OVERVIEW

The widespread aging patterns require more and more specific skills to deepen the heterogeneity of the elderly conditions both regarding the health and socio-economic dimensions and the differences in lifestyles, consumption, products and behaviours of seniors.

In this sense, increased longevity produces not only a numerical growth of older people, who have become an important target of services and market, but also a growing differentiation between them, in the transversal hybridization of inequalities by age, gender, ethnicity and social background, as well as in the heterogeneous identity, cultural and value composition among several older generations living together.

Therefore, the ability to interpret aging processes in the light of the generational differences, conditions and lifestyles of seniors is increasingly important, especially for social workers and professionals in the socio-health sector.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

- To understand the different sociological perspectives on aging

- to understand the concepts relating to the dimension of demographic aging, with specific references to the Italian and Ligurian context

- to understand the generational differences in terms of identity, values ​​and lifestyle among the senior population

- to understand the concepts relating to differentials in health, socio-economic condition, lifestyles, consumption and social participation, with particular reference to the relationship between clinical fragility and social vulnerability, as well as the processes of fruition and social and cultural activation of seniors.

- to understand the physical conditions of the frail elderly through laboratory simulations

- to apply cluster analysis techniques for the segmentation of the senior population as a specific target market, consumption and services

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, the student will be able to:
• know the main sociological theories of reference on the subject of aging
• to relate these theories and the concepts covered by the course to each other
• critically analyze the aging phenomenon of contemporary society

TEACHING METHODS

Face-to-face lessons, with the possibility of participating in practical-guided experiences on the topics covered, Aulaweb.

In the event of a continuing COVID-19 emergency, lessons will be held online on the Teams platform. In this case, the laboratory experiences in presence will be replaced with practical-guided experiences at a distance and in asynchronous form.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course aims to provide the student with the fundamental notions of the sociology of aging in the various theoretical perspectives in a post-structuralist, post-modernist, socio-structural and cultural sense.

At the same time, it intends to provide the student with the methodological skills necessary both to interpret the senior population, noting their different conditions, needs and lifestyles, and to classify, segment and profile them in terms of users, use of services and consumption.

Finally, the course aims to define an innovative proposal aimed at promoting an intergenerational and inclusive culture of aging, involving the student in sensory experimentation laboratory paths by means of simulators of frailty conditions in aging processes.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Manual: one of the following volumes:

Poli. S (2021), Gli anziani che verranno. La generazione dei Baby Boomer tra impegno, identità e disincanto. FrancoAngeli, Milano.

Moreover, for foreign students it is advised the reading of following articles:

• Poli, S., con Pandolfini V. e Torrigiani, G. (2020) Frailty and Its Social Predictors Among Older People: Some Empirical Evidence and a Lesson From Covid-19 for Revising Public Health and Social Policies, Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 12, pp. 151-176, ISSN:2035-4983 vol. 12, DOI:10.14658/pupj-ijse-2020-3-8.
• Poli, S. (2018), Attitudes Toward Active Voluntary Euthanasia Among Community-Dwelling Older Subjects, SAGE Open, January-March 2018: 1–11, DOI: 10.1177/2158244017753868.
• Palumbo, M., Poli, S. (2017), Aging in the Contemporary Urban Context: The Mortality Rates of Older Residents in Genoa, Italy. In A. Karakitsiou et al. (eds.), City Networks, Springer Optimization and Its Applications 128, Springer International Publishing AG 2017, 10.1007/978-3-319-65338-9_9.
• Poli, S., Cella, A., Puntoni, M., Musacchio, C., Pomata, M., Torriglia, D., Vello, N., Molinari, B., Pandolfini, V., Torrigiani, C., Pilotto, A. (2016) Frailty is associated with socioeconomic and lifestyle factors in community-dwelling older subjects, Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, pp. 1-8, published online 27 August 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. DOI: 10.1007/s40520-016-0623-5.
• Poli, S. (2014, July). Beyond Stereotypes: Talent, Resources and Social Activity among the Postmodern Elderly. Research on Ageing and Social Policies, 2 (1), July, pp. 58-86, doi: 10.4471/rasp.2014.03.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

STEFANO POLI (President)

CLAUDIO TORRIGIANI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Second semester

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Written exam with the possibility of oral integration. Students wishing to take the exam must enroll in the "Written and oral" mode in the sessions indicated in the exam session. Registration for the exam is mandatory.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam will be carried out in written form (5 open-ended questions, 4 of which on the manual and 1 on in-depth and reading contributions), with possible oral integration if requested by the teacher or student for further verification of preparation.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

All students are invited to periodically consult the page of this course on the AulaWeb e-learning portal (accessible from the University website or at: http://www.aulaweb.unige.it/). All information and materials relating to this course are published exclusively on this site.
Reception hours take place from Monday to Thursday 12:00-14:00 by appointment by sending an email to Stefano.poli@unige.it.