Theorizing Aging: Sociological Approaches

In this chapter, we move on from the biomedical model that espoused growing old would primarily be a process of inevitable physical and mental “decline” and of preparation for the ultimate ending: death itself. The paradox, of course, is that the biomedical homogenizing of the experience of old age, which the reliance on the biological and psychological dimensions of aging entails is, in fact one of the key elements of the (public) dominant “commonsense” discourses on aging and old age. A deeper understanding of aging requires, however, that we move beyond commonsense approaches and broaden our view to understand how processes, from the biomedical level of the individual cell to overall society, influence us and, in turn, are influenced by us as individuals progressing through the life course. The development of antiaging, the idea that biomedical or quasi-medical concepts can intervene in the aging process to slow, stop, or even reverse the process of growing old, has become a popular and scientific narrative throughout the Western world.