Aging in Comparative Perspective

Processes and Policies

Ian G. Cook and Jamie Halsall

People are living longer-in particular, the over-85 population is increasing in many countries around the globe. But while this fact should be considered a proud testament to improved standards of living, it is often lost in contentious debates over the state of health care and the future of benefit programs.

Aging in Comparative Perspective explores this complex scenario on a world scale, as the global recession drives political change and shifts in cultural traditions. This timely volume analyzes the aging process in various countries, with special focus on the stresses placed on their economies as the numbers of elders increase with fewer young people available to support them due to declining birthrates. The authors review elder policies, such as entitlement programs, that have been put into place, are being considered, or are in danger of being curtailed. At the same time, helpful light is shed on another side of the elderly that receives less attention: active, independent, and benefiting their families and communities. This ongoing evolution is presented in national and global context in seven representative countries: U.S., U.K., Japan, Sweden, China, South Africa, and Nepal.

Aging in Comparative Perspective makes a major contribution to our understanding of the wider impact of growing old, and will find interested readers among gerontologists, sociologists, public health policymakers, and anthropologists.

Autorentext

Prof. Ian G. Cook is Professor of Human Geography and current Chair of the Media, Arts and Social Science Faculty Graduate Research Committee, Liverpool John Moores University. His research is mainly on aspects of Chinese urbanization, health, environment, and gerontological issues, and on social gerontology more globally. He has published widely, including articles in Health Policy, the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy and Social Science and Medicine among others and is co-author or co-editor of 8 books, of which the most recent are the co-edited New Perspectives on China and Aging and Aging in Asia (with J.L.Powell), Nova Science Press 2007 and 2009 respectively. He has also been a doctoral supervisor of 17 successful PhD candidates spanning the social sciences, to date.

Dr Jamie Halsall is Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences in the Department of Behaviour Sciences and Social Sciences at Huddersfield University. In 2003 Jamie gained a BA (Hons) degree in Geography from Edge Hill University. The following year he gained a Masters degree in the Geographies of Globalisation and Development and in 2010 he completed his Doctorate of Philosophy while studying at the University of Liverpool. His academic career has included research with the International Centre for Development and Environmental Studies (ICDES), which was based in the Department of Natural Applied Sciences at Edge Hill University. From 2004 to 2008 he was managing editor of Global Built Environment Review (GBER), an international journal (www.edgehill.ac.uk/gber). He has presented his research to the British Council, Economic and Social Research Council and Research Development Fund (Edge Hill University).

Zusammenfassung
This book examines the key aging processes in seven countries (United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, China, Nepal, and South Africa) and the main policies that have been, and are being, developed to deal with this rapid change in the demographic profile. It addresses the problems that are identified as well as the positive aspects of aging within each of these contrasting societies. Thus it makes a significant contribution to the major debates about growing old across the globe.

Inhalt
Chapter 1: Introduction: An Aging World.- Chapter 2: Aging in the United States.- Chapter 3: Aging in the UK.- Chapter 4: Aging in Sweden.- Chapter 5: Aging in Japan.- Chapter 6: Aging in China.- Chapter 7: Aging in Nepal.- Chapter 8: Aging in South Africa.- Chapter 9: Lessons to be Learned.