8 - The workshop enterprise

Summary

The necessary groundwork laid the first day was the realization that the psychologists had no grand theories to offer and the historians had few solid, interesting trends to offer.

Steven Schlossman (personal communication, 1984)

The studies in this volume up to this point represent the end point of a collaborative process that began in the 1980s. In this chapter we will take you back on our journey through this process, from the initial planning session to a series of workshops and a good many research meetings. The authors of the preceding chapters are not a perfect match for the authors of papers at the workshops. Consistent with the nature of workshops, some new working arrangements developed out of the discussion sessions.

The nature of cross-disciplinary study is best experienced by taking on the roles of the historians and the developmentalists in their struggle to work out a common ground. We hope that the lessons of this collaborative process will inform and strengthen cross-disciplinary ventures in the years to come.

The proposal

Responding to the rapidly expanding interest in aging across the life span, a group of social scientists led by Matilda Riley of the National Institute on Aging formed a committee (circa 1977) at the Social Science Research Council to pursue a deeper, multidisciplinary understanding of human development over the life course, with particular emphasis on the middle and later years (Elder, 1985; Sorensen, Weinert, & Sherrod, 1986).