Sociological research on age: legacy and challenge

The hallmark of sociology is its emphases on first, people, secondly, structures and, thirdly, their interrelationships. Similarly, we see sociological research on age as concerned with (i) people over their life course; (2) age-related structures and institutions; and (3) the dynamic interplay between people and structures as each influences the other. Guided by our 'aging and society paradigm', we review the research legacy as it has focused more on (1) than on (2), and is only now concerned with understanding the interplay between them (3). Hence our challenge to future researchers is to devise strategies for understanding and analysing this interplay and its possible contributions to the ever-accumulating research legacy. KEY WORDS - Changing lives, neglect of structure, interplay between lives and structures, cohort norm formation, aging and society paradigm.