SOCI 261 Gerontology
This course provides an overview of the social aspects of aging in America and beyond. The students explore how the elderly affect society and how society affects the elderly. The students analyze the impact of an aging population on key social institutions such as the family, religion, the economy, the political system, and the healthcare industry and examine the interaction of the elderly with society and with these social institutions. This course is designed to understand "ageism", to view aging as a phase of growth and development, and to raise student's awareness about the later stages of the human life cycle and the needs and challenges facing the current generation of older adults. It explores economic, social, and political perspectives, behavioral, and biological aspects of aging and the ways aging affects areas such as sexuality, family relations, friendship, personality, work, and leisure.