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Cover Image -- Title Page -- Dedication -- Epigraph -- Acknowledgments -- Table of Contents -- Foreword: Meeting the Shadow of Age: By Harry R. Moody, Ph.D. -- Prologue: A Letter to My Fellow Travelers in Late Life -- introduction: Age Is Our Curriculum -- The Promise of the Inner Work of Age -- How to Use This Book -- Part 1. The Divine Messengers -- Chapter 1. Aging from the Inside Out -- The Buddha's Divine Messengers -- Rites of Passage -- What Is "Old"? -- When Do We Become "Old"? -- Aging as Fate -- Chapter 2. The Three Portals of Age -- Shadow Awareness -- Pure Awareness -- An Interview with Rabbi Rami Shapiro -- An Interview with Kirtan Chant Leader Krishna Das -- Mortality Awareness -- Chapter 3. Meeting Ageism from the Inside Out and the Outside In -- Meeting Your Inner Ageist -- The Dramatic Consequences of the Inner Ageist -- Meeting the Collective Shadow of Ageism -- An Interview with Ageism Crusader Ashton Applewhite -- Chapter 4. Retirement as a Divine Messenger -- To Retire or Not to Retire? -- Retirement from the Outside In -- Retirement as Reinvention -- Shadow-Work for Retirement -- Retirement from Clinical Practice -- Retirement as Spiritual Practice -- Chapter 5. Life-Changing Illness as a Divine Messenger -- From Terrible Wound to Sacred Wound -- Closing the Mind/Body Split -- Illness of the Body -- Shadow-Work for Illness -- Caregiving from the Inside Out -- Illness of the Mind -- Illness of the Brain -- Delaying Memory Loss and Enhancing Plasticity -- An Interview with Buddhist Psychologist Rick Hanson -- Illness as Spiritual Practice -- Part 2. Life Review and Life Repair -- Chapter 6. A Review of Your Lived and Unlived Life -- Physician Rachel Naomi Remen on Seeing Her Life with New Eyes -- The Ego's Life Review -- The Shadow's Life Review -- An Interview with Father Thomas Keating, Founder of Centering Prayer.

"Aging, Concepts and Controversies has been a hallmark book in the study of aging and social gerontology. As society changes and as evolution occurs regarding issues of interest to us all as educated human beings, the need for recent research and scholarship is imperative for the discussion of solutions for those issues. This Tenth Edition of the book is still grounded in the same pedagogical organization of basic concepts, controversial readings, and introductions as well as critical thinking questions that bookend each controversy"--

Intro -- Half-title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Notes on the authors -- Preface -- 1 Introduction to the field of Gerontology -- Focus on adult aging, later life, and old age -- Is Gerontology "multidisciplinary" or "interdisciplinary" (and does it matter?) -- Gerontological research and theory -- Social Gerontology and the life-course perspective -- Aging: Every body's doing it! -- The body is only part of the story -- Building blocks of gerontological knowledge -- Functional age -- Age/period/cohort -- An "epic" story: Human longevity -- How aging processes are studied -- Ethical considerations -- Bibliography -- 2 The aging body -- Molecules -- Cells -- Tissues and systems -- Organs -- Organism -- Species -- Conclusion -- Recommended books -- Bibliography -- 3 The aging mind -- Losses -- Continuities -- Gains -- Recommended books -- Bibliography -- 4 Aging in society -- The historical moment -- Recommended books -- Bibliography -- 5 The political economy of aging -- Political economy -- Wealth and income -- Positive dimensions of aging -- Recommended books -- Bibliography -- 6 The meaning of old age -- Successful aging -- Productive aging -- Conscious aging -- Recommended books -- Bibliography -- 7 Epilogue -- Glossary -- Index

This book focuses on older people as makers of meaning and insight, highlighting the evolving values, priorities and ways of communicating that make later life fascinating. It explores what creating 'meaning' in later life really implies, for older people themselves, for how to conceptualise older people and for relationships between generations. The book offers a language for discussing major types of lifecourse meaning, not least those concerning ethical and temporal aspects of the ways people interpret their lifecourses, the ways older people form part of social and symbolic landscapes, and the types of wisdom they can offer. It will appeal to students of gerontology, sociological methodology, humanistic sociology, philosophy, psychology, and health promotion and medicine

Open up Dignity and Old Age, and you'll find a wealth of thoughtful suggestions for how you and others can gain more respect and admiration for your relatives, neighbors, and patients who are in the latter stages of life. You'll examine the word "dignity" as it relates to the world's elderly population to the fullest and most challenging extent, taking into account cross-cultural, religious, and even literary influences. Throughout this provoking and thorough examination, you'll tackle some tough questions, all of which will equip you with the theoretical and practical know-how needed to evoke

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- Part One -- The Tattered Web of Cultural Meanings -- The Meaning of Life and the Meaning of Old Age -- The Virtues and Vices of the Elderly -- The Meaning of Risk, Rights, and Responsibility in Aging America -- Legal Reform and Aging: Current Issues, Troubling Trends -- Victorian Morality in a New Key -- Part Two -- Subjectivity: Literature, Imagination, and Frailty -- Introduction -- Reminiscence and the Life Review: Prospects and Retrospects -- The Wizard of Pilgrimage, or What Color Is Our Brick Road? -- Growing Old Together: Neighborhood Communality Among the Elderly -- Growing Old Together: Neighborhood Communality Among the Elderly -- Frailty and Strength: The Dialectic of Aging -- Appendix: A Select Bibliography of Aging and Meaning -- Aging and Meaning: A Bibliographical Essay -- A Select Bibliography -- Contributors -- Notes -- Index

This important book brings together some of the best known international scholars working within a critical gerontology perspective. Together, they review and update our understanding of how the field has developed over the last twenty-five years and, through the lens of 'passionate scholarship', provide a challenging assessment of the complex practical and ethical issues facing older people, and those who conduct research on ageing, in the 21st century. The contributions extend the critical gerontological approach conceptually, methodologically and practically. They offer close and scholarly analysis of policies affecting the lives of older people and provide insights into why research is done in particular ways. Special attention is paid to feminist contributions and new approaches to working in partnership with older people; age discrimination and ageism; the impact of neo-liberal policies and the passage of various human rights instruments; the re-medicalisation of later life; the participation of older people in research; and justice between generations. The editors and contributors offer suggestions for promoting change, and an exciting set of visions and perspectives for the renewal and development of critical gerontology in the years ahead. Critical Perspectives on Ageing Societies will be a valuable resource for all students, academics and practitioners interested in ageing and the life course