The aging of our nation, and of the world, has profound implications for every aspect of social life. The gerontology program in the Department of Sociology, Gerontology, and Anthropology provides students with multidisciplinary perspectives and multidimensional information on the processes, consequences, and implications of aging for the individual and for society. Aging affects everyone. Most of us will grow old, and all the groups in which we live have older members. Although aging has always been a part of human life, the systematic study of aging, especially its social aspects, is relatively recent.
Gerontology is the use of reason to understand aging.
The term was first used to refer to the scientific study of aging, but contemporary usage also includes the study of aging using methods from various other disciplines, such as humanities, social policy, and human services. For us to understand and cope with aging, knowledge from a variety of sources is needed. Thus gerontology includes the results of research on aging from all academic disciplines and fields of professional practice. Social gerontology is the subfield of gerontology that deals primarily with the nonphysical side of aging. Although biology forms the primary basis of aging, the significance of aging is largely social.