title: Incorporating diversity: meaning, levels of research, and implications for theory.
abstract: Incorporating diverse experiences into gerontological theory, research, and practice is necessary for understanding the lives of all old people, and not only "special groups." I begin by explaining how incorporating diversity exposes the power relations constitutive of lived experiences. Using examples from retirement research, I demonstrate that starting with the voices of those with less power renders a more complete view of social reality. Further, a wider understanding of aging in the United States mandates that we move to the international-comparative level. This enables us to more closely scrutinize the often unquestioned structural and ideological processes that construct divergent aging experiences as well as to conceptualize alternatives. I conclude, then, by noting that a more inclusive approach forces us to see all aging experiences not as determined but rather as fluid, dialectical, contextual--and changeable through human actions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg 24061-0137, USA.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Calasanti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D005061:Europe, Eastern; D006801:Humans; D011153:Population; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012179:Retirement / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States