How Sociological Is the Sociology of Ageing?

Ageing and old age continue to be marginal issues within sociology. In contrast, social gerontology exercises considerable importance in social policy, in welfare practice and in debates in the mass media. This proposed session reconsiders the disciplinary boundaries between the sociology of ageing and social gerontology. The session will examine the relative costs as well as benefits of either strengthening links between the discipline of sociology and the field of social gerontology, or of creating a clearer distance between these two approaches. By addressing these alternatives, a case will be made for prioritising the importance of social theory in developing a distinct role for the sociology of ageing. This role should draw less on the age-advocacy approach underlying social gerontology and more upon analyses of the social and cultural conditions contextualising the place of later life in global society.

We are proposing three presentations. The first (Paul Higgs) will provide a thematic account of extant sociological theorising in the sociology of ageing; the second (Chris Gilleard) will consider, as an example, the application of social constructionism to the re-framing of age; and the final paper (Martin Hyde) will address the significance of globalisation in understanding the transformation of ageing and old age in the twenty first century.

.