Social Models of aging deal with changes over the life course. Using a loose definition of model, this paper reviews models under the following classification: Allocation models; Construction of the Life Course models; Personality and Socialization models; and Negotiation models. Differences between and within these models are explored, with particular reference to the issue of determinism and the conceptualization of social structure. The life course perspective is recognized as hegemonic in contemporary theorizing about aging, but it is seen as itself embracing diverse models.

The headings of Table 2 in Judith G. Chipperfield's article p. 442 in Vol. 13 no.4 were incorrectly positioned. A corrected version is printed below.

Victor Marshall's presentation of the social models of aging appears to be a rich inventory, but one which despite itself is a victim of the hegemony of the life course perspective. This inventory is situated in the mainstream view which does not need to identify its context and limits. In order to specify the significance of this inventory and, at the same time, to test the relevance of the life course perspective, broader more peripheral research should be taken into account that questions this hegemony by changing the empirical research object, modifying the research strategies or moving the teleological objective.

The field of psychogerontology is data rich, but theory poor. It will be argued that a constructivist view of science in terms of models or metaphors encourages the development of theories in the field of aging. Historically, there are three psychological models: Age, aging and the aged. The psychology of the aged is concerned with the thematic study of the problematic and non-problematic elderly. The psychology of age focuses on age differences and compares groups of people of different ages. The psychology of aging studies some typicalness of change of average functioning over time. Recent psychological models of aging emphasize degree of variability, rather than average functioning. Primary, secondary and tertiary aging patterns are presented in terms of a differential psychology of aging. A theoretical explanation of the differential aging process will be given in terms of gerodynamics, which lays the foundation of the new branching model of aging.

Model building in epidemiological-ecologic research on aging is hampered by the prevailing paradigm of standard empiricism, lack of knowledge about the biological origins and causes of aging and problems in differentiating the aging process from age-related diseases and disabilities. Consequently, the identification of associations or causal relations between risk factors, aging, diseases and disabilities suffers from a number of conceptual and methodological problems which sometimes can lead to research results which are absurd in the context of real life despite their formal correctness. The benefit of building theoretical models arises out of the necessity to construct an empirically sensible order of events which renders the research object intelligible. It is suggested that in the multifactorial epidemiological-ecologic aging research it might be useful to adopt and empirically test the concept of the “effective causal complex” instead of continuing, in many cases fruitless, attempts to define the effects of single risk factors on the associations between aging, physiological damage and disease and disability outcomes.

The flow of time can be conceptualized either as a cycle or an arrow. We offer a combined view: a helix. Chronological age (geophysical time reference) is not necessarily identical to biological age (internal time reference), and aging does not necessarily imply senescence. A new scheme of senescence, based on homeodynamics (nonlinear mechanics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics), is introduced as a plausible physical basis for understanding senescence. We propose that energy throughput, initially constructive of forms and functions, becomes destructive once most of the available degrees of freedom have been “frozen out” by the construction. Senescence becomes manifested at that point.

Carette's two-volume presentation of social gerontology is a basic introduction both to a theoretical perspective and to a viewpoint on social action with the aged for the Quebec of the nineties. The book excludes English Canadian and American references and research literature in general. Carette promotes a radical social approach which the author proposes could orient social gerontology theory and intervention. Its premise is that circumstances of the aged grow out of societal phenomena, and should be addressed at that level.