in the transactional view, successful aging is defined at the point of intersection between the developing person and the changing societal context / within this . . . social science perspective, successful aging is a social psychological construct, belonging uniquely neither to the person nor to the society and not emphasizing either starting point (person vs. society) over the other / adopt and elaborate this social psychological approach (from the chapter); develop several propositions about successful aging of persons within a hypothetical state, a “post-retired society,” a state characterized by dynamic, uncertain change for persons over the life course and for evolving social institutions / describe the course of our empirical research that, perforce, is longitudinal not only in the sense of tracking the developmental histories of persons into and through old age but also in the sociological sense of characterizing the course of evolving institutional changes that impel, impede, and deflect the ontogenies of contemporary adults in advanced, modern societies (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)