AGING AND THE LIFE COURSEAging and the life course is an important
sociological specialty. It provides us with informa-
tion about aging and being ‘‘old,’’ and about the
antecedents and consequences of stability and
change during late life. The increasing life-course
focus of aging research is especially important in
that it concentrates sociologists’ attention on the
dynamics of intraindividual change and on the
intersections of social structure, social change,
and personal biography. At its best, aging and life-
course research effectively link processes and dy-
namics at the macrohistorical and societal levels
with individual attitudes and behaviors. In addi-
tion, the life course in general, and late life in
particular, provide excellent contexts for testing
and, indeed, challenging some commonly held
assumptions and hypotheses about the dynamics
of social influence. In this way, it offers valuable
contributions to the larger sociological enterprise.
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