Men, Masculinities, and Aging introduces readers to the gendered nature of aging men’s lives. Edward H. Thompson, noted for his work on men and aging, explores the intersections of ethnicities, class, geographies, generations, and masculinities. The book offers a fresh perspective on men’s experiences with bodily aging, growing older in an ageist society, and navigating the virtual absence of cultural guidelines for being an aging man. The book also provides a sociological theory framework on how men navigate their social aging as they experience later life and very late life. Turning points such as grandfathering, the changeover from work to retirement, and the onset of health problems or becoming a career are discussed at length as Thompson frames these natural occurrences as now ordinary experiences as aging masculinities are no longer rarities. The book will provide educators, students, researchers, and practitioners a means to question standard assumptions about aging men and discuss what underlies most later-life masculinities.
The first comprehensive exploration on the subject of older men, Older Men′s Lives offers a multidisciplinary portrait of men and their concerns in later life. Using both a life-course and gendered perspective, the contributors to this collection of original articles point out that the image and self-image of men are continuously reconstructed over the life cycle. They examine older men′s position in society and the changes wrought in their status and roles over time. Their relationship with their spouses, children, grandchildren, and friends are also explored, as are policy implications of a gendered, life-cycle view of masculinity. This volume also discusses faith development in older men, masculinity identity from work to retirement, older men′s sexuality, and older men′s friendship patterns. Older Men′s Lives will be of interest to professionals and students interested in gender, men′s studies, gerontology, and sociology. "This book begins to remedy the lack of information and provides data and research on aging men. . . .The strength of this book is the specificity of its focus. By focusing solely on male concerns the book is able to identify issues in the male aging process and discuss them on their own terms rather than simply as a contrast to females." --Clinical Gerontologist
The first comprehensive exploration on the subject of older men, Older Men's Lives offers a multidisciplinary portrait of men and their concerns in later life. Using both a life-course and gendered perspective, the contributors to this collection of original articles point out that the image and self-image of men are continuously reconstructed over the life cycle. They examine older men's position in society and the changes wrought in their status and roles over time. Their relationship with their spouses, children, grandchildren, and friends are also explored, as are policy implications of a gendered, life-cycle view of masculinity. This volume also discusses faith development in older men, masculinity identity from work to retirement, older men's sexuality, and older men's friendship patterns. Older Men's Lives will be of interest to professionals and students interested in gender, men's studies, gerontology, and sociology. "This book begins to remedy the lack of information and provides data and research on aging men. . . .The strength of this book is the specificity of its focus. By focusing solely on male concerns the book is able to identify issues in the male aging process and discuss them on their own terms rather than simply as a contrast to females." --Clinical Gerontologist
"We live in a time of change, an era where old men can maintain health but find dignity in frailty. Old Man Country helps readers see and imagine this change for themselves. The book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom, as he narrates encounters with twelve distinguished American men over 80 -- including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world's most famous heart surgeon. In these and other intimate conversations, the book explores and honors the particular way that each man faces the challenges of living a good old age"--
This book examines the working lives, retirement plans, and old age experiences of three generations of gay men born 1924–86. It draws on data collected from interviews with 82 men in Australia, England, New Zealand, and USA. The first half of the book concentrates on the men’s working lives, while the second half of the book explores the interviewees’ concerns about old age and retirement. The author analyses the men’s contrasting stories, highlighting key generational differences in their experience of being ‘out’ in the workplace and the dominant work narratives which emerge in each age group. This important work will have cross-disciplinary appeal to scholars of sociology, gerontology, health sciences, gender, queer, and gay and lesbian studies, as well as practitioners.
Growing older can be a time of great joy and satisfaction for men as they look back on their accomplishments and gain more free time, but it can also be a challenging and distressing experience, especially for those men raised with the very traditional notions of what it means to be a "real man." This book will help practitioners working with older and aging men understand the eras in which these men were raised, how they view the world, the gender role conflicts they experience, and the physical, mental, and emotional challenges and problems they face during the later stages of their lives. The authors discuss theories of masculinity and aging and therapeutic considerations for working with this special population. Making use of many detailed case studies, they explore the psychological issues that are commonly faced by older men, such as depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment, and substance use and abuse, as well as effective screening and assessment techniques, and treatment approaches. They then conclude with a look at the future directions of psychotherapy with older men.
Learn the causes of—and consequences from—elder abuse of men For the most part, often only women are considered the victims of elder abuse. However, men are also subject to this disturbing social problem. Abuse of Older Men examines the diverse aspects of this surprisingly widespread issue that includes sexual abuse, abuse by intimates, and benign neglect in the health care field, as well as effective treatment strategies. This unique resource provides the latest research and crucial discussions of why the problem is often invisible, under-studied, and under-treated. Detailed explorations include risk assessment, differential detection of abuse of one gender over the other, the risk of abandonment, economic exploitation, and the issues of older men who had been abused in childhood. In the past, elder abuse literature has—quite correctly—mainly focused on the abuse of women, who represent the majority of older persons. Abuse of Older Men expands the discussion of this distressing social challenge to include the other gender, reviewing the different types of abuse and the reasons why it is not readily apparent in today’s society. This compelling text examines in detail the causes and consequences of elder abuse of men. The under-reporting of abuse is addressed, along with suggestions on ways to better approach various problems. This insightful resource is extensively referenced and provides tables to clearly present data. Issues discussed in Abuse of Older Men include: intimate partner abuse perpetrated against older men sexual abuse of older men in nursing homes the impact of gender on the reporting of elder abuse neglectful aspects of osteoporosis in older men past relationships that increase the risk of the neglect of older fathers news accounts that repost the frequency and types of abuse against men identifying and treating victims societal forces that affect older men’s risk of mistreatment recommendations for structuring services to better meet victim’s needs the social construction of manhood as an important factor in understanding the abuse of older men Abuse of Older Men provides crucial information practitioners, educators, researchers, and students in social work, nursing, medicine, law, gerontology, adult protective services, criminal justice, sociology, psychology, domestic violence, counseling, ethics, public policy, and aging networks.
A New York Times Bestseller An audacious, irreverent investigation of human behavior—and a first look at a revolution in the making Our personal data has been used to spy on us, hire and fire us, and sell us stuff we don’t need. In Dataclysm, Christian Rudder uses it to show us who we truly are. For centuries, we’ve relied on polling or small-scale lab experiments to study human behavior. Today, a new approach is possible. As we live more of our lives online, researchers can finally observe us directly, in vast numbers, and without filters. Data scientists have become the new demographers. In this daring and original book, Rudder explains how Facebook "likes" can predict, with surprising accuracy, a person’s sexual orientation and even intelligence; how attractive women receive exponentially more interview requests; and why you must have haters to be hot. He charts the rise and fall of America’s most reviled word through Google Search and examines the new dynamics of collaborative rage on Twitter. He shows how people express themselves, both privately and publicly. What is the least Asian thing you can say? Do people bathe more in Vermont or New Jersey? What do black women think about Simon & Garfunkel? (Hint: they don’t think about Simon & Garfunkel.) Rudder also traces human migration over time, showing how groups of people move from certain small towns to the same big cities across the globe. And he grapples with the challenge of maintaining privacy in a world where these explorations are possible. Visually arresting and full of wit and insight, Dataclysm is a new way of seeing ourselves—a brilliant alchemy, in which math is made human and numbers become the narrative of our time.
