Aging and Society: Canadian Perspectives, 8th Edition
Digital teaching aids may be available for this title. All instructor requests are reviewed by our team before the files are made accessible.
As the 21st century unfolds, the study of aging will increase in importance. Canada’s population will have more older people than ever before. These people will make new demands on Canada’s healthcare, retirement income, and housing resources. They will also bring new interests, skills, and approaches to later life. People young and old will need to understand the realities of aging in this new era. This text presents a full picture of aging—problems and all. But it also emphasizes the opportunities and advantages of later life to illustrate its underlying theme: successful aging. This theme makes more sense today than ever before. Longer life and more years of activity and good health have changed the landscape of old age. Late old age still brings physical decline. But better health and nutrition at every stage of life, along with advances in medicine, extend the active years of middle age. The sayings “60 is the new 40” and “70 is the new 50” may have begun as clever remarks, but they describe the reality of aging today for more and more people. Above advances in health care, nutrition, and medicine, technological change, a globalized economy, unstable work careers, demographic change, convergence of male and female career opportunities—all call for new models of aging to fit new patterns of social experience. Many changes have taken place in Canadian gerontology. New researchers have entered the field of aging. The government has released many reports that summarize studies of health, housing, and pension policies. And consortia of researchers and research centres have published the results of their studies. This body of knowledge will shape social policy in the future. We have used these sources and many others, including academic journals, books, and online reports to update this text to engage students and provide a deeper understanding of how the topic relates to their lives and society.
Features
- *NEW* New Time to Review questions help students to assess their learning as they progress through the chapter contents.
- *NEW* The projected issues of the past exist as real challenges today. Canada has become an older society. Income inequality, early retirement, community-based healthcare, the importance of active living, and caregiver burden affect more people than ever before. The first Baby Boomers have begun to enter old age. This generation as it ages will make new demands on society and this will call for new responses. The eighth edition of Aging and Society: Canadian Perspectives points to some of the emerging issues in aging and to the challenges that lie ahead.
- Aging in Global Perspective boxes examine examples and cases of aging in a cross-cultural and global context.
- Each chapter begins with Learning Objectives that lay out the chapter contents and prompt students to read the chapter with a critical eye.
- Chapter exhibits present charts, graphs, and examples to further illustrate points in the text. These exhibits engage students in questions that probe their understanding. Many exhibits ask students to reflect on their personal views on a topic.
Table of Contents
- Part One: Gerontology Today
- Chapter 1: Aging Today
- Chapter 2: Theories and Methods
- Part Two: Social Change
- Chapter 3: Aging in Canada and the World Today
- Chapter 4: Aging and Ethnicity
- Part Three: Maturational Change
- Chapter 5: Personal Health and Illness
- Chapter 6: The Psychology of Aging
- Part Four: Institutional Change
- Chapter 7: Healthcare
- Chapter 8: Finances and Economics
- Chapter 9: Retirement and Work
- Chapter 10: Leisure, Recreation, and Service
- Chapter 11: Housing and Transportation
- Part Five: The Experience of Aging
- Chapter 12: Family Life
- Chapter 13: Social Support
- Chapter 14: Dying, Death, and Bereavemen