Critical Perspectives on Aging The Political and Moral Economy of Growing Old

This unique volume brings together 20 critical essays on aging within the context of the broad social, political, and economic factors that help shape and determine the realities of growing old. Rather than viewing aging in isolation, it explores the social creation of old age dependency and the profound influence of race, gender, and social class on what it means to grow old. It looks too at such topics as the "biomedicalization" of aging; the role of business and the media in changing societal images of the old; the fact and fiction behind "senior power"; the multibillion dollar nursing home industry; and the role of advanced capitalist nations in creating economic dependency among elders in the Third World.

Introduction: The Unique Contributions of This Volume Vicente Navarro Part I: IntroductionOverview Meredith MinklerThe New Political Economy of Aging: Introduction and Critique Carroll L. EstesPolitical and Moral Economy: Not Such Strange Bedfellows Meredith Minkler and Thomas R. ColeDependency or Empowerment? Toward a Moral and Political Economy of Aging Jon Hendricks and Cynthia A. Leedham Part II: New Images of the Old and the Debate over Resource Allocation"Generational Equity" and the New Victim Blaming Meredith MinklerGold in Gray: Reflections on Business' Discovery of the Elderly Market Meredith MinklerA Lamb in Wolf's Clothing? The Reality of Senior Power and Social Policy Steven P. Wallace, John B. Williamson, Rita Gaston Lung, and Lawrence A. Powell Part III: Apocalyptic Demography and the Biomedicalization of AgingThe Biomedicalization of Aging: Dangers and Dilemmas Carroll L. Estes and Elizabeth A. BinneyThe Politics of Alzheimer's Disease: A Case Study in Apocalyptic Demography Ann Robertson Part IV: Critical Perspectives on Market Economy Health CareThe Nursing Home Industry: A Structural Analysis Charlene HarringtonThe Political Economy of Mental Health Care for the Elderly Elizabeth A. Binney and James H. SwanThe Short Life and Painful Death of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act Martha Holstein and Meredith Minkler Part V: Race, Class, Gender, and AgingOlder Women in the Post-Reagan Era Terry Arendell and Carroll L. EstesCommunity Care Policies and Gender Justice Suzanne E. England, Sharon M. Keigher, Baila Miller, and Nathan L. LinskGender, Race and Class: Beyond the Feminization of Poverty in Later Life Paula L. DresselThe Political Economy of Health Care for Elderly Blacks Steven P. Wallace Part VI: Retirement, Social Security, and Economic DependencyRetirement and the Moral Economy: An Historical Interpretation of the German Case Martin KohliPostwar Capitalism and the Extension of Social Security into aRetirement Wage John MylesDependency among Third World Elderly: A Need for New Direction in the Nineties Sheila M. Neysmith Part VII: ConclusionFuture Prospects for Aging Policy Reform Judith Shindul-Rothschild and John B. WilliamsonEpilogue Carroll L. EstesContributorsIndex

Meredith Minkler (Author) , Carroll L. Estes (Author)