title: The reification of age: Age stratification theory and the passing of the autonomous subject.
abstract: Sociology has always been charactereized by a joint interest in social structures and individual lives as well as in their interaction. Social gerontology, however, has developed in a lopsided manner with disproportionate attention focused on individual attitudes and behavior. The principal sociological theory of aging, the age stratification model (ASM), has failed to provide an adequate structuralist counterpoint to the prevailing reductionism in social gerontology. The problem with the ASM lies in its preoccupation with a functionalist understanding of structure that is grounded in the concept of role. Because of its view of structure as a framework of social roles, the ASM neglects the realm of autonomous individual activity and the corresponding dialectics between social action and social structures. To remedy this neglect of micro-macro linkage in the ASM, Seve's concept of use-time is presented as the basis of an alternative theory of aging and age relations.
authors.affiliation: University of Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Dowd