Economic Diversity and Informed Old Age Social Policy

The issue explored here is an example of the interface between social research and social policy in the United States. The aging policy debate concerning the economic status of the elderly has tended to focus upon the disadvantaged; it is informed by a relatively selective view of the financial resources of older persons. The result has been policy that is vulnerable to the market attention given to the advantaged elderly by business as the economic status of the elderly improves. Sociological practitioners whose work focuses upon older Americans are in a unique position to understand this policy problem and to address the needs of the elderly on both ends of the economic spectrum. Applied sociology, the use of sociology in problem-solving (Clark, 1986), finds fertile soil in the vineyards of gerontology. Applied sociologists, accustomed to examining national datasets that outline macro-level social conditions and social change, can be of immense help to the policy and practice communities in gerontology as they struggle with issues of policy analysis and social impact assessment. The focus of this article is to understand the economic diversity in the changing older population in the United States (Taeuber, 1990). A course of action for sociological practitioners is not being