Description
Book SynopsisThis unique volume brings together 20 critical essays on aging within the context of the broad social, political, and economic factors that help shape and determine the realities of growing old. Rather than viewing aging in isolation, it explores the social creation of old age dependency and the profound influence of race, gender, and social class on what it means to grow old. It looks too at such topics as the biomedicalization of aging; the role of business and the media in changing societal images of the old; the fact and fiction behind senior power; the multibillion dollar nursing home industry; and the role of advanced capitalist nations in creating economic dependency among elders in the Third World.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Unique Contributions of This Volume Vicente Navarro
Part I: Introduction
Overview Meredith Minkler
The New Political Economy of Aging: Introduction and Critique Carroll L. Estes
Political and Moral Economy: Not Such Strange Bedfellows Meredith Minkler and Thomas R. Cole
Dependency or Empowerment? Toward a Moral and Political Economy of Aging Jon Hendricks and Cynthia A. Leedham
Part II: New Images of the Old and the Debate over Resource Allocation
"Generational Equity" and the New Victim Blaming Meredith Minkler
Gold in Gray: Reflections on Business' Discovery of the Elderly Market Meredith Minkler
A Lamb in Wolf's Clothing? The Reality of Senior Power and Social Policy Steven P. Wallace, John B. Williamson, Rita Gaston Lung, and Lawrence A. Powell
Part III: Apocalyptic Demography and the Biomedicalization of Aging
The Biomedicalization of Aging: Dangers and Dilemmas Carroll L. Estes and Elizabeth A. Binney
The Politics of Alzheimer's Disease: A Case Study in Apocalyptic Demography Ann Robertson
Part IV: Critical Perspectives on Market Economy Health Care
The Nursing Home Industry: A Structural Analysis Charlene Harrington
The Political Economy of Mental Health Care for the Elderly Elizabeth A. Binney and James H. Swan
The Short Life and Painful Death of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act Martha Holstein and Meredith Minkler
Part V: Race, Class, Gender, and Aging
Older Women in the Post-Reagan Era Terry Arendell and Carroll L. Estes
Community Care Policies and Gender Justice Suzanne E. England, Sharon M. Keigher, Baila Miller, and Nathan L. Linsk
Gender, Race and Class: Beyond the Feminization of Poverty in Later Life Paula L. Dressel
The Political Economy of Health Care for Elderly Blacks Steven P. Wallace
Part VI: Retirement, Social Security, and Economic Dependency
Retirement and the Moral Economy: An Historical Interpretation of the German Case Martin Kohli
Postwar Capitalism and the Extension of Social Security into aRetirement Wage John Myles
Dependency among Third World Elderly: A Need for New Direction in the Nineties Sheila M. Neysmith
Part VII: Conclusion
Future Prospects for Aging Policy Reform Judith Shindul-Rothschild and John B. Williamson
Epilogue Carroll L. Estes
Contributors
Index
