ASI

Merril Silverstein, has been elected chair of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Section (BSS) of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) for the 2017-18 term.

In November of this year, he will begin his duties as chair-elect, which will include organizing the GSA 2017 national scientific meeting in San Francisco. This meeting will be integrated with the International Association of Gerontological and Geriatrics and produce the largest scholarly conference on aging in the history of the profession.

GSA is the nation’s leading interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the society — and its more than 5,400 members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. BSS is the largest of GSA’s four sections.

Madonna Harrington Meyer and Elizabeth A. Daniele have published a new book called Gerontology: Changes, Challenges, and Solutions, Volume I and Volume II.

The people who make up the rapidly growing population of Americans over age 65 are changing, and as a result, our nation will change. This shift presents new issues, controversies, and challenges that affect health, wellness, welfare, retirement, politics, and economics. This two-volume work examines where we are and where we are headed, paying careful attention to the differential impacts of gender, race, class, marital status, and other social variables. It considers key changes in demographics, old-age policies, families, work, and death and dying.

Volume one covers an array of demographic issues, policies, and politics, highlighting how factors such as gender and race shape families, income, retirement, immigrants, and veterans across the life course. The second volume covers education, religion, volunteering, exercise, nutrition, and health care policies across the life course. Topics addressed include the old-age welfare state, the extension of retirement age, home care care work, nursing home care, end of life planning, and euthanasia.

Merril Silverstein is the James Martin Visiting Senior Fellow at the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. In February, he will be giving a presentation on,”Adult Children Providing Support to their Aging Parents: Mixed Motives over the Family Life Course.” To read more on the topic and lecture, click here.

Explorations in Aging by Amy Speach

The SU Aging Studies Institute takes a multidisciplinary approach to the ever-evolving issues confronting older citizens. To read the full article click here.

Madonna Harrington Meyer was featured on the Gender & Society Podcast, she was invited on to discuss her book, “Grandmothers at Work: Juggling Families and Jobs,” click here to listen.

Is grandmotherhood intensifying?

By Olivia Gentile

For years, scholars have been saying that motherhood in the United States is more demanding than it was in the past: while mothers used to simply send children outside to play, now they attend ceaselessly to every aspect of their development.

In groundbreaking and engaging new book, a prominent sociologist says that grandmotherhood may be getting tougher, too.

Click here to read the rest of the article.