Ways of Aging

Jaber F. Gubrium is Professor and Chair of Sociology at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He is editor of the Journal of Aging Studies and the author or editor of 20 books, including Oldtimers and Alzheimer’s (1986), Speaking of Life (1993), and Living and Dying at Murray Manor (1997). James A. Holstein is Professor of Sociology at Marquette University and the editor of Social Problems. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Court-Ordered Insanity (1993), Dispute Domains and Welfare Claims Reconsidering Social Constructionism (1993), and Social Problems in Everyday Life (1997). The editors have previously collaborated on What is Family? (1990), Constructing the Life Course (1994), The Active Interview (1995), The New Language of Qualitative Method (1997), The Self We Live By (1999), and Aging and Everyday Life (Blackwell, 2000).

‘Ways of Aging is a welcome antidote to deterministic theories of aging. What a treat to read such wonderfully written ethnographic accounts that both illuminate distinctive social worlds and offer provocative insight into the multiple meanings of aging and old age!’ David A. Karp, Professor of Sociology, Boston College ‘Ways of Aging demonstrates that environment is key to unraveling the diversity found among the aged. Gubrium and Holstein are unmistakable: aging is a coat of many colors; variety is the order of the day. A close reading of Ways of Aging will put to rest the very notion that there are ‘norms’ of aging. This book helps us understand how people create the scripts they live by, through narrative accounts.’ Joe Hendricks, Oregon State University

• Contributors viiIntroduction 1Beyond Stereotypes 3Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. HolsteinPart I Persistence 111 Narratives of Forgiveness in Old Age 13Helen K. Black2 Elderhood in Contemporary Lakota Society 36Joan Weibel-Orlando3 Claiming Identity in a Nursing Home 58Debora A. PatemitiPart II Adaptation 754 Three Childless Men’s Pathways into Old Age 77Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox5 Constructing Community from Troubles 96Christopher A. Faircloth6 Family Lives of Aging Black Americans 111Colleen L. Johnson and Barbara M. BarerPart Ill Change 1337 Aging and Change in a Religious Community 135Sarah Matthews8 Identity Careers of Older Gay Men and Lesbians 160Dana Rosenfeld9 Expectations and Experiences of Widowhood 182Deborah Kestin van den HoonaardEpilogue 20110 Positive Aging 203Mary Gergen and Kenneth J. GergenIndex 225