TY - JOUR AU - Silverstein, Merril PY - 2010/04/26 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - GERO 530: Life Span Developmental Sociology JF - TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology JA - TRAILS VL - IS - SE - DO - UR - https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/gero-530-life-span-developmental-sociology SP - AB - ? Course Objectives and OrganizationThe world is undergoing a transformation in societal aging. In almost all countries, life expectancies are increasing rapidly, as is the proportion of the population that is elderly. In this course we investigate how aging over the adult life course is shaped by our relationships in families, communities, cultural groups, and birth-cohorts, in conjunction with our individual (physiological) characteristics. We also examine how the aging process is related to social institutions such as the family, the economy, and the political system. The course has several overarching themes. One theme of the course centers on basic research and theory with special attention to theoretical and empirical strategies for assessing and explaining social processes in the later years and over the life-course. A second theme revolves around issues of social, cultural, and historical changes that have altered the nature of personal, family, and cohort relationships with the aged, and created challenges for public aging policy. ER -