Studying Aging and Social Change

What if the world population consisted of a single generation that lived forever? Or what if each successive generation came into being all at once and then perished before the next generation came into existence? How would the absence of many different generations sharing pieces of the same time-line alter how we think about the linked processes of aging and social change? In this book, editor Melissa Hardy presents a collection of strategies for conceptualizing and analyzing the connections between intra-vidual and societal change. Studying Aging and Social Change questions the boundaries between self and society and change and stability. The book includes classic treatments on generations and cohorts by Karl Mannheim and Norman Ryder and presents a new theoretical contribution that explores the meaning of aging as a social process. Each of the six new essays develops a central theoretical concept, linking that concept to issues of research design and analysis. By reexamining the assumptions that underlie our approaches to the study of change, this volume provides key insights into how we can understand fundamental social processes such as human development and socialization, the formation of public opinion and political identity, and the shaping of collective action and group behavior. This enlightening volume will be a valuable resource for academics and students in the fields of social work, gerontology, sociology, and family studies.

Melissa Hardy is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Demography at Penn State University in University Park. She is an alumna of Albright College and Indiana University in Bloomington. Her research focused on aging and the life course, retirement and age-stratified transitions, self-assessed health, and political attitudes using longitudinal data and a range of quantitative techniques.  Her published work appears in American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Demography. She enjoyed teaching social statistics and general linear models to graduate and undergraduates students, using everyday experiences to help them understand the meaning of statistical concepts.