Ageing and gerontology

The turn to biographical methods in social science is invigorating the relationship between policy and practice. This book shows how biographical methods can improve theoretical understanding of professional practice, as well as enrich the development of professionals, and promote more meaningful practitioner - service user relationships.

This book offers a unique perspective on ideas about late life as expressed in social policy and socio-cultural constructs of age with lived experience.

This book addresses the shortfall in knowledge regarding older people's attachment to deprived neighbourhoods, offering a re-conceptualisation of environmental gerontology. The author examines new research, challenging the common view that ageing 'in place' is optimal, particularly within areas that present multiple risks to the individual.

Drawing together material from a number of different fields the book analyses the meaning and determinants of mental health amongst older populations and offers a critical review of the lifecourse, ageing and mental health debate.

How can we understand older people as real human beings, value their wisdom, and appreciate that their norms and purposes both matter in themselves and are affected by those of others? Using a life-course approach this book argues that the complexity and potential creativity of later life demand a humanistic vision of older people and ageing.

A wide range of contributors focus on major issues in ageing such as autonomy, agency, frailty, lifestyle, social isolation, dementia and professional challenges in social work and participatory research.

This is the first book to take a sociological approach to grandparenting across diverse country contexts and combines new theorising with up-to-date empirical findings to document the changing nature of grandparenting across global contexts.

Community and ageing investigates changing concepts and experiences of community into older age and how they play out in housing with care settings, with an overview of how the housing with care sector in the UK and internationally. It explores the impact of a range of factors, from social networks to diversity and the built environment.

This book examines dementia from a social citizenship perspective. It looks at rights, status(es) and participation and shows how this framework can be applied in practice.

This book explores the exchange of support between generations and examines variations in contemporary practice and theory in different societies around the world. It draws on theoretical perspectives to discuss both newly emerging patterns of family reciprocity and more established ones affected by changing issues in contemporary societies.

This exciting book challenges many common stereotypes about the nature of family involvement as people age. The book explores diversity and change in the family relationships older people maintain, looking at how family relationships are constructed and organised in later life.

Launching the dementia debate into new and exciting territory, this book applies a human rights lens to interrogate the lived experience and policy response to dementia.