ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part introduces readers to several major themes that dominate social gerontology: increasing disparities within the older population by sex and race; the issue of intergenerational equity, or fairness to other age groups; and the responsibility for caregiving to a growing number of very old and frail elderly. Old age is less a great leveler than it is the final stage in a lifelong process of accumulating resources. Because various adjustments to the Social Security system have led to dramatic reductions in old-age poverty, it is relatively easy to overlook those who remain below the threshold of income adequacy. The part traces the development of dual mythologies of aging: the negative images of progressive deterioration that were culturally dominant through the mid-twentieth century, and the equally one-sided optimism that has replaced them.
