Mission Statement

Sociology of Aging and the Life Course provides an analytical framework for understanding the interplay between human lives and changing social structures. Its mission is to examine the interdependence between (a) aging over the life course as a social process and (b) societies and groups as stratified by age, with succession of cohorts as the link connecting the two. This special field of age draws on sociology as a whole and contributes to it through reformulation of traditional emphases on process and change, on the multiple interdependent levels of the system, and on the multidimensionality of sociological concerns as they touch on related aspects of other disciplines. The field is concerned with both basic sociological research on age and its implications for public policy and professional practice.

Section Officers, 2007-2008

Chair: Duane F. Alwin, Pennsylvania State University

Chair-Elect: Eliza K. Pavalko, Indiana University

Past Chair: Jacqueline L. Angel, University of Texas-Austin

Secretary-Treasurer: Anne E. Barrett, Florida State University

Council (year term ends):
Deborah Carr ('08), Rutgers University
Sidney M. Stahl ('08), National Institute on Aging
Cheryl Elman ('09), The University of Akron
Richard A. Settersten ('09), Oregon State University
Jessica A. Kelley-Moore ('10), Case Western Reserve University
Victor W. Marshall ('10), University of North Carolina  - Chapel Hill

Student Representatives (year term ends):
Sara Marian Moorman ('08), University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jori Sechrist ('09), Purdue University

Newsletter Editor: Renee Beard, University of Illinois - Chicago

Website Editor: Duane F. Alwin, The Pennsylvania State University

Listserv Coordinator: Linda A. Wray, The Pennsylvania State University

Section Website

The section maintains a very comprehensive homepage with many items of interest, such as online issues of the newsletter; news for graduate students, research groups, and award information. The URL of the homepage is:

http://www.pop.psu.edu/asasalc/index.htm