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Cultural Gerontology
Lars Andersson
ISBN: 0-86569-327-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-86569-327-2
240 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 11/30/2002
List Price: $99.95 (UK Sterling Price: £68.95)
Availability: Print on demand
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: The concept of culture has gained considerable attention within the humanities and social sciences in general, and this is certainly true in the field of gerontology. The new perspectives thus gained widen the scope of gerontology. In this study, chapter authors examine the growth of gerontology as a discipline, the phenomenon of ageism as a socio-cultural concept, identity politics in which older persons are perceived as belonging to a subculture, and images of the older body in cultural perspective.

The manner in which gerontology emerged as a discipline was embedded in culturally defined views of aging that had consequences for how it was seen to vary between cultures. One consequence was a perception of ageism as a cultural construction. Since the 1980s, much of the politics of older people is a form of identity politics in which groups are mobilized to further their interests. Questions of cultural meanings ascribed to the gendered aging body is a central question for ageism, social identity, and self-image. These questions become especially relevant in confrontations with bodily decline and negotiations of intimacy in institutions for older people.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction by Lars Andersson
    Time to Pay Back? Is There Something for Psychology and Sociology in Gerontology? by Svein Olav Daatland
    Utilization Patterns of Gerontology and the Dynamics of Knowledge Production by Hans-Joachim von Kondratowitz
    On the Possibilities of Spirituality and Religious Humanism in Gerontology, or, Reflections of One Aging American Cultural Historian by Thomas R. Cole
    Ageism and Globalization: Citizenship and Social Rights in Transnational Settings by Chris Phillipson
    Positioning Gerontology in an Ageist World by Bill Bytheway
    Involvement in Social Organizations in Later Life: Variations by Gender and Class by Sara Arber, Kim Perren, and Kate Davidson
    The Secret World of Subcultural Ageing: What Unites and What Divides? by Andrew Blaikie
    Political Mobilization and Political Identity Among Swedish Pensioners, 1938-1945 by David Gaunt
    The Making of Older Immigrants in Sweden: Identification, Categorization, and Discrimination by Owe Ronström
    Women Aging and Body Talk by Chris Gilleard
    Body Memories of Aging Women by Marja Saarenheimo
    The Bodywork of Care by Julia Twigg
    Going Concerns and Their Bodies by Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein
    Dis-Membered Bodies--Re-Membered Selves: The Discourse of the Institutionalized Old by Haim Hazan
    Subject Index
About the Author: LARS ANDERSSON is Research Director, Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, and Associate Professor of Gerontology at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
LCC Class: 305
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