Aging in Diverse Contexts

A significant paradigm shift has occurred within gerontology. The accumulation of research findings suggests that age alone predicts very little about the human experience. Instead, the impact of age and aging is mediated by a range of social and cultural factors. Social characteristics such as gender, race and ethnicity, and societal factors such as economic development and cultural traditions combine to produce a diverse range of experience and patterns of aging. This thematic sequence begins with an overview of the social, cultural, and personal experiences of aging. The second course provides students with grounding in sociocultural analyses of the contexts of aging, and the third, an in-depth exploration of the sources of variation in the aging experience. Students completing this sequence will understand the ways in which meanings and experiences of aging are shaped by social and physical location, and the ways in which diversity among the older population is produced.

Health and Aging

This thematic sequence explores health and aging. The Tier 1 course provides you with an overview of the processes of aging, especially in the United States. In Tier 2, you select one of three courses, each of which examines health and aging from a different position along a continuum that ranges from the micro- to the macro/meso- level contexts. The Tier 3 course offers you the opportunity to integrate academic and applied aspects of health and aging, either through exploration of moral issues in health care, secondary data analysis, or field experience in a health care setting.