[Principles of social gerontology]

Social gerontology is seen as a science-based but application-oriented subdiscipline of gerontology. It focuses particularly on social relationships in old age, social participation of elderly and old people and the protection of their individual needs. Self-determination and autonomy are important value orientations. Central issues are the quality of life and life satisfaction from the perspective of personal resources and biographical influences and the conditions of individual aging in the sense of differential gerontology. Against this background, in the first part of this article Kirsten Aner discusses the social construction of aging and in part two Ines Himmelsbach describes the typical life events and developmental tasks in the process of aging. The article concludes with a theoretical basis in which Cornelia Kricheldorff outlines social aging theories and derives a brief description of approaches and interventions.