ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general overview of diversity and aging. We first define what we mean by “diversity” and then discuss why we should focus on aging and diversity. We describe the elements of diversity relevant in the study of aging: race or ethnicity, social class, gender, rural-urban community location, and sexual orientation and gender identity. Next, we highlight the importance of examining how two or more elements of diversity may interact and influence the aging experience. We describe the growth of the older population in terms of each element of diversity and outline their characteristics. We also note that differences within groups can be quite large and are often overlooked, resulting in stereotyping of the group members. Also, some of the labels that we use to differentiate groups (e.g., Hispanic American, Asian American) correspond to many different nationalities and cultural groups within one label.
