Jason
L. Powell,
Gerontology
can be defined as the scientific and social analysis of aging (Phillipson, 1998). The
discipline of gerontology or ‘aging studies’ is concerned with understanding age
and aging from a variety of perspectives and integrating information from different social
science and human science disciplines such as psychology and sociology. The concern of
gerontology is in the definition and theorization of age. In western societies, a person’s age is counted on a
chronological or numerical foundation, beginning from birth to the current point of age,
or when an individual has died. Chronological aging is a habit we all engage in: birthdays
and wedding anniversaries for example. Counting age is a social construction because it is a practice
underpinned by the development of industrial capitalism.
Age
has three main focal points of interest to gerontology. First, the aging of an individual
takes place within a particular period of time and space.
By virtue of this, individual experiences of age are enabled or constrained by
their location in time, space and cultural uniformity.
Second, as
individuals, society has a number of culturally and socially defined expectations how
people of certain ages are supposed to behave. As individuals, society has a number of
culturally and socially defined expectations how aging impacts upon how people are
compartmentalized into the “stages of life”. Historically, the stages of life
were presented as a religious discourse which formed the basis for the cultural
expectations about behaviour and appearance. The life stage model is still used in taken
for granted popular usage in society which impinges on how our lives are structured.
Thirdly, age and aging
have a biological and physiological dimension, so that over time and space, the appearance of physical bodies change.
This latter definition
has been illustrated by ‘bio-medical gerontology’, advocating scientific
explanations of ageing.
Gerontology
as a scientific discipline has been dominated with a pre-occupation with
bio-medical sciences and its constituent elements of ‘decline’ models of biology
and psychology. Gerontology based on social explanatory models sees aging as a
socially constructed category with differential epistemological prisms: for example,
functionalism and feminist gerontology. However, whilst both definitions are fundamental
to the complexities of aging in the social world, the theoretical interpretations of aging
are in their ‘infancy’ when compared to the analysis and attention afforded to
class, ‘race’ and gender in sociological theorising.
If we take the scientific and
social dimensions of gerontology, we can illuminate both the relevance and importance they
have for understanding constructions of aging. We can suggest that Gerontology has two
focal points in its broad conceptualization:
Gerontology
as ‘Scientific’ approaches
Psychological aging
processes include changes in personality and mental functioning. According to Kunkel and
Moran (1999, 5) “changes are considered a ‘normal’ part of adult
development, some are the result of physiological changes in the way the brain
functions”. What is meant by “normal” development? The “decline”
aspect of aging is something which was picked up by the historical rise of scientific
discourse and enlightenment discourses of truth and rationality. Indeed, age and aging
have a biological and physiological dimension, so that over time and space, the appearance of physical bodies change. Physical aging, for the
bio-medical gerontology, is related to changing characteristics on the body: the greying
of hair, wrinkling of the skin, decrease in reproductive capacity and cardiovascular
functioning. An interesting question is whether these physical changes are inevitable,
‘natural’ consequences of aging?
Biological
aging is related to changes of growth and decline within the human body. For example,
Bytheway (1995) suggests the notion of ‘growth’ is a central scientific
discourse relating to the true changes associated with human aging to the biological body.
Growth is seen as a positive development by biologists (Bytheway, 1995) in that a
‘baby’ grows into a ‘child’ who grows into an ‘adult’ but
then instead of growing into ‘old age’ the person declines. This scientific
sanctioned perception is that growth ‘slows’ when a person reaches ‘old
age’ and is subsequently interpreted as ‘decline’ rather than as
‘change’ that is taken for granted with earlier life-course transitions.
The effects of the decline analogy
can be seen in the dominance of bio-medical arguments about the physiological
‘problems’ of the ‘aging body’. The 'master narrative' of biological
decline hides the location of complex web of intersections of social ideas comprising an
aging culture. Indeed, a distinctive contribution of
sociology as a discipline has been to highlight how individual lives and behaviour which
was thought to be determined solely by biology (Powell, 2005) are, in fact, heavily
influenced by social environments in which people live and hence are heavily socially constructed.
Gerontology as social
approach
The broad pedigree of sociological
perspectives of ageing can be located to the early post-war years with the concern about
the consequences of demographic change and the potential shortage of 'younger' workers in
This impinged mainly upon the
creation of functionalist accounts of age and aging primarily in US academies.
Functionalist sociology dominated the sociological landscape in the
An key
point to note is that theories often mirror the norms and values of their creators and
their social times, reflecting culturally dominant views of what should be the appropriate
way to analyse social phenomena. The two functionalist theories contrasted here follow
this normative pattern; disengagement and activity theories suggest not only
how individual behaviour changes with aging, but also imply how it should change.
Disengagement
theory is associated with Cumming and Henry (1961) Growing
Old: The process of disengagement who propose that gradual withdrawal of older people
from work roles and social relationships is both an inevitable and natural process: '...withdrawal may be accompanied from the outset by an
increased preoccupation with himself: certain institutions may make it easy for him'
(Cumming and Henry 1961: 14).
Such withdrawal
prepares society, the individual older person, and those with whom s/he had personal
relationships for the ultimate disengagement: death (ibid, 76). For this variant of functionalism, this process
benefits society, since it means that the death of individual society members does not
prevent the ongoing functioning of the social system. Cumming and Henry further propose
that the process of disengagement is inevitable, rewarding and universal process of mutual
withdrawal of the individual and society from each other with advancing age – was
normal and to be expected. This theory argued that it was beneficial for both the ageing
individual and society that such disengagement takes place in order to minimise the social
disruption caused at an ageing person’s eventual death.
Retirement is a good
illustration of disengagement process, enabling the ageing person to be freed of the
responsibilities of an occupation and to pursue other roles not necessarily aligned to
full-pay of economic generation. Through disengagement, Cumming and Henry argued, society
anticipated the loss of ageing people through death and brought “new blood” into
full participation within the social world.
A
number of critiques exist: firstly, this theory condones indifference towards 'old age'
and social problems. Secondly, disengagement theory underplays the cultural and economic
structures have in creating, with intentional consequences of, withdrawal. In order to
legitimise its generalisations, disengagement theory self-praised itself to objective and
value-free rigour of research methods: survey and questionnaire methods of gerontological
inquiry. In a sense, by arguing for ‘disengagement’ from work roles under the
guise of objectivity is a very powerful argument for governments to legitimise boundaries
of who can work and who cannot based on age.
The second
functionalist perspective in Gerontology is called Activity theory that is a
counterpoint to disengagement theory, since it claims a successful 'old age' is can be
achieved by maintaining roles and relationships. Activity theory actually pre-dates
disengagement theory and suggests that aging can be lively and creative experience. Any
loss of roles, activities or relationships within old age, should be replaced by new roles
or activities to ensure happiness, value consensus and well-being. For activity theorists, disengagement is not a
natural process as advocated by Cumming and Henry. For activity theorists, disengagement
theory is inherently agist and does not promote in any shape or form ‘positive
ageing’. Thus, “activity” was seen as an ethical and academic response to
the disengagement thesis which re-casted retirement as joyous and mobile.
Despite
this, Activity
theory neglects issues of power, inequality and conflict between age groups. An apparent 'value consensus' may reflect the
interests of powerful and dominant groups within society who find it advantageous to have
age power relations organised in such a way (Powell, 2005). Such functionalist schools in
Gerontology are important in shaping social theory responses to them, such functionalist
theories ‘impose’ a sense of causality on ageing by implying you will either
‘disengage’ or will be ‘active’.
Marxist gerontology or Political
economy of old age was coined as a critical response to theoretical dominance of
functionalism. This critical branch of Marxist gerontology grew as a direct response to
the hegemonic dominance of structural functionalism in the form of disengagement theory,
the biomedical paradigm and world economic crises of the 1970s. As Phillipson (1982)
pointed out in the
This brought a new perception to
attitudes to age and ageing. For example, in the
A
critical evaluation of ‘political economy of old age’ is that is
over-concentrates analysis of the treatment of older people in terms of class relations
within capitalist societies and neglects differences between capitalist societies in the
treatment of older people. Political economy of old age approach homogenizes and reifies
older age by discounting potential for improvements in the social situation of older
people. Hence, the complexity of social life is more of a continuous, never-ending project
with variable outcomes than the Political Economy theory gives credence.
Another emerging perspective in
Gerontology is feminist gerontology. Whilst in recent years there has been a small
but growing body of evidence – in mainstream sociological theory the inter-connection
of age and gender has been under-theorised and overlooked. 'Maintream’ refers to
dominant theories in the gerontological field such as functionalist and Marxist theory who
could be accused of being ‘gender blind’. In their pioneering work, Arber and
Ginn Connecting Gender and Aging (1995) point out – there exists a tiny
handful of feminist writers who take the topic of age seriously in understanding gender.
They suggest that the general failure to incorporate women into mainstream theoretical
perspectives on ageing is a reflection of our resistance to incorporate women into society
and hence, into sociological and psychological research. They further suggest that because
older women tend to occupy a position of lower class status, especially in terms of
economic status than men of all ages and younger women, they are given less theoretical
attention.
In all known societies the
relations of distribution and production are influenced by gender and thus take on a
gendered meaning. Gender relations of distribution in capitalist society are historically
rooted and are transformed as the means of production change. Similarly, age relations are
linked to the capitalist mode of production and relations of distribution.
“Wages” take on a specific meaning depending on age. For example, teenagers work
for less money than adults, who in turn work for less money than middle-aged adults.
Further, young children rely on personal relations with family figures such as parents.
Many older people rely on resources distributed by the state.
There is a "double standard
of aging" with age in women having particularly strong negative connotations. Older
women are viewed as unworthy of respect or consideration (Arber and Ginn 1995). The double standard of aging as arising from the sets of conventional
expectations as to age-pertinent attitudes and roles for each sex, which apply in
patriarchal society. These roles are defined as a male and a female 'chronology',
socially defined and sanctioned so that the experience of prescribed functions is
sanctioned by disapproval. For example, male chronology hinges on employment, but a
woman's age status is defined in terms of events in the reproductive cycle.
Unfortunately, feminist theories
that focus upon the social problems of older people may have promoted the agism of which
many are arguing against. Old age as a term can
no longer be used to describe and homogenise the experiences of people spanning an age
range of 30 to 40 years. The pace of cohort
differentiation has speeded up, with different age groups reflecting cohort differences in
life chances that are created by period specific conditions, policies and economic
transformations. Hence, there is
differentiation of subjective experiences of aging in the lifestyles of older
people.
As a reaction against macro
theories of gerontology such as functionalism, political economy of old age and
feminist theorizing, postmodern gerontology has emerged as a school of thought. The work
of Featherstone and Hepworth (1993) and Featherstone and Wernick (1995) are important in
the emergence of ‘postmodern gerontology’, and their work has fed into wider
debates on postmodernism in
As a
critique of postmodern gerontology and its emphasis on deconstructing universal narratives
of aging, Chris Phillipson (1998) Reconstructing Old Age suggests that in a
restructuring of social gerontology we should acknowledge how the ‘global’ and
the ‘local’ articulate and recognise that globalization is unevenly distributed
and is also a western phenomenon indicative of the unequal power relations between the
‘west and the rest’. Phillipson suggests that occidental globalization impinges
on the poverty status of older people universally.
Gerontology
is then multidisciplinary and is the principal instrument of orthodox theorising about
human aging. It provides a space for the search for meaning about what it is to be 'old'
in modern society and for issuing prescriptions but alternative interpretations about
aging.
REFERENCES
Arber, S. and Ginn, J. (eds.) (1995). Connecting Gender and Ageing: a sociological approach.
Bytheway,
W (1995) Ageism, OUP,
Cumming, E. and Henry, W. (1961). Growing Old: The process of disengagement.
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C (1979) The Aging
Featherstone, M. & Hepworth, M. (1993). ‘Images in Ageing’,
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Gilleard,
C. & Higgs, P. (2001) Cultures of Ageing,
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Kunkel,
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C (1998) Reconstructing Old Age. Sage:
Powell, J.L. (2005) Social Theory and Aging. Rowman and Littlefield: Lanham