This volume focuses on the experience of growing old as it is linked to societal factors. Ryff and Marshall construct this "macro" view of aging in society by bridging disciplines and brining together contributors from all the social sciences.

The book is organized into three sections: theoretical perspectives, socioeconomic structures, and contexts of self and society. Leading psychologists, anthropologists, gerontologists, and sociologists present theoretical and empirical advances that forge links between the individual and the social aspects of aging. It is must reading for researchers in all gerontologic specialties, and a valuable text for graduate courses in human development, psychology of aging, and other social aspects of aging.