In his Kent Award lecture, Scott Bass called for a greater coherence of gerontology. This article proposes that the teaching of gerontology is one way to address the centrifugal tendencies of the field and economize its disciplinary sprawl. The instructional strategy is to concentrate attention to a limited number of focal visuals from which the exposition of gerontological knowledge can radiat...

This paper presents a review of social theories aging including early based on role, disengagement, activity, and continuity, more recent modernization, feminism, gerotranscendence, interactionism. The elements, assumptions possible biases, strengths weaknesses each major theory are discussed. Since gerontology is multidisciplinary, the variety theoretical perspectives can be viewed as strength...

Over the last decade, Cultural Gerontology has emerged as one of the most vibrant elements of writing about age (Twigg, J., & Martin, W. (Eds.) (2015). The Routledge handbook of cultural gerontology. London: Routledge). Reflecting the wider Cultural Turn, it has expanded the field of gerontology beyond all recognition. No longer confined to frailty, or the dominance of medical and social welfar...