AGING AND THE LIFE COURSEof becoming old. Increasingly, theories and meth-
ods of the life course are replacing the earlier
emphasis on late life as a separate topic of inquiry.
This is a vast arena, and the sociology of aging is
appropriately informed by the theories and meth-
ods of many sociological subspecialities ranging
from macrohistorical and demographic perspec-
tives to the microorientations of social psychology
and interpretive sociology.
HISTORY OF THE FIELDHistorically, social gerontology emerged from a
social-problems orientation and focused on the
deprivations and losses that were expected to char-
acterize late life (e.g., Burgess 1960; Cain 1959).
Early research in the field focused on issues such
as poverty during late life; old age as a marginal
status, reflecting problems of social integration;
the negative effects of institutionalization and poor
quality of long-term care; and ageism and age
discrimination. Early on, however, some investiga-
tors saw the dangers of allowing a crisis orienta-
tion to dominate the study of aging and focused
attention on patterns of ‘‘normal’’ and ‘‘success-
ful’’ aging (Havighurst 1963; Palmore 1970). A
significant proportion of research also focuses on
the problems of late life. Investigators remain
concerned about social integration and adapta-
tion to loss. The majority of funding for aging
research is provided by the National Institute on
Aging, which is mandated to support health-relat-
ed research. Consequently, much aging research
focuses on illness and the health care delivery
system. The dramatic aging of the population
(U.S. Bureau of the Census 1987)—a trend that
will peak with the aging of the Baby Boom co-
horts—leads to questions about the capacities of
social institutions and public policies to meet the
needs of an unprecedented number and propor-
tion of older adults. Scholars using political econo-
my theories focus on the ways in which societies
respond to the dependency needs of older adults
and the social implications of those responses.
Although much research remains focused on
the problems of late life, sociologists now recog-
nize the broader importance and implications of
old age and aging. Two primary factors appear to
have been the driving forces that account for this
broader and more complex view. First, despite the
social-problems orientation of most early research,
empirical data failed to confirm a uniformly bleak
picture of old age. For example, in spite of higher
rates of illness and disability, the vast majority of
older adults are competent and able to live inde-
pendent lives (Kunkel and Applebaum 1992). Simi-
larly, rather than representing involuntary loss of a
treasured role, retirement is actively sought by the
majority of older workers and seldom poses adap-
tive problems (e.g., Hardy and Quadagno 1995).
In addition, some of the problems observed in
early studies of older adults have been remedied
by the increased resources that recent cohorts
have brought to late life, as well as to effective
public policies. Thus, although health care costs
remain a burden for many older adults, Medicare
and Medicaid substantially reduced barriers to
health care among older people. Similarly, as a
result of improvements in Social Security benefits
and increased participation in private pensions,
older Americans now are no more likely to live in
poverty than younger adults and, indeed, are less
likely to live in poverty than children (U.S. Bureau
of the Census 1997). Such findings pushed social
gerontology toward more complex and empirical-
ly defensible perspectives on old age and aging.Second, sociologists came to recognize that
age plays a fundamental role in social structure
and social organization. As a parameter of social
organization, age affects the allocation of social
resources and social roles. Along with sex and
race, age is an ascribed status. But age is unique
among ascribed statuses in that it changes over
time, and movement across age categories results
in changing expectations for behavior, changing
access to social resources, and changing personal
and social responsibilities. The structural quality
of age is best articulated in age stratification theory
(Riley 1987). Age stratification refers to the divi-
sion of society into meaningful age groups that
differ in social value and the allocation of social
resources. The concept of age stratification has
proven to be useful in a variety of ways. At the
broadest level, it reminds us that age is a funda-
mental parameter of social organization. Age stratifi-
cation has been particularly useful in highlighting
age-related roles and norms. It has a social-psycho-
logical facet as well: age consciousness or aware-
ness and identification with members of one’s age
group (Day 1990). Moreover, the structural and
individual facets of age stratification operate in
both directions. On the one hand, the structural