THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE AGING PROCESS

Abstract

In the developing countrie~, the proportion of the population over the aee of sixty is still typically small. Life expectancy irimodt cas~S ~ti1i' fankes between forty-five and fifty~five years. Fo~ ih~taric~,-· life expectancy in Ni[eria is 49 years, in Kenya50·Yeei"s, in Ivory Coast 47 years, in Burkina Faso 44 y~ars and in Tan~ania 52 years. Yet there is no doubt that the proportion of the aged or the elderly has increased over the last decade and will continue to increase given the world-wide advances in medical knowledge as well as the tremendous improvements in medical techniques. Our concern in this paper therefore is to ~xamine the aging process from a sociological point of view. In particular we wish to examine the influences of social forces on the aged and the aging process and the demands of the aged on society. What then is the aging process and who are those that society categorises as old?