The sociology of aging is particularly relevant given demographic trends.  Three examples.  First, our life span has increased 25 years in the past century.  What have people done with 25 added years?  How has society changed as a result of most people living beyond age 75?  Second, what effect does the changing architecture of age have on the distribution of privilege?  Is elders’ political influence again as important as it was in agrarian societies?  at the start of a new century, elders’ political influence is again as important as it was in agrarian societies.  Third, among elders themselves, is there now a greater concentration of those who “have,” or is the harshness in the aging experience and the brute character of the aging enterprise growing the “have nots”? 

This course is an introduction to the sociological study of aging and intergenerational relations.  It is organized to examine people’s experiences with aging and the societal implications that aging has.  Why study aging?  Similar to gender, race/ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, age is a sociological variable that reveals important structural arrangements in American society that affect quality of life.  People’s rights, privilege, and responsibilities are influence by changes in the nation's age structure and by the politics of intergenerational relations. 

During the semester we will deconstruct myths of aging and stereotypes about the aged, analyze the challenges we face as we age, assess the continuities and discontinuities in family relationships across the life course, and debate how government policy is affected by the age structure of American society.  The course is more conceptually than practically oriented.  It is not a social gerontology course, rather a sociology course.  One practical thing you will learn from the course is a healthy skepticism about what is alleged to be an expert opinion on aging.  You will discover through this course the value of historical and cross-cultural comparisons, and the importance of the C. Wright Mills’ injunction to become sociologically imaginative – to see history and biography intertwined, and pubic issues and private troubles fused.

REQUIRED TEXTS
 

Albom, Mitch.  1997. Tuesdays with Morrie.

Diamond, Timothy.  1995. Making gray gold.
	McGowin, Diane.  1992. Living in the labyrinth

Quadagno, Jill.  2005.  Aging and the life course, 3rd edition.

Vaillant, George.  2002.  Aging well.

ADDITIONAL READINGS

Regularly, there are articles assigned which are only available through Electronic Reserves.  The authors and articles are designated on the syllabus.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

The requirements for this course include two exams (worth 25% each), two research exercises (worth 10% each), and a semester project (worth 30%).  This might be a demanding course for some students in terms of the time needed to balance your own expecta-tions and to satisfy the course requirements.  The reading load is moderate-to-heavy.  Thus, the requirements are: 

(1) attend classes prepared, having read the assigned material beforehand 
(2) complete two mini-research exercises 
(3) take two examinations – a midterm and a final
(4) participate in a community-based learning site and submit a 12-15 page paper,
     or submit a 15-20 page research paper

I hope that much of the class time will be devoted to class discussion, thus regular class attendance is expected.  To do well in this course, whether measured by the learning you experience or the grade earned, requires that you keep up with the assigned readings and attend class prepared.  I want you to feel free to ask questions, make comments, and discuss the implications of the material.  I believe that an exchange of information will maximize learning, and your experience in the course will make and break itself in the way you and others participate.  Discussion is vital.  You are encouraged to make comments, start ad hoc debates, ask questions to other students, bring news articles to the attention of the class, and, in effect, think critically. 

Research Exercises 

Several mini-research projects are integrated into the course, and everyone is expected to participate in two.  One is required – a depth interview of an elder; it can be either the interview addressing health status or social life.  The second is your choice – an assessment of the well-being of older men compared to older women from census data, another depth interview with an elder, an evaluation of web sites examining assisted suicide, sources of media ageism, or an evaluation of news stories in newspapers and magazines or radio or television program that examined the economics of being an older women.  For these brief research projects, you become engaged in “doing sociology.”  The research report (4-5 pages) should reveal your understanding of the issue in a more sophisticated manner than found in the primary data itself (the census information or the news stories).  

Semester Research Paper

Both first-hand and library-grounded research make the process of studying the social world of elders much more intriguing.  Characteristic of developing a semester paper, you come away from the experience with a deeper understanding of a topic and a certainty of having learned.  My expectation is for you to develop a very manageable, small-scale research project that directly examines on your research question.  The project can be based on a community-learning placement or it can be of your own design.  To answer a research question, sometimes students collect original data and analyze that data, such as the observational data you derive from being around elders; other times students work together on common, small project.  “Data” can be photographs, historical documents, interview materials, or observations.  Whatever the method of investigation or the data you collect, you are expected to submit a research paper that integrates your library work and your own analysis of your data. 

This research assignment is a semester-long project.  Only very rarely can someone submit a high quality paper while trying to complete the assignment in the several weeks of a semester.  Those papers typically earn a C or worse.  The research that evolves requires some primary data (from your interviews, observation, or content analysis) as well as a number of hours engaged in the background library research.  This culminates in the paper due no later Friday, December 2.  Late papers will be penalized. 

Because the paper is weighted as 30% of the course grade, the work involved is at least equivalent to the reading and preparation needed for the midterm or the final exam.  Further details on the paper are outlined in a separate handout, Guidelines for Research Reports.

I want to restate that you need to invest yourself in the project, and you must to get involved early.  To help assure the project begins with enough time to complete it, you need to consult me outside of class and before October 5.   Set up an appointment to see me.   I would anticipate that you leave the office after the first visit prepared to draft a brief abstract summarizing the proposed research.  For final approval of paper topic:  A one-page prospectus must be submitted no later than October 7.
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Examinations

There are two exams scheduled – a midterm and the final examinations.  Each consists of essay questions assessing your integration of materials, and a series of short answer questions assessing your understanding of main points, key issues and concepts, and themes within readings.  The exams are each worth 25% of your course grade.  Each covers one roughly one half of the readings and lectures.  No examination will be made up without written consent from your class Dean.
 

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