Presenting current research in an innovative format, Aging: Concepts and Controversies encourages students to become involved and take an informed stand on the major aging issues that we face as a society. Using their extensive expertise, the authors provide a thorough explanation of the issues in the Concepts sections and current research in the Controversy sections, demonstrating the close links between concepts and controversies in these broad areas of aging: health care, socioeconomic trends, and the life course. Both student and lecturer websites accompany the book.

Table of Contents:
Preface Prologue About the Authors Basic Concepts I. A Life Course Perspective on Aging Age Identification The Stages of Life The Life Course and Aging Traditional Theories of Aging Influences on the Life Course Aging in the 21st Century The Biology of Aging Mechanisms of Physical Aging Aging and Psychological Functioning Conclusion Controversy 1. Does Old Age Have Meaning? The Meaning of Age Leisure Activities in Later Life Religion and Spirituality Gerontology and the Meaning of Age Activity or Reflection? Reading 1: The Coming of Age, Simone de Beauvoir Reading 2: Vital Involvement in Old Age, Erik H. Erikson, Joan M. Erikson, and Helen Q. Kivnick Reading 3: Successful Aging, John Rowe and Robert Kahn Reading 4: The Measure of My Days, Florida Scott-Maxwell Controversy 2. Why Do Our Bodies Grow Old? The Process of Biological Aging Biological Theories of Aging Is Aging Inevitable? Ways to Prolong the Life Span Compression or Prolongation of Morbidity? Reading 5: Why Do We Live as Long as We Do? Leonard Hayflick Reading 6: Vitality and Aging, James F. Fries and Lawrence Crapo Reading 7: The Compression of Morbidity Hypothesis, Vincent Mor Reading 8: Health Trends in the Elderly Population, Marti G. Parker and Mats Thorslund Reading 9: We Will Be Able to Live to 1,000, Aubrey de Grey Reading 10: Don’t Fall for the Cult of Immortality, S. Jay Olshansky Controversy 3. Do Intelligence and Creativity Decline With Age? Elements of Cognitive Function The Classic Aging Pattern Measures of Late-Life Intelligence Studies of Age and Cognitive Function Correlates of Cognitive Stability Creativity in an Aging Population Reading 11: Age and Achievement, Harvey Lehman Reading 12: Age and Achievement, Wayne Dennis Reading 13: Growing Old or Living Long, Laura L. Carstensen Reading 14: The Mature Mind, Gene Cohen Reading 15: Aging and Creativity, Becca Levy and Ellen Langer Basic Concepts II. Aging, Health Care, and Society The Challenge of Longevity Epidemiology of Aging Economics of Health Care Long-Term Care Self-Determined Death Conclusion Controversy 4. Should We Ration Health Care For Older People? Precedents for Health Care Rationing The Justification for Age-Based Rationing Rationing as a Cost-Saving Plan The Impetus for Rationing Cost Versus Age Alternative Approaches to Rationing Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide The Debate Over Age-Based Rationing Reading 16: Why We Must Set Limits, Daniel Callahan Reading 17: Pricing Life, Peter Ubel Reading 18: The Pied Piper Returns for the Old Folks, Nat Hentoff Reading 19: From an Ethics of Rationing to an Ethics of Waste Avoidance, Howard Brody Reading 20: Aim Not Just for Longer Life, but Expanded “Health Span,”Daniel Perry and Robert Butler Controversy 5. Should Families Provide For Their Own? Aging and the American Family Abandonment or Independence? Family Responsibility Medicaid and Long-Term Care Financing Long-Term Care Medicaid Planning Reading 21: Medicaid and Long-Term Care, Peter J. Strauss and Nancy M. Lederman Reading 22: Shame of the Rich, Jane Bryant Quinn Reading 23: The Fallacy of Impoverishment, Stephen Moses Reading 24: The Case Against Paying Family Caregivers, C. Jean Blaser Reading 25: For Love and Money, Suzanne R. Kunkel, Robert A. Applebaum, and Ian M. Nelson Controversy 6. Should Older People Be Protected From Bad Choices? The Vulnerabilities of Older People Interfering When People Make Bad Choices Elder Abuse and Neglect Perceptions of Quality of Life Sexuality in Later Life Crime and Older Adults Intervention in the Lives of Vulnerable Older Adults Reading 26: The Right to Freedom From Restraints, Robert N. Brown Reading 27: Ethical Dilemmas in Elder Abuse, Terrie T. Wetle and Terry T. Fulmer Reading 28: A Legal Perspective on Elder Abuse, Candace J. Heisler and Mary Joy Quinn Reading 29: Elder Self-Neglect, Dorothy R. Fabian and Eloise Rathbone-McCuan Controversy 7. Should People Have the Choice to End Their Lives? Depression and Suicide The “Right to Die” Outlook for the Future Reading 30: Why Do People Seek Physician-Assisted Death? Robert A. Pearlman and Helene Starks Reading 31: A Time to Die, Charles F. McKhann Reading 32: Last Rights, Sue Woodman Reading 33: Neither for Love nor Money, Leon Kass Basic Concepts III. Social and Economic Outlook for an Aging Society The Varieties of Aging Experience The Economic Status of Older Americans Public Policy on Aging Conclusion Controversy 8. Should Age or Need Be the Basis for Entitlement? A Tale of Two Generations Justice Between Generations The Least-Advantaged Older Adults Help for Those Most in Need The Targeting Debate Reading 34: Growing Older, Lester Thurow Reading 35: Will America Grow Up Before It Grows Old? Peter G. Peterson Reading 36: “Generational Equity” and the New Victim Blaming, Meredith Minkler Reading 37: The Generational Equity Debate, John B. Williamson, Diane M. Watts-Ray, and Eric R. Kingson Controversy 9. What is the Future for Social Security? Main Features of Social Security Success—and Doubt Pay as You Go Social Security Trust Fund Eligibility Privatization Women and Social Security Debate Over Social Security Reading 38: How to Save Social Security, Peter Diamond and Peter Orszag Reading 39: The Necessity and Desirability of Social Security Reform, Ramesh Ponnuru Reading 40: Social Security Reform and Benefit Adequacy, Lawrence H. Thompson Reading 41: Social Security for Yesterday’s Family? C. Eugene Steuerle and Melissa Favreault Reading 42: The Future of Social Security, AARP Controversy 10. Is Retirement Obsolete? History of Retirement Origins of Late-Life Leisure Changes in the American Economy A New View of Retirement Debate Over Retirement Policy Reading 43: Achieving a Productive Aging Society, Francis G. Caro, Scott A. Bass, and Yung-Ping Chen Reading 44: Prime Time, Marc Freedman Reading 45: The Busy Ethic, David J. Ekerdt Reading 46: Moving Toward a Creative Retirement, Ronald J. Manheimer Controversy 11. Aging Boomers: Boom or Bust? Who Are the Boomers? What Is a Generation? Age-Period-Cohort Analysis Social Construction of the Boomer Phenomenon Boomers in the Years Ahead Reading 47: Boomsday, Christopher Buckley Reading 48: No Country for Young Men, Megan McArdle Reading 49: The Longevity Revolution, Theodore Roszak Reading 50: The Long Baby Boom, Jeff Goldsmith Controversy 12. The New Aging Marketplace The New Customer Majority One Market Sector Likely to Grow What Do Older Consumers Want? Limits of the Marketplace Model Reading 51: Overview of the Boomer Market, Mary Furlong Reading 52: Age Branding, Harry R. Moody and Sanjay Sood Reading 53: Selling the Fountain of Youth, Arlene Weintraub Reading 54: Marketplace of Memory, Daniel R. George and Peter J. Whitehouse Epilogue: Finding Your Place in an Aging Society Appendix: How to Research a Term Paper in Gerontology Glossary Bibliography Photo Credits Index