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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The ontology of ageing | | Author(s) | Neil Thompson |
| Journal title | The British Journal of Social Work, vol 28, no 5, October 1998 |
| Pages | pp 695-707 |
| Keywords | Ageism ; Engagement ; Bereavement. |
| Annotation | Ageist ideology presents old age as a time of dependency and disengagement, a withdrawal from life, rather than part of life. While this can be recognised as a stereotypical view of ageing, its influence has to be acknowledged as profound and far-reaching. This raises a number of questions about the ontological status of old age - that is, questions about the nature of old age as a feature of human existence. This paper focuses on two particular aspects of the ontology of old age: selfhood and loss. The notion of self is one that has received considerable attention in social theory as a result of the postmodern critique in recent years. However, little or no attention has been paid to the role of selfhood in old age. Old age can be seen as a stage in the life course characterised by loss or, more specifically, a variety of losses. Loss is also a significant factor in relation to selfhood in particular and ontology in general, especially as loss so often involved a loss of meaning. (AKM). |
| Accession Number | CPA-981112401 A |
| Classmark | B:TOB: DN: DW |
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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