This book is a major reassessment of work in the field of critical gerontology, providing a comprehensive survey of issues by a team of contributors drawn from Europe and North America. The book focuses on the variety of ways in which age and ageing are socially constructed, and the extent to which growing old is being transformed through processes associated with globalisation. The collection offers a range of alternative views and visions about the nature of social ageing, making a major contribution to theory-building within the discipline of gerontology. The different sections of the book give an overview of the key issues and concerns underlying the development of critical gerontology. These include: first, the impact of globalisation and of multinational organizations and agencies on the lives of older people; second, the factors contributing to the "social construction" of later life; and third, issues associated with diversity and inequality in old age, arising through the effects of cumulative advantage and disadvantage over the life course. These different themes are analysed using a variety of theoretical perspectives drawn from sociology, social policy, political science, and social anthropology. "Aging, Globalization and Inequality" brings together key contributors to critical perspectives on aging and is unique in the range of themes and concerns covered in a single volume. The study moves forward an important area of debate in studies of aging, and thus provides the basis for a new type of critical gerontology relevant to the twenty-first century.

Dedication Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION1. Introduction: Critical Perspectives in Social Gerontology Jan Baars, Dale Dannefer, Chris Phillipson, and Alan WalkerSECTION 1: DIMENSIONS OF CRITICAL GERONTOLOGY2. Beyond Neomodernism, Antimodernism, and Postmodernism: Basic Categories for Contemporary Critical Gerontology Jan Baars3. Aging and Globalization: Issues for Critical Gerontology and Political Economy Chris Phillipson4. Reexamining the Political Economy of Aging: Understanding the Structure/Agency Tension Alan Walker5. Critical Feminist Perspectives, Aging, and Social Policy Carroll Estes6. Reciprocal Co-Optation: The Relationship of Critical Theory and Social Gerontology Dale DanneferSECTION 2: CRITICAL DIMENSIONS OF MEDICALIZATION: AGING AND HEALTH AS CULTURAL PRODUCTS7. From Chronology to Functionality: Critical Reflections on the Gerontology of the Body Stephen Katz8. Empowering the Old: Critical Gerontology and Anti-Aging in a Global Context Neil King and Toni Calasanti9. Dementia in the Iron Cage: The Biopsychiatric Construction of Alzheimer's Dementia Kathryn DouthitSECTION 3: AGE AND INEQUALITY: LOCAL, NATIONAL, AND GLOBAL DYNAMICS10. The Emerging Postmodern Culture of Aging and Retirement Security Larry Polivka and Charles F. Longino, Jr.11. Dynamics of Late-Life Inequality: Modeling the Interplay of Health Disparities, Economic Resources, and Public Policies Stephen Crystal12. Health, Aging, and America's Poor: Ethnographic Insights on Family Co-morbidity and Cumulative Disadvantage Linda M. Burton and Keith E. Whitfield13. Culture, Migration, Inequality, and "Periphery" in a Globalized World: Challenges for Ethno- and Anthropogerontology Sandra Torres14. Globalization and Critical Theory: Political Economy of World Population Issues John A. VincentMeet the Contributors Index