Voices and Visions of Aging : Toward a Critical Gerontology

A critical gerontology requires more than a simple elaboration of existing humanistic scholarship on aging. This exceptional new work introduces a basis for genuine dialogue across humanistic, scientific, and professional disciplines. Among the topics addressed are industrial employment, retirement, life styles of older women, and biological research. From philosophical reflections on the "third age" to critical perspectives on institutional adaptations to an aging society, this book presents a wide range of provocative thought. Theories, epistemology and methods in gerontology/humanistic gerontology/political gerontology/ideology critique. Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Contributors......Page 14 Overview: What is Critical Gerontology and Why Is It Important?......Page 16 Part I: Theory/Epistemology/Method......Page 44 1 Critical Perspectives on Retirement......Page 46 2 Aging as Explanation: How Scientific Measurement Can Advance Critical Gerontology......Page 63 3 Voice and Context in a New Gerontology......Page 89 4 Evolutionary Gerontology and Critical Gerontology: Let's Just Be Friends......Page 107 5 Criticism between Literature and Gerontology......Page 119 Part II: Humanistic Gerontology......Page 148 6 Aging, Morale, and Meaning: The Nexus of Narrative......Page 150 7 Rethinking Industrialization: Old Age and the Family Economy......Page 177 8 Encrusted Elders: Arizona and the Political Spirit of Postmodern Aging......Page 203 9 Arrested Aging: The Power of the Past to Make Us Aged and Old......Page 227 10 Scenes from Primary Care: A Drama in Two Acts......Page 248 11 Free to Die: Afterthoughts on Primary Care......Page 278 Part III: Political Gerontology/Ideology Critique......Page 282 12 Toward a Philosophy of the Third Age......Page 284 13 Definitional Ceremonies: Depoliticizing and Reenchanting the Culture of Age......Page 300 14 Justice and Mother Love: Toward A Critical Theory of Justice between Old and Young......Page 318 15 The Lives of Older Women: Perspectives from Political Economy and the Humanities......Page 332 Acknowledgments......Page 352 B......Page 356 C......Page 357 F......Page 358 H......Page 359 L......Page 360 N......Page 361 Q......Page 362 S......Page 363 W......Page 364 Y......Page 365

A critical gerontology requires more than a simple elaboration of existing humanistic scholarship on aging. This exceptional new work introduces a basis for genuine dialogue across humanistic, scientific, and professional disciplines. Among the topics addressed are industrial employment, retirement, life styles of older women, and biological research. From philosophical reflections on the ìthird ageî to critical perspectives on institutional adaptations to an aging society, this book presents a wide range of provocative thought.

Introducing a basis for dialogue across humanistic, scientific, and professional disciplines, this work addresses topics as industrial employment, retirement, life styles of older women, and biological research. It includes philosophical reflections on the ""third age"", perspectives on institutional adaptations, and an aging society.