Centre for Policy on Ageing



Self, society and the "new gerontology"
Author(s)	Martha B Holstein, Meredith Minkler
Journal title	The Gerontologist, vol 43, no 6, December 2003
Pages	pp 787-796
Source	http://www.geron.org
Keywords	Ageing process ; Older women ; Women's movement ; Theory.
Annotation	The "new gerontology", built on the concept of successful ageing, sets forth the preconditions for, and the end product of, the process of ageing successfully. Focused on health and active participation in life, it vests largely within individuals the power to achieve this normatively desirable state. While acknowledging the contributions of the scientific base of Rowe and Kahn's successful ageing model, the authors emphasise the need for a more careful examination of the model itself. Using critical gerontology as a primary filter, they critique this normative vision by focusing on its unarticulated (and perhaps unexplored) values, assumptions and consequences. They argue that these unexamined features may further harm older people, particularly older women, the poor and ethnic minorities who are already marginalised. They suggest forms of resistance to this univocal standard. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-040504205 A
Classmark	BG: BD: SH:TM8: 4D
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.