ABSTRACT
The ageing of populations is a complex social process that the World Health Organization’s demographic forecasts show to be inevitable and irreversible. In order to more thoroughly investigate the interplay of ageing’s many aspects, it is useful to ground a study of the experience of old age in a particular societal context. A remedy for the challenges of ageing societies might be found in the activities of social institutions, as understood in the sociological sense introduced by Herbert Spencer. The general theoretical context of considerations on old age presented in this publication is that of the paradigm of interpretive (or ‘understanding’) sociology, of which Burrell and Morgan provide a valuable description that situates it within its historical context and within the broader sphere of sociological theories. The chapter also provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
