Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Social Gerontology

McMaster University

The PhD in Social Gerontology is an interdisciplinary study of social, cultural, and political aspects of aging. The program allows students to take a critical social science perspective and an interdisciplinary approach to the study of aging.Areas of research include: health and social care critical gerontology systems, services and policy diversity and cumulative inequalities.The PhD program in Social Gerontology will apply an interdisciplinary, comparative, and critical lens to analyzing and understanding aging as a social and cultural process, construct, and outcome. It is the combination of these three perspectives, the ways that they interact with and build on one another, and a focus on both the social structural and cultural dimensions of aging that makes the program distinctive in its area.Our program differs from many doctoral programs in this area in that it allows students to develop and pursue broader research interests that may be outside the typical focus on functional health, demography and service management. Students who complete the PhD in Social Gerontology will acquire theoretical and methodological expertise in social gerontology with a specific emphasis on an interdisciplinary social science perspective on aging and the condition of later age.

Faculty of Health Sciences