Matilda White Riley - Böcker

The ways in which people age from birth to death over the life course depend upon where and when they live. Much evidence has been gathered to demonstrate that aging is not an immutable process; rather, aging varies as social structure varies and changes. But how does the life course vary? Under what conditions of place and time do particular individuals age in particular ways? This book, a companion to Aging from Birth to Death: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (edited by Matilda White Riley; AAAS Selected Symposium 30; Westview, 1979), addresses these questions from two perspectives. From the cross-cultural perspective, anthropologists and sociologists examine the cultural variability of aging as this variability reveals the nature and extent of social and cultural influences on the aging process, the lives of people of all ages, and the general significance of age norms and age-graded institutions in society. From the cross-temporal perspective, historians, sociologists, and demographers examine the impact of social change both on the process of growing up and growing old and on the place in society of people of all ages. The authors stress that the changing society is composed of people who are aging and who are not only shaped by, but are also continually shaping social institutions, values, and technologies. Thus, the book provides deeper understanding of the aging process, of the likely differences between the lives of past and future generations, and of the potential for optimizing these future lives.

This book provides deeper understanding of the aging process, of the likely differences between the lives of past and future generations, and of the potential for optimizing these future lives from cross-cultural and cross-temporal perspectives.

"In society at large, lives have been drastically altered over this century--as a consequence of increased longevity, advances in science and education, the gender revolution, improvements in public health, and other historical trends and events--but numerous inflexible social structures, roles, and norms have lagged behind. There is a mismatch or imbalance between the transformation of the aging process from birth to death and the role opportunities or places in the social structure that could foster and reward people at the various stages of their lives. While the twentieth century has experienced a revolution in human development and aging, there has been no comparable revolution in the role structures of society to keep pace with the changes in the ways people grow up and grow old. The lag involves not only institutional and organizational arrangements, but also the many aspects of culture that, in addition to being internalized by people, are built into role expectations and societal mores and laws. For the future, then, structural changes will be needed if people are to find opportunities to spread leisure and work, as well as education, more evenly over the life course, and to make room for family affairs." --from Age and Structural Lag

This book provides insight into the lives and contributions of eigth master sociologists as perceived by their outstanding students. It provides perspectives on evolving cognitive traditions and the oral transmission of knowledge, the emergence of new ideas, the role of continuity and discontinuity in the developments of science, and the relations of these to social change.

This book provides insight into the lives and contributions of eigth master sociologists as perceived by their outstanding students. It provides perspectives on evolving cognitive traditions and the oral transmission of knowledge, the emergence of new ideas, the role of continuity and discontinuity in the developments of science, and the relations of these to social change.

Originally published in 1987, this volume, and the working conference that preceded it, broke new ground in addressing the complex topic of aging, health, and behavior. Taking a bio-behavioral approach to a range of topics, contributors to this book advanced their disciplines. This volume as well as searching for important interfaces between behavior and health also added the dynamic aspect of aging. Cells, organ systems, and whole human beings all change as they move through life, linking health in varied and intricate ways to changes in behavior patterns, social structures, and cultural values and norms.

Originally published in 1987, this volume, and the working conference that preceded it, broke new ground in addressing the complex topic of aging, health, and behavior. Taking a bio-behavioral approach to a range of topics, contributors to this book advanced their disciplines. This volume as well as searching for important interfaces between behavior and health also added the dynamic aspect of aging. Cells, organ systems, and whole human beings all change as they move through life, linking health in varied and intricate ways to changes in behavior patterns, social structures, and cultural values and norms.