History
The Social Gerontology Group at the Department of Sociology builds on a tradition from 1976, when Lars Tornstam initiated the first academic courses in Gerontology at Uppsala university and, together with a group of devoted researchers, launched a series of gerontological research projects a couple of years later.
This was done within the framework of a large national multidisciplinary gerontological program - Elderly in Society - Past, Present and in the Future. The outcome of this program showed, among other things, the necessity of academic gerontolocical research in more stable forms. The program has published 35 research reports and three books (all in Swedish).
In 1990 the Swedish Government decided to establish three new chairs with gerontological orientation - one of them a chair in social gerontology at Uppsala University. With this chair as a basis, the Social Gerontology Group was formally established.
Aim and Direction
The Social Gerontology Group aims at establishing social gerontology at Uppsala University by means of both research and education, as well as network activities. The program invests in producing new Ph.D.'s in social gerontology as well as teaching in educational programs.
The members of the Social Gerontology Group, of which some today hold positions at other Swedish universities, are together responsible for a special undergraduate course in social gerontology at the department of Sociology, as well as the supervision of undergraduate research papers on social gerontology. Social gerontology is also an important part in a four year Master Program in Social Care given at the Uppsala University.