Aging and Old Age [Paperback]

Richard A. Posner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0226675688 | ISBN-13: 978-0226675688

Are the elderly posing a threat to America's political system with their enormous clout? Are they stretching resources to the breaking point with their growing demands for care? Distinguished economist and legal scholar Richard A. Posner explodes the myth that the United States could be on the brink of gerontological disaster.

Aging and Old Age offers fresh insight into a wide range of social and political issues relating to the elderly, such as health care, crime, social security, and discrimination. From the dread of death to the inordinate law-abidingness of the old, from their loquacity to their penny-pinching, Posner paints a surprisingly rich, revealing, and unsentimental portrait of the millions of elderly people in the United States. He explores issues such as age discrimination in employment, creativity and leadership as functions of age, and the changing social status of the elderly. Why are old people, presumably with less to lose, more unwilling to take risks than young people? Why don't the elderly in the United States command the respect and affection they once did and still do in other countries? How does aging affect driving and criminal records? And how does aging relate to creativity across different careers?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a wide-angled, unsentimental, compelling look at old age, Posner, an economist and federal judge, punctures the widespread belief that the elderly constitute a selfish voting bloc and that the U.S. is becoming ominously gerontified. In his analysis, the alarmists have exaggerated the costs of an aging population and ignored the benefits, which include skills, experience, stabilizing maturity and worker loyalty. Posner's views are often iconoclastic, as when he asserts that old people are more self-centered than the young. He argues that physician-assisted suicide, if legalized for cases of terminally ill, pain-wracked or severely impaired people, might actually reduce the overall suicide rate among the elderly. He further maintains that legislation enacted in 1986 abolishing mandatory retirement at fixed ages in most occupations, harms elderly workers and perversely affects income distribution across the entire population. Posner investigates how economic factors influence a host of behaviors among the elderly, including creativity, automobile-driving habits, residence, voting and jury participation.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

To some, the graying of American society is viewed as a threat to the country's social, political, and economic stability. Yet this book asserts that the cost of an aging society has been exaggerated and its benefits largely ignored. An economist and federal judge, Posner uses economic principles to create a framework for understanding the aging process and making policy decisions while exploring a variety of issues: why do older people commit fewer crimes, should there be a mandatory retirement age for judges, are older people more talkative, why do older people vote more than others? This learned work references the literature of gerontology, law, psychology, sociology, and biology, interspersed with observations on aging from Cicero, Shakespeare, William Butler Yeats, and Nietzsche. Some conclusions are obvious: older people are less likely to take financial risks. Others are more analytical: laws prohibiting age discrimination in employment probably do more harm than good to older workers. Overall the book is a creative way of looking at the challenges of an aging population. However, numerous footnotes and economic formulas limit the book's appeal. Recommended for collections strong on aging or economics.?Karen McNally Bensing, Benjamin Rose Inst. Lib., Cleveland
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226675688
• ISBN-13: 978-0226675688
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,099,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard A. Posner is a judge of the U.S. Court Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He is the author of numerous books, including Overcoming Law, a New York Times Book Review editors' choices for best book of 1995 and An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton, one of Times' choices for Best Book of the Year in 1999 and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, 2000.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a particularly frolicsome read for the aged and aging., September 27, 2008

By 

Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Aging and Old Age (Paperback)

Judge Posner is a remarkable man. A noted jurist and a fine writer with a wide range of interests.

"Aging and Old Age" covers so much ground that it is difficult to summarize in a short review. Overall, Posner attempts to deterine the nature of the aqing process, the effects of aging on those who become the aged and the impact of a growing cohort of the old on American society.

Speaking as an old person, it is a depressing read, because Posner correctly notes that there is a young self and an old self. The former looks forward, while the latter - because there is so little "forward" left - looks back. Posner speaks of the decline of the aging self, though he allows that many of the aged - particularly federal judges likes himself with lifetime tenure - remain productive at what were once considered "bizarrely" advanced ages.

Posner discusses "What is aging? And why?" the social history of aging, physical and mental decline associated with aging, age and creative output, the "behavioral correlates of age", euthnasia and geronticide, social security and health, legal issues of aging and age discrimination and mandatory retirement. Quite a broad sweep - and to this old man, a depressing one.

In all, a thought provoking work even if depressing (to me). I suspect it found a moderate audience among those who deal with the aqing process and the aged.

Jerry

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to understand the socio-economic impact of aging, August 29, 2001

By 

Kevin C. Fleming (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aging and Old Age (Paperback)

Broadly researched and well-referenced, this clearly-written book is a realistic take on the coming age wave. It openly challenges both the fear-mongerers and the brave new world types. The ideas are compelling and extremely well-presented. The scope and detail of his reseach is far beyond that of average writers.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the best book ever written on the subject, April 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Aging and Old Age (Paperback)

The interdisciplinary breadth and depth of analysis provided by Judge Posner is an extremely rare insight into the evolution of human life and its role in the socioeconomic features of modern socities.This is a great book for any professional - young or old, or in between !