The functions of progressionals in gerontology in policy making: a case history from Massachusetts

This paper describes and assess the functions which a Professional Task Force Committee has performed as an advisory body to the State Unit on Aging in Massachusetts, the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, and how this committee has aided in its development in the past 2 years. As such it illustrates the kind of contributions which professionals in gerontology can make in policy-making for the elderly. This experience in Massachusetts has demonstrated that a body of professionals linked together through an appropriate structure, can shape and effect policies that a State Unit on Aging eventually promulgates. The expert can and should make his expertise available in policy anlysis, policy development, and in policy implementation. But, at the same time, the expert must recognize that, like everybody else, he needs a corrective; otherwise expert power will be guiding too much the direction of a State Unit on Aging (or any other government department) and this may not always be in the interest of those who are going to receive services and to be the beneficiaries of social programs.