlife experience. Ten chapters present the state of research (and correct longstanding myths) regarding significant aspects of middle-aged women's lives: Mind-body, which covers illness, body image, and exercise;

This progressive -volume introduces the concept of smart power in management, bringing contemporary humanistic values to the power dynamics of organizations and businesses. The chapters review sociopolitical, economic, and technological conditions fueling the recent shift in ideas about power in management, from the globalization of business to young workers' motivation regarding their jobs and careers. Contributors examine a range of models, processes, and frameworks for planning and implementing smart power across diverse organizations, with accompanying challenges and caveats. In its theory and examples, the book makes a cogent case for the shift from traditional hard power, with its winner takes all culture and potential for abuses, to a more creative and democratic model. Included in the coverage: * The power of change and the need to change power: changing perception of power in the organizational setting. * The dynamics of Information and Communication Technologies and smart power: implications for managerial practice. * Economic growth, management, and smart power. * New Ways of Working: from smart to shared power. * Positive psychological capital: from strengths to power. * Narcissistic leadership in organizations: a two-edged sword. Redefining management : Smart power perspectives is proactive reading for students in professional and business-related academic fields (e.g., organizational behavior, sociology, and business and management), and for managers at all organizational levels. The book is a harbinger of transformative possibilities shaping the management landscape to come.

These are paradoxical times to be an older woman. As individual older women take the stage as role models in the arts and the public sphere, female elders as a group are marginalized as dependent, declining and unimportant. Women and Aging surveys the evolving sociopolitical landscape in an era still struggling with gender and age discrimination. This insightful volume recasts familiar concepts such as social roles, appearance, health, sexuality and transition through the related lenses of empowerment/restraint and quality of life/well-being for a deeper understanding of the disparities that exist both with men and within their own gender. Two especially relevant questions emerge from this framework: how women over 60 are contributing to the current climate of societal change and how these positive developments can improve the lives of older women as a whole. Featured topics analyze the wider implications of older women's experiences as family members, sensual and sexual beings, drivers of economies and members of a diverse population worldwide: Older women, power and the body. Older women, economic power and consumerism. The impact of multiple roles on older women: Strain or enrichment? Older women, leadership and encore careers. Sexuality in older women: Desirability and desire. Lesbians over 60: Newer every day. Clinical interventions to empower older women. A significant advance in femi nist research, Women and Aging brings path-breaking perspectives to scholars in women's studies, gerontology, psychology, sociology, social work and human development, whether they study women who have overcome barriers or those who need support in changing the rules.

These are paradoxical times to be an older woman. As individual older women take the stage as role models in the arts and the public sphere, female elders as a group are marginalized as dependent, declining and unimportant. Women and Aging surveys the evolving sociopolitical landscape in an era still struggling with gender and age discrimination. This insightful volume recasts familiar concepts such as social roles, appearance, health, sexuality and transition through the related lenses of empowerment/restraint and quality of life/well-being for a deeper understanding of the disparities that exist both with men and within their own gender. Two especially relevant questions emerge from this framework: how women over 60 are contributing to the current climate of societal change and how these positive developments can improve the lives of older women as a whole. Featured topics analyze the wider implications of older women's experiences as family members, sensual and sexual beings, drivers of economies and members of a diverse population worldwide: Older women, power and the body. Older women, economic power and consumerism. The impact of multiple roles on older women: Strain or enrichment? Older women, leadership and encore careers. Sexuality in older women: Desirability and desire. Lesbians over 60: Newer every day. Clinical interventions to empower older women. A significant advance in femi nist research, Women and Aging brings path-breaking perspectives to scholars in women's studies, gerontology, psychology, sociology, social work and human development, whether they study women who have overcome barriers or those who need support in changing the rules.

This book analyzes the challenges, benefits, coping strategies, problems, and accomplishments associated with the midlife experience of women. Ten chapters present the state of research (and correct longstanding myths) regarding significant aspects of middle-aged women's lives. The book bridges a major knowledge gap in the feminist-psychology literature. It balances optimism and realism about older women 's lives and younger women 's futures.