The "third age" is described as the period in the life course that occurs after retirement but prior to the onset of disability, revealing a period in which individuals have the capacity to remain actively engaged. This book serves as a comprehensive discussion about how the emergence of the third age has changed the way we think about and examine traditional frameworks regarding aging issues and the life course. It introduces the discussion of the unique challenges and opportunities that older adults face while moving through this early phase of later life, proposing new frameworks, concepts, and methods to re-examine later life in the context of the era of the third age. This book proposes new ways of thinking about how we conceptualize the life course, think about the role of the welfare state in the lives of older people, negotiate social roles in later life, make meaning of our lives as we age, and cultivate relationships with others during later life. It brings together theoretical concepts and frameworks, methodological advances, and emerging themes and controversies that are redefining gerontology in the era of the Third Age. Highlighting important issues that warrant further exploration and discussion, this book advances our understanding of the Third Age and focuses attention on critical issues that should be addressed in future Third Age research and scholarly development. Key Features: Includes up-to-date description and analysis of the third age as a concept, life phase, and social status Addresses multiple perspectives to illustrate the impact of the third age on the way we examine later life Uses disciplinary perspectives such as social policy, demography, gerontology, sociology, social work, anthropology, and social psychology Examines mechanisms that stratify the older population in the context of the third age

People are increasingly reaching the so-called third age, a period when seniors search for a renewed purpose to life and spend time undertaking activities that they consider motivating, such as the learning of a foreign language. The study of language learning among aging populations has become a fast-growing area of research and this book is one of the first attempts to bring together what we know about this age group and their profiles as foreign language learners. Contributors to the volume discuss the issue from various psychological, neurological and pedagogical perspectives. Each of the chapters provides an updated theoretical background and offers some initial conclusions on the basis of original empirical studies carried out. Chapters challenge certain familiar preconceptions and assumptions about senior learners, offer the reader ideas for future research in this under-studied area and provide some practical advice for applying the proposals and solutions offered in real foreign language third-age classrooms.

Later years are changing under the impact of demographic, social and cultural shifts. No longer confined to the sphere of social welfare, they are now studied within a wider cultural framework that encompasses new experiences and new modes of being. Drawing on influences from the arts and humanities, and deploying diverse methodologies – visual, literary, spatial – and theoretical perspectives Cultural Gerontology has brought new aspects of later life into view. This major new publication draws together these currents including: Theory and Methods; Embodiment; Identities and Social Relationships; Consumption and Leisure; and Time and Space. Based on specially commissioned chapters by leading international authors, the Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology will provide concise authoritative reviews of the key debates and themes shaping this exciting new field.

Human aging is a complex, multi-faceted experience that unfolds over an entire lifetime. While human aging is universal, it is also wildly variable, shaped by individual, social, cultural, political, geographic and historical contexts. Gerontology: The basics explores the field of research, education and practice which takes on the complex and multi-faceted questions, issues and problems of adult aging and old age. Intended for anyone interested in understanding the origins of gerontology and its unique purview, we invite the reader to join us in a critical examination of what we think we know about becoming and being old and, perhaps, be inspired to engage more deeply in their own travels through the life-course.

Men Still at Work explores the reasons why many men are continuing to work well beyond the traditional retirement age. In today’s challenging economy, they are the second-fastest growing group of workers (just behind older women). Filled with profiles of older working men, as well as dynamic interview quotes, Men Still at Work explores thorny issues such as masculinity and the “need to provide,” as well as economic issues, job satisfaction, and more.

The intersections of aging, media, and culture are under-explored given trends in population aging, rapid increases in the mediation of everyday life, and the growing cultural significance of media consumption at the global level. This book brings together an international collection of critical scholars, both well-established and up-and-coming, from the various academic disciplines that share a common interest in the future study of aging and media. This anthology of original articles integrates aging theory and media studies through a study of core issues including the media’s influence on the construction of “old age,” the reciprocal influence of aging on media industries, age-based identities in a mediated world, issues of gender and sexuality in an aging society, and the practical implications of a more integrated approach between the two fields. The chapters explore the intersections between aging and media in the realms of advertising/marketing, television, film, music, celebrity and social media, among others.

Aging has emerged as a major and urgent issue for individuals, organisations and governments of our time. In this well-timed and comprehensive handbook, key international contributors to the field of study come together to create a definitive map of the subject. Framed by an authoritative introductory chapter, the SAGE Handbook of Aging, Work and Society offers a critical overview of the most significant themes and topics, with discussions of current research, theoretical controversies and emerging issues, divided into sections covering: Key Issues and Challenges The Aging Workforce Managing an Aging Workforce Living in an Aging Society Developing Public Policy

This book examines the unique characteristics of teaching foreign languages to senior learners. It discusses the potential age-related barriers and learning difficulties which may be encountered in senior foreign language education as well as solutions to overcome these challenges. The author describes the processes of human aging from different perspectives and introduces the concept of lifelong learning. The book proposes classroom practices, activities and materials that may be adopted when working with senior learners which will prove useful to teachers and teacher trainers, as well as to educational policymakers and planners. Furthermore, it describes potential modifications to educational programmes that may be introduced in order to eliminate affective barriers, making the learning material relevant and motivating, and encouraging the use of adult learning strategies.

As the global population ages, disability demographics are shifting. Societal transformation and global health inequities have changed who is likely to reach old age, who is likely to live with disability, and the relationship between aging and disability in various socio-cultural and geopolitical contexts. The Aging–Disability Nexus breaks new ground by bringing gerontology and disability studies into dialogue with each other through a variety of empirical, conceptual, and pedagogical approaches. Contributors explore the tensions that shape the way disability and aging are understood, experienced, and responded to at both individual and systemic levels, while avoiding the common tendency to conflate these overlapping elements and map them onto a normative, faulty notion of the human life trajectory. This perceptive work analyzes the distinction between aging with a disability and aging into disability, and reveals how multiple identities, socio-economic forces, culture, and community give form to our experiences.

Aging Men, Masculinities and Modern Medicine explores the multiple socio-historical contexts surrounding men’s aging bodies in modern medicine from a global perspective. The first of its kind, it investigates the interrelated aspects of aging, masculinities and biomedicine, allowing for a timely reconsideration of the conceptualisation of aging men within the recent explosion of social science studies on men’s health and biotechnologies including anti-aging perspectives. This book discusses both healthy and diseased states of aging men in medical practices, bringing together theoretical and empirical conceptualisations. Divided into four parts it covers: Historical epistemology of aging, bodies and masculinity and the way in which the social sciences have theorised the aging body and gender. Material practices and processes by which biotechnology, medical assemblages and men’s aging bodies relate to concepts of health and illness. Aging experience and its impact upon male sexuality and identity. The importance of men’s roles and identities in care-giving situations and medical practices. Highlighting how aging men’s bodies serve as trajectories for understanding wider issues of masculinity, and the way in which men’s social status and men’s roles are made in medical cultures, this innovative volume offers a multidisciplinary dialogue between sociology of health and illness, anthropology of the body and gender studies.