Aging, Globalization And Inequality

ABOUT THE EDITORS Jan Baars, Ph.D., studied sociology and philosophy in Amsterdam and is Professor of Interpretive Gerontology at the University for Humanistics in Utrecht and Professor of Philosophy of the Social Sciences and the Humanities at Tilburg University, Netherlands. He has published and (co-)edited a dozen books and published many articles on philosophical and gerontological subjects in English, German, French, Finnish, and Dutch. His main interests are theoretical and practical presuppositions in approaches to aging, especially conceptions of time and temporality. He has lectured at many universities in Europe and the United States and chaired gerontological symposia in Australia, the United States, and Japan.Dale Dannefer's scholarly work is concerned with the links between social dynamics and life course processes. A pioneer in developing cumulative advantage theory as an explanatory life-course framework, he has published more than 60 articles, monographs, and chapters in sociology, psychology, human development, education, and gerontology. Dannefer's current scholarship focuses on the effects of globalization on life course patterns and the problem of age segregation. He has just completed a large-scale empirical study of "culture change" in long-term care settings. He teaches courses on life course and human development, the sociology of work and education, and social theory. He has been a research fellow in the Social Control program at Yale University, at the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California, and at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education in Berlin.Chris Phillipson is Professor of Applied Social Studies and Social Gerontology at the University of Keele, United Kingdom; he is also Pro-Vice Chancellor (Learning and Academic Development) for the University. He has published extensively in the field of critical gerontology and related areas, and is currently undertaking research on issues relating to social exclusion in old age and the impact of urbanization on the lives of older people. His books include Reconstructing Old Age; The Family and Community Life of Older People (co-authored) and Women in Transition: A Study of the Experiences of Bangladeshi Women Living in Tower Hamlets (co-authored).Alan Walker is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, and is Director of The European Research Area in Ageing. Previously he was Director of the Economic and Social Research Council's Growing Older Programme and the European Forum on Population Ageing Research. He is co-founder and chair of the European Foundation on Social Quality. Walker was a member of the Technical Committee responsible for drafting the 2002 U.N. Plan of Action on Ageing, and he chaired the European Commission's Observatory on Ageing and Older People. He has been researching and writing on aging, social policy, and related issues for nearly 30 years and has published more than 20 books and 300 scientific papers. Recent books include The New Generational Contract; Ageing Europe; Combating Age Barriers in Employment; The Politics of Old Age in Europe; and Growing Older: Quality of Life in Old Age.