Recent SemestersFall 2026, Summer 2026, Spring 2026, Fall 2025, Summer 2025Class SizeNot publishedCredits3PrerequisiteNone. Transfers ToUC and CSUCal-GETC Area 4 · IGETC Area 4 · CSU GE Area D · CSU GE Area EDescriptionThis course is an introduction to older people and the aging process in the context of contemporary society through the perspective of social gerontology. It focuses the biopsychosocial lens on the social forces that contribute to the development of individuality across the lifespan and lead to differences in how people age. Using this lens, students gain perspective on how opportunities, choices, and experiences throughout life are driven by gender, race, and class, and how they culminate during aging and impact aging outcomes. It explores the influence of when people were born, where people were born, history, and how politics contribute to individual beliefs, behaviors, and experiences throughout life and during aging. The aging experience in the United States is also compared to aging in other countries. Gerontology majors are encouraged to take this course in their first semester of study. 