International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy: Volume 29 Issue 1/2

Theorizing in social gerontology: the raison d'être

Jon Hendricks, Jason L. Powell

The purpose of this paper is to contextualise the need for a social theory of ageing. For a long time, social gerontology has been accused of being “data rich but theory poor”…

Maggie Kuhn: social theorist of radical gerontology

Carroll Estes, Elena Portacolone

The purpose of this article is to explore Maggie Kuhn's theoretical and analytical contributions to social gerontology and more broadly to the advancement of critical and public…

Ageing well: emplaced over time

Sherry Ann Chapman

To understand ageing well, one needs to study not only those who are ageing but also the places within and with which people are ageing. In the past, much ageing‐well research has…

Aging agents: social gerontologists' imputations to old people

Neal King, Toni Calasanti

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the argument that scholars' imputations of agency serve modern professional/institutional purposes other than the refinement of testable…

Globalization and ageing workers: constructing a global life course

J. Brandon McKelvey

Globalization has speeded the flow of development across borders, encouraging the movement of both labour and capital. Although it has been well‐documented that labour is less…

Essential others: anthropology and the return of the old savage

Haim Hazan

Old age, in its most intense and extreme aspects involving frailty, dementia, Alzheimer's and death, is more often ignored rather than discussed in contemporary anthropology…

The narrative complexity of successful ageing

Molly Andrews

The purpose of this paper is to argue for an archaeological expedition of sorts, to search for and to uncover a host of stories which might assist us in piecing together a…

The sociological construction of ageing: lessons for theorising

Jason L. Powell, Jon Hendricks

The purpose of this concluding paper is to reflect on the theories of ageing well delineated by the papers of the special issue. It sets research themes that social theorists of…