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Dominant and Competing Paradigms in Gerontology: Towards a Political Economy of Ageing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Carroll L. Estes
Affiliation:
Professor and Chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
James H. Swan
Affiliation:
Assistant Research Sociologist, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco.
Lenore E. Gerard
Affiliation:
Associate in Research, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco.

Abstract

The origins and influence of social science perspectives have conditioned theoretical and empirical developments in the field of gerontology. Yet little systematic examination has been afforded to the role of social science in the production of gerontological knowledge in providing the underlying rationale for American social policy for the aged. This paper examines the dominant U.S. social science perspectives or paradigms and discusses the reasons for their centrality in American gerontological thought. The paper concludes with a proposal for an alternative line of inquiry — a political economy of ageing — which takes as problematic the effects of social history, the world economy, capitalism and social class on the ageing process and the aged and the policy interventions designed for them.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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