Critical perspectives on successful aging: does it "appeal more than it illuminates"?

"Successful aging" is one of gerontology's most successful ideas. Applied as a model, a concept, an approach, an experience, and an outcome, it has inspired researchers to create affiliated terms such as "healthy," "positive," "active," "productive,&...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Gerontologist 2015-02, Vol.55 (1), p.26-33
Main Authors: Katz, Stephen, Calasanti, Toni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aging
Aging - physiology
Aging - psychology
Culture
Female
Geriatrics
Gerontology
Health Status Disparities
Humans
Life Style
Male
Models, Theoretical
Personal Satisfaction
Quality of Life - psychology
Social Class
Social Support
Special Issue: Successful Aging
Success factors
United States
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Summary:"Successful aging" is one of gerontology's most successful ideas. Applied as a model, a concept, an approach, an experience, and an outcome, it has inspired researchers to create affiliated terms such as "healthy," "positive," "active," "productive," and "effective" aging. Although embraced as an optimistic approach to measuring life satisfaction and as a challenge to ageist traditions based on decline, successful aging as defined by John Rowe and Robert Kahn has also invited considerable critical responses. This article takes a critical gerontological perspective to explore such responses to the Rowe-Kahn successful aging paradigm by summarizing its empirical and methodological limitations, theoretical assumptions around ideas of individual choice and lifestyle, and inattention to intersecting issues of social inequality, health disparities, and age relations. The latter point is elaborated with an examination of income, gender, racial, ethnic, and age differences in the United States. Conclusions raise questions of social exclusion and the future of successful aging research.
ISSN:0016-9013
1758-5341
DOI:10.1093/geront/gnu027