Medical Sociology and Old Age: Towards a Sociology of Health in Later Life (Critical Studies in Health and Society)

Paul Higgs; Ian Rees Jones

ISBN 10: 041539855X / ISBN 13: 9780415398558

Edité par Routledge, 2009

A propos de cet article

Hardcover, x + 144 pages, NOT ex-library. A clean and bright copy with unmarked text and firm binding, free of inscriptions and stamps. Published without a dust jacket. -- The nature of health in later life has conventionally been studied from two perspectives. Medical sociologists have focused on the failing body, chronic illness, infirmity and mortality, while social gerontologists on the other hand have focused on the epidemiology of old age and health and social policy. By examining these perspectives, Higgs and Jones show how both standpoints have a restricted sense of contemporary ageing which has prevented an understanding of the way in which health in later life has changed. In the book, the authors point out that the current debates on longevity and disability are being transformed by the emergence of a fitter and healthier older population. This third age - where fitness and participation are valorised - leads to the increasing salience of issues such as bodily control, age-denial and anti-ageing medicine. By discussing the key issue of old age versus ageing, the authors examine the prospect of a new sociology - a sociology of health in later life. Medical Sociology and Old Age is essential reading for all students and researchers of medical sociology and gerontology and for anyone concerned with the challenge of ageing populations in the twenty-first century. This book is essential reading for all students and researchers of medical sociology and gerontology. -- Contents: 1. Medical sociology and old age [Introduction; Medical sociology approaching old age; Age as a category within medical sociology; Later life in the context of a second modernity; Conclusion]; 2. Social gerontology and old age [Introduction; Structured dependency theory; The third age; Productive ageing; Cultures of ageing; Social research and the problematisation of later life; Bio-gerontological perspectives; Conclusion]; 3. The body at later ages [Introduction; Sociology of the body and embodiment; Postmodern critiques and realist responses to the loss of meaning; The reflexive self, the lived experience of disability and the vicissitudes of ageing bodies; Conclusion]; 4. New developments in social gerontology [Introduction; Globalised society and old age; Critical gerontology; Feminist gerontology; Postmodern gerontology; The cultural turn in gerontology; Conclusion]; 5. The death of old age, critical approaches as undertakers [Introduction; Bodily appearance; Bodily functioning; Bodily control; Conclusion]; 6. The birth of a new sociology of health in later life [Introduction; The somatic society at later ages; The 'arc of acquiescence'; Anti-ageing medicine and technologies; Boundaries between the third and fourth ages; Death and immortality; Conclusion]; 7. Conclusion [Second modernity and later life; A research programme for later life in second modernity; Conclusion]; Notes; References; Index.

N° de réf. du vendeur 004509

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Medical Sociology and Old Age: Towards a Sociology of Health in Later Life (Critical Studies in Health and Society)
• Éditeur: Routledge
• Date de parution: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 041539855X
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780415398558
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 1st Edition
• État de l'article: Very Good

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

The nature of health in later life has conventionally been studied from two perspectives. Medical sociologists have focused on the failing body, chronic illness, infirmity and mortality, while social gerontologists on the other hand have focused on the epidemiology of old age and health and social policy. By examining these perspectives, Higgs and Jones show how both standpoints have a restricted sense of contemporary ageing which has prevented an understanding of the way in which health in later life has changed. In the book, the authors point out that the current debates on longevity and disability are being transformed by the emergence of a fitter and healthier older population. This third age - where fitness and participation are valorised – leads to the increasing salience of issues such as bodily control, age-denial and anti-ageing medicine. By discussing the key issue of old age versus ageing, the authors examine the prospect of a new sociology – a sociology of health in later life.

Medical Sociology and Old Age is essential reading for all students and researchers of medical sociology and gerontology and for anyone concerned with the challenge of ageing populations in the twenty-first century.

This book is essential reading for all students and researchers of medical sociology and gerontology.

À propos de l?auteur

Paul Higgs is Reader in Medical Sociology at University College London.

Ian Rees Jones is Professor of Sociology of Health at the Bangor University, Wales.