Critical Questions for Ageing Societies - Online Resources

We hope that you have enjoyed reading our book, Critical Questions for Ageing Societies. This website is full of thought experiments, mental exercises and multiple choice questions which are designed to test the knowledge you have acquired from reading Critical Questions for Ageing Societies.

Multiple Choice tests

We enjoyed putting together this series of mind-boggling multiple choice tests. While multiple choice might seem like an easy test, (statistically you do have a 25% chance of getting it right after all), in fact they are quite challenging. The fact that you are offered a number of almost correct answers means that multiple choice quizzes are an effective way of separating out those with accurate and specific knowledge of a topic from those who merely possess general knowledge. In other words, these questions are a good indicator of how much you really know about ageing. Of course, in order to answer the questions correctly, you will need to read the relevant chapter of the book. If you can answer more than 75 per cent of the questions correctly, you have studied effectively and are well on the way to becoming a social gerontologist.

End of Chapter Activities

Likewise, if you want to complete any of the activities, you will need to read the book. The activities are designed to test more reflective and critical knowledge. This is the kind of knowledge that you build up as you learn how to think about ageing and older people. This means that you might be able to mull over those ageist stereotypes you witness on the news coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, or the intersections between age and gender in terms of the disadvantage experienced by older women.  In fact, the knowledge you acquire might even motivate you to start correcting your friends when they make ageist jokes, or to be a little more insistent that your younger friends actually get out and use their vote.

We hope that you enjoy reading the book and assessing your knowledge when you have finished reading it. Please do not hesitate to contact either Gemma (g.carney@qub.ac.uk) or Paul with any questions or queries (pnash@usc.edu).

Chapter 1: Demography
Chapter 2: Ageism and ageist stereotyping
Chapter 3: Retirement, active ageing and working longer
Chapter 4: Care and support in later life
Chapter 5: Diversity among the ageing population
Chapter 6: Gender
Chapter 7: The myth of intergenerational conflict
Chapter 8: Politics of ageing
Chapter 9: Cultural gerontology