Social Forces and Aging

Atchley and Barusch's interdisciplinary approach has produced a text that provides the concepts, information, insight, and examples students need to achieve a basic understanding of aging as a social process. Covering the physical problems, inner experiences, and instrumental needs of the aging, the text examines aging on both an individual and societal level. It covers major areas of theory, research, social policy, and practice in a clear and organized manner to make social gerontology accessible to students from all backgrounds. This text is the classic book for the course that continually keeps pace with the dramatic changes in the field, including new theories, research, programs, and issues. Atchley and Barusch first examine individual aging-and adaptation to aging in everyday life, then move on to explore the needs and demands that aging, as a phenomenon, presents to society, while also delving into society's response to aging.

Atchley's (gerontology, Naropa U., Boulder, Colorado) and Barusch's (social work, U. of Utah) text is suitable for use in sociology, family studies, human development, psychology, social work, nursing, and similar disciplines. With the addition of co-author Barusch, the tenth edition gains incorporation of a female perspective. It also features inclusion of Census 2000 data, treatment of the operation and actuarial status of the Social Security program, expanded coverage of minorities, new material on trends in inequality from both individual/lifespan and macro/historic perspectives, greater discussion of memory, and additional international data. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Robert Atchley is Professor and Chair of the Department of Gerontology at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. His gerontology interests include adult development, spiritual development, long-term care, public policy, work and retirement, health change and disability, and family issues.

Dr. Atchley was President of the American Society on Aging from 1988 to 1990 and has also served in numerous leadership positions in the Gerontological Society of America and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education. He is associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Gerontology and was founding editor of the journal, Contemporary Gerontology. From 1974 to 1998, he was director of the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He has received more than a dozen awards for his scholarship, teaching, and professional service in the field of aging.

He is author of over100 articles and book chapters in social gerontology literature and more that a dozen books and research monographs, including Understanding American Society" (1970), "The Sociology of Retirement "(1976), "Aging: Continuity and Change "(1987),"Continuity and Adaptation in Aging: Creating Positive Experiences" (1999), and his tenth edition of his introductory gerontology text, "Social Forces and Aging" (2003).

A native of California, Dr. Barusch completed her BA at Reed College, Portland Oregon, and her MSW and PhD at University of California, Berkeley. She joined the University of Utah faculty in 1985, and is now a professor in the College of Social Work. Dr. Barusch writes extensively on issues related to social justice and the elderly, and has authored a social policy text: Foundations of Social Policy: Social Justice, Public Programs and the Social Work Profession, that was released by F.E. Peacock Publishers, Winter, 2002. Dr Barusch enjoys swimming, throwing pots, raising exotic birds, and spending time with her family.
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