Abstract
This paper clucidates and champions a spatiality perspective in social gerontology, by arguing that relationships between older people and the spaces and places they inhabit illuminate deeply-ingrained societal attitudes and values. The trilogy of society, image and place is explored through an interpretive reading of images and scripts in 'succesful ageing' and 'anti-ageing' created and promoted by the booming 'retirement industry' in the United States. Six tropes are revealed in an interpretation of prevalent images of 'Sunbelt Retirement Land': geographic cornucopia, ageless selves, near perfection, the right stuff, down home living, and nomads of desire. This reading serves as a springboard in elaborating Cole's (1992) notion of bipolar ageism, as we vacillate between negative stereotypes of old age and positive clixirs, such as anti-ageing and agelessness, that are cloaked denials of decline, disease and death. The paper concludes with a series of troubling questions about the perpetuation and depth of ageism in society and culture.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 165-185 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Ageing and Society |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 1 2003 |
Keywords
- Agelessness
- Anti-ageing
- Bipolar ageism
- Place-based images and scripts
- Retirement industry
- Successful ageing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Social Psychology
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health