INTRODUCTION. SOCIAL GERONTOLOGY: ORIGIN, SCOPE AND TRENDS.

Social gerontology is an emergent field of research and teaching which is not directly concerned with the biological aspects of ageing but concentrates rather upon its economics, social psychological, sociological, and political aspects. Its objects of research is not individual organisms but people as population aggregates, as members of society and its components groups, and as the creators and the carriers of culture. Specifically, social gerontology studies the status and roles of older persons, their cultural patterns, social organization, and collective behavior as they affected by and as they affect social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]