The Self and Society in Aging Processes

This volume focuses on the experience of growing old as it is linked to societal factors. Ryff and Marshall construct this "macro" view of aging in society by bridging disciplines and brining together contributors from all the social sciences.

The book is organized into three sections: theoretical perspectives, socioeconomic structures, and contexts of self and society. Leading psychologists, anthropologists, gerontologists, and sociologists present theoretical and empirical advances that forge links between the individual and the social aspects of aging. It is must reading for researchers in all gerontologic specialties, and a valuable text for graduate courses in human development, psychology of aging, and other social aspects of aging.

The book contains black-and-white illustrations.

Dr. Victor Marshall is Director of the UNC Institute on Aging, Professor of Sociology and Adjunct Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also directs the Institute's NIH-funded doctoral and post-doctoral training program.

Carol D. Ryff, Ph.D., is Director of the Institute on Aging and Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research centers on the study of psychological well-being, an area in which she has developed multidimensional assessment scales that have been translated to more than 25 different languages and are currently in use studies around the world. Dr. Ryff has catalyzed extensive multidisciplinary research on topics related to life course development (e.g., parenting; aging transitions; social relations, emotions, and health). Since 1996, she has edited four books that summarize recent findings in these areas. She currently directs the MIDUS II (Midlife in the U.S.) national survey, which is funded by a $26 million grant from the National Institute on Aging.