Critical Gerontology Comes of Age Advances in Research and Theory for a New Century

Critical Gerontology Comes of Age reflects on how baby boomers, caretakers, and health professionals are perceiving and adapting to historical, social, political, and cultural changes that call into question prior assumptions about aging and life progression. Through an exploration of earlier and later-life stages and the dynamic changes in intergenerational relations, chapter authors reexamine the research, methods, and scope of critical gerontology, a multidisciplinary field that speaks to the experiences of life in the 21st century. Topics include Medicare, privatization of home care, incarceration, outreach to LGTBQ elders, migration, and chronic illness. Grounded in innovative research and case studies, this volume reflects multiple perspectives and is accessible to lay readers, advanced undergraduates and graduate students, and professionals in many fields.

1. Introductory Chapter: A Need for, and Fruits of, Current, Critical Gerontology Wellin 2. A First-Generation Critic Comes of Age: Reflections of a Critical Gerontologist Estes 3. Critical Questions for Critical Gerontology (and Critical Gerontologists) Moody & Sasser 4. Qualifying the Aging Enterprise: Micro and Meso-Level Studies in Human Service Organizations Miller & Crampton 5. Who are You in Medicare and You?: Examining This Second Person Diamond 6. Who Rules Home Care? The Impacts of Privatization on Profitability, Cost, and Quality Cabin 7. Challenges and Achievements Regarding Outreach to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Elders: Perspectives from Nursing Gabrielson 8. Paid Care-Giving for Older Adults with Serious or Chronic Illness: Ethnographic Perspectives, Evidence, and Implications for Training Wellin 9. Silver Alert: Societal Aging, Dementia, and Framing a Social Problem Petonito & Muschert 10. Aging in Places Torres 11. Meanings of Age and Aging among Older, Incarcerated Women: Implications for Adaptation and Policy Reform Janssen 12. How Thinking about Children from a Global Perspective Can Fortify Social Gerontology Schmeeckle 13. Lost in the "Big World": Korean College Students Coming of Age in the U.S. Song 14. Migration and Gendered Webs of Obligation: Caring for my Elderly Puerto Rican Mother in a Transnational Context Toro-Morn

Chris Wellin, PhD, is an associate professor of sociology and coordinator of gerontology programs at Illinois State University. In addition to publishing articles in numerous professional journals, Dr. Wellin was commissioned by a Committee of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2008 to review and assess ethnographic research on direct caregiving for older and/or disabled people. He served from 2009 to 2011 as chair of the Division on Youth, Aging, and the Life Course in the Society for the Study of Social Problems.