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Introduction

Introduction Demographers, epidemiologists and historians have regularly documented the very large differences in how people age, how they experience aging, and when they die among societies and across time. The observed differenas appear to be explained substantially by factors external to the individual, factors such as the stability of food supply, the provision of clean water, the adequacy of public sanitation, and the availability of effective immunization against, or medical treatment for, one or another epidemic or chronic disease. Intra-societal differences, however, are a more complex matter and a rela- tively less studied one. This volume of the Annual Review focuses attention precisely on the neglected documentation and explanation of heterogeneity of how people grow older within a society, The society of special interest is the United States in relatively recent decades, although some of the chapters include instructive comparisons with other societies. In the opening section, sociologist Dale Dannefer and epidemioiogist Lisa Berkman orient the reader to processes of resource allocation within a society which produces and maintains a system of socioeconomic stratifica- tion. An individual's sociaI address in a system of stratification is indexed in part by income and level of formal education achieved. But the correlates of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Gerontology & Geriatrics Springer Publishing

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Publisher
Springer Publishing
ISSN
0198-8794
eISSN
1944-4036
DOI
10.1891/0198-8794.8.1.9
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Demographers, epidemiologists and historians have regularly documented the very large differences in how people age, how they experience aging, and when they die among societies and across time. The observed differenas appear to be explained substantially by factors external to the individual, factors such as the stability of food supply, the provision of clean water, the adequacy of public sanitation, and the availability of effective immunization against, or medical treatment for, one or another epidemic or chronic disease. Intra-societal differences, however, are a more complex matter and a rela- tively less studied one. This volume of the Annual Review focuses attention precisely on the neglected documentation and explanation of heterogeneity of how people grow older within a society, The society of special interest is the United States in relatively recent decades, although some of the chapters include instructive comparisons with other societies. In the opening section, sociologist Dale Dannefer and epidemioiogist Lisa Berkman orient the reader to processes of resource allocation within a society which produces and maintains a system of socioeconomic stratifica- tion. An individual's sociaI address in a system of stratification is indexed in part by income and level of formal education achieved. But the correlates of

Journal

Annual Review of Gerontology & GeriatricsSpringer Publishing

Published: Jan 1, 1988

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