Syllabus

Age and aging are significant features of social life. Aging is both a personal and a social phenomenon. Individuals change as they move through the life cycle, and some of the physical and social changes that occur in the individual life are called aging. Yet societies also age, and societal aging has an impact on the lives of individuals as well. In this course we focus on both the individual and the social aspects of the aging process, the consequences these have, in turn, for the life course, how societies are structured, and the implications for social change over time.

The objectives of this course are to present a general overview of the field of aging in terms of social and demographic change and to describe the impact of this change on both individuals and societal institutions. Specific goals are

• to understand basic sociological concepts and theories as relevant to aging and the life course;
• to understand how the life course is socially structured by examining the ways that social institutions use age to characterize individuals and position older adults at the familial and societal levels;
• to understand how the life course is historically contingent through examining the ways that individuals age through historical time as members of cohorts;
• to understand how the flow of cohorts through historical time is an engine of social change; and
• to identify the threads of continuity that extend throughout the life course, as well as the contribution of biological, psychological, and social aging to social status and life as an elderly member of American society.

I designed this course to touch on a broad range of sociological issues related to aging and the life course, in lieu of an in-depth examination of any particular topic. By necessity, many relevant topics have been omitted or touched on only briefly. Elder abuse and mental health issues are two examples.

Because this is a course in the sociology of aging, it focuses on the social aspects of the aging process. Yet the sociology of aging is also a subfield of the broad interdisciplinary subject known as social gerontology. This course is not a “how-to” course for working with older people, yet the material presented provides a base of knowledge essential to practitioners working in the field.