THE EMERGENCE OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF SOCIAL GERONTOLOGY?

Abstract

Our intellectual tradition in social gerontology is rooted in the disciplines from which we emerge: economics , sociology, philosophy, psychology, political science, public policy, and anthropology to name just a few. These intellectual traditions have been used to establish a scholarly foundation in gerontology that has largely been built over the past half-century following World War II. Not unlike other rather recent emerging fields of study, gerontology has amassed considerable intellectual capital with its discourse building on the successive works of others. This pyramidal process of scholarly contributions building upon one another, layer after layer, has recently surfaced with works that challenge our thinking and provide fresh insights and new perspectives. We have entered a time period when theoretical works are emerging, being debated, and being refined.