Images of Aging: Cultural Representations of Later Life
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Author Description
It is true to say that aging is about the body, yet in the study of aging we often lose sight of the lived body. Previous works have tended to concentrate on a gruesome cartography of aging infirmities, or on policy developments. The result of this has been to make gerontology and the study of aging data rich and theory poor. It is remarkable that there is almost a complete absence of study of culture and self-image of the middle aged and old. Images of Aging changes this. The editors have drawn together a team of international contributors who discuss the images of aging which have come to circulate in the advanced industrial societies of today. They address themes such as: body and self-image in everyday interaction; experience and identity in old age; advertising and consumer culture images of the elderly; images of aging used by governments in health education campaigns; the diversity of historical representations of the elderly; gender images of aging; images of senility and second childhood; images of health, illness and death.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the critical absence of cultural and self-image analysis within the field of gerontology, arguing that the study of aging has become data-rich but theory-poor. Editors Andrew Wernick and Mike Featherstone assemble a multidisciplinary team of international scholars to shift the focus from biological infirmity and policy metrics toward the lived experience of aging. By examining how later life is constructed in advanced industrial societies, the contributors provide a framework for understanding the intersection of identity, consumer culture, and societal representation. The text challenges the traditional, often clinical, approach to aging by centering the subjective and cultural dimensions of the aging process.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of body and self-image within everyday social interactions
- Examination of advertising and consumer culture portrayals of the elderly
- Historical and cross-cultural perspectives on the representation of later life
- Critical review of government health education campaigns and their use of aging imagery
- Exploration of gendered experiences and the construction of senility in modern discourse
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Experts recognize this volume as a foundational text for integrating cultural theory into the study of aging. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which serves as a significant departure from standard policy-oriented gerontological literature.
Page Count:
299
Publication Date:
2003-01-01
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis Group
ISBN-10:
0203397444
ISBN-13:
9780203397442
Aging
Social Science
Gerontology
Sociology
