The Lives of Older People and Changing Social Roles

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 503, S. 14-28

Abstract

An examination of the mismatch between the strengths & capacities of the increasing numbers of older people in the US & the inadequate social-role opportunities to utilize, reward, & sustain these strengths. Examples are provided of interventions designed to enhance the quality of aging, focusing on how individuals age differently & on the environmental matrix of families, work organizations, political institutions, health care systems, & other social structures. Future effects of these interventions are evaluated, & an analytical framework of the relationship between aging & broad changes in society is presented as a guide in designing small-scale interventions. 1 Figure. Modified HA