ABSTRACT
Little attention has been given in the US to the socio-relational aspects of gerontological knowledge and to the technical and extra-technical sources underlying its development. Nor has much emphasis been given in gerontology to the important role of social scientists and their perspectives in delimiting dominant world views of what is possible. The dominance of the biomedical approach has been offset somewhat by the contribution of social gerontology in studying the relationship between the elderly and society, particularly such structures as the family, community, and economy. Emphasis on the individual is also represented by lacunae in US political gerontology. The central challenge of a political economy of aging is to move beyond a critique of conventional gerontology and to develop an understanding of the character and significance of variations in the treatment of the aged and to relate these to broader systematic trends.
