Ethnicity, aging and society: theoretical lessons from the United States experience

Social gerontological theory in the United States has developed without attention to ethnic minority groups. Recent theoretical developments in the field of ethnic minority aging are reviewed with particular emphasis on the double jeopardy hypothesis that stresses the double disadvantage of minority status and of growing old. It is further suggested that the field of ethnicity and aging can profit from applications of the modernization theory of aging, assimilation theory, and the 'internal colonialism' perspective from the race and ethnic relations literature.