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Elsevier

Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences

  • 10th Edition - November 15, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Kenneth Ferraro, Deborah Carr
  • Language: English

Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, Tenth Edition continues its legacy of providing a comprehensive synthesis of the latest research findings in aging. This newly revise… Read more

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Description

Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, Tenth Edition continues its legacy of providing a comprehensive synthesis of the latest research findings in aging. This newly revised edition maintains the foundational, classic themes while introducing a wealth of emerging topics and perspectives that advance the field in innovative ways. Readers explore the complexities of population dynamics, cohort succession, and policy changes that shape our world, alongside new insights into the multifaceted nature of aging. This edition includes cutting-edge discussions on addiction and substance use in later life, the impacts of COVID-19 on older adults, and the implications of structural racism and health.

In addition to these new themes, this new edition expands on critical areas such as caregiving, rural aging, and the biodemography of aging. Topics like climate change and aging, contemporary challenges in long-term care, and the life course implications of incarceration are explored in depth. With new chapters on sexual and gender minorities in later life and the social influences on cognitive health, this edition offers fresh perspectives and valuable insights.

Key features

  • Includes new chapters on addiction and substance use in later life, impacts of COVID-19 on older adults, and structural racism and health, reflecting the latest research and societal challenges
  • Offers insights from fields such as biodemography, ethnography, and computational approaches to understand aging populations
  • Addresses critical issues affecting diverse groups, including rural aging, sexual and gender minorities in later life, and sociocultural variability in the older Latino population
  • Explores the implications of Medicare and health policy, long-term care challenges, and the life course impacts of education
  • Examines social influences on cognitive health, social isolation and integration, and the changing dynamics of families and caregiving

Readership

Clinicians, researchers, and students in gerontology, developmental psychology, psychiatry, sociology, biology, and other related health care professions tasked with caring for the aging population

Table of contents

  1. Theories and Frameworks in the Social Science of Aging: New and Renewed Directions
  2. Aging and Ethnography
  3. Computational or “Big Data” Approaches for Understanding Aging Populations
  4. Biodemography: Integrating Geroscience with Social Science to Understand Trends and Population Differences in Health
  5. Inequalities in Work, Aging, and Retirement in the United States
  6. Centenarians
  7. Disability in Later Life
  8. Structural Racism and Health in Later Life
  9. The Changing Face of Latino Aging: Sociodemographic Shifts and Diverse Aging Trajectories
  10. Life Course Social Influences on Cognitive Health
  11. Support and Strain in Relationships and Health in Later Life: The Need for Greater Context
  12. The Changing Demography of Marital Status and Partner Transitions in Later Life
  13. Death of a Child: Life Course Turning Points and Trajectories for Aging Parents
  14. Health Disparities of Sexual and Gender Minorities in Later Life
  15. Aging in Rural America
  16. Life Course and Transnational Perspectives on Older Migrants
  17. Elder Abuse
  18. Challenges and Promise in the Fight Against Ageism
  19. Family Caregivers of Older Adults: A Changing Landscape But Enduring Challenges
  20. Contemporary Challenges in Long-Term Care
  21. Chronic Pain in Later Life
  22. Medicare and Health Policy for Older Adults
  23. COVID and Older Adults
  24. Climate Change, Older Adults and Aging

Product details

  • Edition: 10
  • Latest edition
  • Published: November 15, 2026
  • Language: English

About the editors

KF

Kenneth Ferraro

Kenneth F. Ferraro is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and founding Director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. He is the author of over 120 peer-reviewed articles in prominent journals in sociology, gerontology, and public health. He has written two books, including The Gerontological Imagination: An Integrative Paradigm of Aging (Oxford University Press), and edited four editions of Gerontology: Perspectives and Issues. Ferraro’s recent research focuses on health inequality over the life course, including the early origins of adult health, stress, and health disparities. With interests in how stratification processes unfold over the life course, he developed cumulative inequality theory for the study of human development, aging, and health. A fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), Ferraro formerly edited Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences and chaired the Behavioral and Social Sciences section of GSA. He also is a member of the honorary Sociological Research Association and former chair of the Section on Aging and Life Course of the American Sociological Association (ASA). GSA has honored Professor Ferraro with the Distinguished Mentor Award and twice for both the Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Award and the Best Paper Award for Theoretical Developments in Social Gerontology. ASA honors from the Section on Aging and the Life Course include Outstanding Publication Award and Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award.
Affiliations and expertise
Distinguished Professor of Sociology and founding Director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

DC

Deborah Carr

Deborah Carr is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Boston University. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997. Dr. Carr has held faculty positions at University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, and Rutgers University. She is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, as well as the author of several books including Worried Sick: How Stress Hurts Us and How to Bounce Back (Rutgers, 2014). Her latest book Golden Years? Social Inequality in Later Life (2019, Russell Sage) received the Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Award from the Gerontologicial Society of America. Carr’s research focuses on psychosocial factors that affect health and well-being over the life course. Recent research focuses on disability and obesity-related discrimination, family relationships as a source of support and strain, and death and dying issues including bereavement, advance care planning, and well-being at the end of life. Carr is fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences from 2015-20. She is a member of the honorary Sociological Research Association and former chair of the Aging and Life Course and Medical Sociology sections of the American Sociological Association (ASA).
Affiliations and expertise
Professor of Sociology, Boston University, USA