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The Elderly in Society

Beyond Modernization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Jon Hendricks
Jon Hendricks*
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
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Extract

Modernization theory provides a successful conceptual model in gerontology for two reasons. First, and most obviously, it establishes an integrative framework for those who focus on cross-cultural and historical patterns of aging in comparative contexts. In addition, together with the age-stratification model (Riley, Johnson, and Foner, 1972), it has fostered a movement away from an emphasis on individualistic, psychological explanations of adjustment and adaptation toward a more macrolevel orientation. As a consequence, research in aging has gradually become more attuned to the importance of structural arrangements and their impact on the roles and statuses accorded the elderly. The purpose of this article is to expand further the focus on societal factors and to suggest a needed redirection of our research interests.

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , Summer 1982 , pp. 321 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1982 

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Footnotes

fn00

Author's Note:This article is a revision of a paper presented to the Gerontological Society of America, 1980. I am grateful to Toni Calasanti for her critical assistance and to Dwight Billings for his nudge in the right direction.

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