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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Life extension and history
— the continual search for the fountain of youth | | Author(s) | Carole Haber |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 59A, no 6, June 2004 |
| Pages | pp 515-522 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Longevity ; Biological ageing ; Preventative medicine ; Attitudes to the old of general public ; Ageism ; Histories. |
| Annotation | The search for longevity is hardly new. Before recent times, advocates for longevity fell into two general time periods. From the 16th century to the 18th century, individuals worked to extend the lives of older people: they believed that senescence was a time of considerable worth. From the 19th century until the early 20th century, however, anti-age advocates generally depicted old age as a time to be feared and despised, devising myriad procedures in order to eliminate it entirely. While sharing little with the advocates of the early modern period, the recent anti-age movement clearly mirrors more of the beliefs of the longevity advocates of a century ago. Both groups not only see old age as a disease to be eradicated through injections and operations, but also argue that the old constitute an enormous economic burden. These beliefs reveal that the new anti-age movement, like its early 20th century precursor, is based on more than simple hair dyes, hormones, or diet. Rather, their ideas and actions ultimately serve to marginalise the very process of growing old. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-040817204 A |
| Classmark | BGA: BH: LK2: TOB: B:TOB: 6A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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