A book review was a new venture for the annual conference of the
British Society of Gerontology but then this year saw the launch of the
third edition of Ageing in Society and so celebration was in the air.
The original idea for a
textbook in social gerontology arose during the 1980s and led to the
first edition of Ageing in Society : An Introduction to Social Gerontology,
in 1990 edited by John Bond and Peter Coleman. The book was seen as a
comprehensive and accessible textbook bringing together leading experts
from the fields of sociology, psychology and biology to provide a
multi-disciplinary text designed to encourage a fuller understanding of
the key features of ageing. Since publication the book has been widely
used by a number of courses and in 1992 a decision was taken to adopt
the text as a set book for a new undergraduate second level Open
University course, An Ageing Society, launched in 1994. Subsequently it
was agreed to substantially update and extend the text with particular
attention paid to issues of diversity in later life and the influence of
class, gender and ethnicity. Sheila Peace, a member of the Open
University course team joined John and Peter as a third editor to
oversee the revisions. The text continued to be influential, used by
students throughout the UK including over 3000 OU students.
It was at the turn of the
century that SAGE publications Ltd carried out a review of the book
seeking views on how to develop the text now that the ageing of the
developed world had been fully recognised. There was on-going support
for a third edition but it was felt that the book should look to Europe
and encompass the expertise of European gerontologists alongside their
British counterparts. John Bond and Sheila Peace agreed to continue as
editors and in 2002 set out to find European editors to join with them
in creating an exciting new text. German and Dutch psychologists, Freya
Dittmann-Kohli and Gerben Westerhoff from the University of Nijmegen
agreed to become partners in this venture and the four editors spent
time discussing how the two parts of the book should be developed. It
was decided that they would try to find British and European partners as
authors for each chapter.
The first five chapters
set out to raise the issues for an ageing Europe and consider
biological, psychological and social ageing as well as the methods used
in research; they provide the bedrock of the book. The second part of
the text – Chapters 6 to 13 allow authors the freedom to discuss issues
more widely and here themes such as cognitive ageing, social protection,
retirement, health and illness, environment, and cultural images of old
age are critically examined. The book ends by looking forward and
raising key issues concerning – longevity and human ageing; ageing and
global political economy; production and consumption; future roles for
older people and the future of gerontology. It has taken five years to
produce the third edition of Ageing in Society which has the sub-clause
‘European Perspectives on Gerontology’. It is a new text for a new time
and one which still fulfils the need for an authoritative introduction
to social gerontology, exploring the key theories, concepts and methods
which are truly multi-disciplinary.
Throughout its development all editions of this
book have been sponsored by the British Society of Gerontology and
supported by members of the publications committee. This is a book that
captures European gerontological research for students and lecturers and
is a major contribution from the BSG in discussing the future
development of the ageing population.
Anthea and Karen looked at the first five chapters which offer
grounding in disciplinary approaches to gerontology introduced by an
overview of the current position of older people within the ever-growing
interpretation of what is Europe. Comments were made on what worked
well and what was missing: how the European introduction extended the
student view of ageing while the Research Methods chapter was especially
valuable for the clear explanation of age cohort and period effects;
how more attention could have been made on ethical questions in research
whilst also highlighting some editorial corrections that had not been
spotted.
In relation to the second
part of the book, the critiques addressed different themes. Judith
looked at the chapters on 'Personal Relationships in Later Life' by
Janet Askham , Dieter Ferring and Giovanni Lamura and 'Environment and
Ageing' by Sheila Peace, Hans-Werner Wahl, Heidrun Mollenkopf and Frank
Oswald. She congratulated the first team on developing an original
cutting edge approach to this topic which encompassed the changing
nature of personal relationships that would impact on later life; for
the second team she liked the theoretical review but also commented that
there might have been more on land-use planning and that the
multi-disciplinary nature of the approaches ( psychology, geography and
sociology) brought together perhaps needed greater synthesis. Unlike
Judith, Theresa had not only looked at work on ‘health & dependency’
and ‘work and retirement’ but she had decided to look across the
chapters in the second section and drew attention to the ways in which
Ch.11,12,13 offered strong psychological contributions concerning the
collective and the individual.
These discussions were
followed by Gerben Westerhoff who gave his own interpretation of being
part of a group that had tried to bring a more European perspective to
what has been a UK venture, while John Bond talked about how the last
chapter ‘Ageing into the Future’ had evolved from a day of discussion in
Nijmegan where the editors brainstormed – a different focus from the
recent BSG text. The event was enjoyable and informative and John
Vincent commented that this was something that the annual conference
should seek to do every year: choosing a book to critique that involves
authors and readers.
Contents
Ch.1. ‘The Ageing World’ - Sheila Peace, Freya Dittmann-Kohli, Gerben J Westerhoof and John Bond
Ch.2. ‘The Biology of Ageing’ - Rudi GJ Westendrop and Thomas BL Kirkwood
Ch.3. ‘Psychological Ageing’ - Alfons Marcoen, Peter G Coleman and Ann O’Hanlon
Ch.4. ‘Social Theory and Social Ageing’ - Chris Phillipson and Jan Baars
Ch.5. ‘Researching Ageing’ - Christina Victor, Gerben J Westerhof and John Bond
Ch.6. ‘Health and Dependency in Later Life’ - John Bond and Gregorio Rodriguez Cabrero
Ch.7. ‘Social Protections: Incomes, Poverty and
the Reform of the Pension Systems’ - Gerhard Naegele and Alan Walker
Ch.8 ‘Work and Retirement’ - Harald Knemund and Franz Kolland
Ch.9. ‘Personal Relationships in Later Life’ - Janet Askham , Dieter Ferring and Giovanni Lamura
Ch.10. ‘Environment and Ageing’ - Sheila Peace, Hans-Werner Wahl, Heidrun Mollenkopf and Frank Oswald
Ch.11 ‘Meanings of Ageing and Old Age:
Discursive Contexts, Social Attitudes and Personal Identities’ - Gerben J
Westerhoff and Emmanuelle Tulle
Ch.12. ‘Competence and Cognition’ - Ralf TH. Krampe and Lynn McInnes
Ch.13 ‘Self and Life Management: Wholesome
Knowledge for the Third Age’ - Freya Dittmann-Kohli and Daniela Jopp
Ch.14. ‘Ageing into the Future’ - John Bond, Freya Dittmann-Kohli, Gerben J Westerhoff and Sheila Peace
Published February 2007
Paperback 1-4129-0020-4 £18.89
Hardback 1-4129-0019-0 £70.00
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