SOC 318 Gerontology (SS)

The diversities of the aging experience and the elderly are explored from biological, social, and psychological perspectives. Students will examine patterns of difference among the elderly due to factors such as gender, culture, disability, and socioeconomic status. This course also introduces the issues of death and dying, bereavement, and widowhood.

Credits

5

Outcomes

1. This course will prepare students to:
2. Describe the historical, cultural, and social concerns surrounding the issues of aging, death, and dying.
3. Examine the importance of social support: family, friends, and neighbors.
4. Evaluate the impact of love, intimacy, and sexuality in old age.
5. Compare and contrast physical changes, changes in thinking, and needs for affiliation and achievement in the middle-age and late adulthood.
6. Examine social inequalities in the elderly population.
7. Examine social policies and programs as well as health and long-term care policies and programs.
8. Compare and contrast various theories of human aging.