MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY AND OLD AGE by Paul Higgs, Ian Rees Jones ( 9780415398602 )

Item Details

Title:

MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY AND OLD AGE
TOWARDS A SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH IN LATER LIFE

By:

Paul Higgs, Ian Rees Jones

Format:

Paperback

List price:

£39.99

Our price:

£38.79

Discount:

3% off

You save:

£1.20

ISBN 10:

0415398606

ISBN 13:

9780415398602

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Publisher:

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Pub. date:

1 October, 2008

Series:

Critical Studies in Health and Society

Pages:

160

Description:

Reflects on how our understanding and experience of health at later ages interacts with social and bio-medical developments. This book points out that debates on longevity and disability are being transformed by the emergence of a fitter and healthier older population. It is useful for students and researchers of medical sociology and gerontology.

Synopsis:

The nature of health in later life has conventionally been studied from two perspectives. Medical sociologists have focused on the failing body, chronic illness, infirmity and mortality, while social gerontologists on the other hand have focused on the epidemiology of old age and health and social policy. By examining these perspectives, Higgs and Jones show how both standpoints have a restricted sense of contemporary ageing which has prevented an understanding of the way in which health in later life has changed. In the book, the authors point out that the current debates on longevity and disability are being transformed by the emergence of a fitter and healthier older population. This third age - where fitness and participation are valorised - leads to the increasing salience of issues such as bodily control, age-denial and anti-ageing medicine. By discussing the key issue of old age versus ageing, the authors examine the prospect of a new sociology - a sociology of health in later life.Medical Sociology and Old Age is essential reading for all students and researchers of medical sociology and gerontology and for anyone concerned with the challenge of ageing populations in the twenty-first century. This book is essential reading for all students and researchers of medical sociology and gerontology.

Illustrations:

1 black & white tables

Publication:

Imprint:

Routledge

Returns:

Returnable

Some other items by this author:

AGEING AND GLOBALISATION