In 1974, at the VIIIth ISA World Congress in Toronto, Canada, Harold Orbach was designated by the ISA Council to organize a program on the 'Sociology of Aging'. In 1975 Harold participated in an ISA Research Committee Council meeting in Paris where the research committee was formed and given the number 11. Thus, the IXth ISA World Congress in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1978 was the first congress where we were a fully functioning research committee.

In-between the ISA World Congresses RC11 also organised several inter-congress meetings, sometimes focusing on specific aspects of the sociology of ageing, sometimes attracting a broader representation of scholars working in the 'Sociology of Ageing' worldwide. Previous inter-congress meetings were:

1980 - San Diego, U.S.A. “Symposium on aging and family issues”
1981 - Groningen, the Netherlands “Workshop on health and aging”
1981 - Paris, France “Round-table on public social policies and aging in industrialized countries”
1987 - Winnipeg, Canada
1992 - Stockholm, Sweden
1995 - Melbourne, Australia
1996 - Trivandrum, India
2004 - Roehampton, UK

2008 - Barcelona, Spain - RC11 participation in the "First ISA World Forum of Sociology"