Diversity and the State of Sociological Aging Theory

In the literature on aging there have been almost simultaneous calls for researchers to make more explicit links between theory and research and for researchers to incorporate diversity in their work. Although gerontologists have begun to document diversity, theory is often absent from this research. In this article, the author examines sociological aging theories of inequality and argues that this absence of theory may not be due to an oversight on the part of researchers. Rather, aging theories need to be rethought to be better suited for diversity research.