Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences

Kenneth F. Ferraro is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and founding Director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. He is the author of over 120 peer-reviewed articles in prominent journals in sociology, gerontology, and public health. He has written two books, including The Gerontological Imagination: In Integrative Paradigm of Aging (Oxford University Press), and edited four editions of Gerontology: Perspectives and Issues. Ferraro’s recent research focuses on health inequality over the life course, including the early origins of adult health, stress, and health disparities. With interests in how stratification processes unfold over the life course, he developed cumulative inequality theory for the study of human development, aging, and health. A fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), Ferraro formerly edited Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences and chaired the Behavioral and Social Sciences section of GSA. He also is a member of the honorary Sociological Research Association and former chair of the Section on Aging and Life Course of the American Sociological Association (ASA). GSA has honored Professor Ferraro with the Distinguished Mentor Award and twice for both the Richard Kalish Innovation Publication Award and the Best Paper Award for Theoretical Developments in Social Gerontology. ASA honors from the Section on Aging and the Life Course include Outstanding Publication Award and Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award.

Deborah Carr is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Boston University. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997. Dr. Carr has held faculty positions at University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, and Rutgers University. She is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, as well as the author of several books including Worried Sick: How Stress Hurts Us and How to Bounce Back (Rutgers, 2014). Her latest book Golden Years? Social Inequality in Later Life (2019, Russell Sage) received the Richard Kalish Innovation Publication Award from the Gerontologicial Society of America. Carr’s research focuses on psychosocial factors that affect health and well-being over the life course. Recent research focuses on disability and obesity-related discrimination, family relationships as a source of support and strain, and death and dying issues including bereavement, advance care planning, and well-being at the end of life. Carr is fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences from 2015-20. She is a member of the honorary Sociological Research Association and former chair of the Aging and Life Course and Medical Sociology sections of the American Sociological Association (ASA).