Western thought traditionally divides the human being into a body-mind dualism, a divide realized in the divergent research fields of geriatrics and gerontology; the first examines the physical body, and the second focuses instead upon psychological and social aspects of aging. Research Health Scientist Christopher Faircloth's edited volume of original pieces attempts to bridge this rift: reinserting the physical aging body and its lived experiences back into gerontology's study of aging. He asks, 'Is it not the physical body that readily marks us as aging?' Faircloth organizes this text around two major themes of the aging body: everyday experience, and the social and personal impact of its imagery, while concentrating on three areas of substantive concern: medicalization, gender/sexuality, and the body as consumer. This book would be of interest to gerontologists, social scientists, and students of these fields concerned with the aging body, both object and subject, as experienced and alternatively perceived in relation to contemporary society.

About the Author
Christopher A. Faircloth is a research health scientist at the Rehabilitation Outcomes Research Center (RORC) at the North Florida-South Georgia V.A. Medical Center in Gainesville, FL.

Reviews
This volume is a welcome contribution to the understanding of the aging and the aged body in the field of social gerontology. In contrast to overly abstract and, ironically, disembodied treatments of the body current in the academy today, essays in this collection ground theory and interpretation in original and intriguing empirical research. The result is a lively collection addressing cultural representations, lived experience, and social practices of those inhabiting an older body. -- Frida Kerner Furman, DePaul University



Book Information
ISBN 9780759102361
Author Christopher A. Faircloth
Format Paperback
Page Count 225
Imprint AltaMira Press,U.S.
Publisher AltaMira Press,U.S.
Weight(grams) 481g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 145mm * 19mm