This article reviews the articles which follow in this special issue on the political influence of the aged, discusses the effects of public policy on the aged, and asks whether there is a "politics of aging." (AM)

The commitment on the part of the national government to provide some assistance to the elderly began in the 1930s, but in the last decade or so, this commitment has substantially increased. (Author/AM)

The new pressures on aging policy are certain to bring with them inequitable and unintended consequences. The very old have not shared fully in the policy gains made by the older population generally, yet they will possibly suffer most from whatever "aging backlash" develops in the future. (Author/AM)

President Carter's initial programs and choices for economic advisory positions suggest that he will continue to try Keynesian policies, although he has scaled down his aspirations for their success. As these policies encounter difficulties, however, more careful analyses of the causes of inflation and of what expenditures are compatible with…

Argues that with the presidential elections of 1976 now history, the electorate may hope for greater support to those people who see social problems as public issues rather than psychological dilemmas in search of biomedical remedies. No one close to social science and related to government could fail to detect in the last decade a powerful drift…

If President Carter is to revamp the federal bureaucracy, he is going to need a vast corpus of research on complex organizations. In this connection we should note the increase in the number of American Sociological Association members with competence in this area. The several departments of the executive branch will increasingly find that they…

Argues that the combined forces of recession, inflationary fears, social tranquility, the eschewal of crusades both domestic and foreign, and a commitment to leaner and more frugal government all seem to militate against a dramatic upsurge in support of the social sciences. This pattern is ominously paralleled by a decline in undergraduate…

Asserts that the social science business is here to stay. The use of survey research, of invoking the learned as a form of symbolic action, of obfuscating the realities of limited budget and limited throughput and limited drive by "researching the problem," all provide a flywheel that shows every sign not merely of stability but of acceleration.…

Notes and predicts persistence in the nature of the links between social scientists and the polity, and speculates that we may also be on the threshold of basic alterations in, or at least challenges to, these traditional arrangements. This prognosis is essentially hopeful for those of us who are social scientists and socialists. At issue is how…

Argues that as important as what the Carter administration will do is what the Carter victory has already done: it decisively ended the Nixon era in American society. The Carter administration will attempt to synthesize the striving for excellence of the Nixon era and the push for participation of the King era. (Author/JM)

Concludes that the idea of practice is so important at this time because the notion of practice (of the fusion of theoretical practical knowledge, of the public and private life, of expert and citizen) is threatening to the institutions and groups whose continued dominance rests in part on their privileged claim to truth: the large corporations,…

Examines whether children are receiving less than their share of public resources, considering (1) how the economic situations of children and the elderly have changed; (2) effects of insufficient resources and causes of disparities in treatment of young people; and (3) proposals for increasing society's investment in children. (SLD)

Discusses establishing relative priorities between health care needs of the young and the old. Argues that it is fair to limit assistance to those already old when there are genuine social needs for children. The elderly should lead the way in recognizing the importance of the needs of children. (SLD)