Sources: Fukui (1988), Nakanishi (1999), Park (2015), Tilak (1989).
Gerontology and the Meaning of Age
As a branch of the human sciences, gerontology tries to depict the facts about old age as a way of understanding the meaning of aging. But the approach of gerontology sometimes looks at meaning from the outside. Perhaps a better place to begin is to ask: What do older people themselves say about what gives meaning to their lives? When a sample of participants at a senior center was asked that question, nearly 90% of respondents described their lives as meaningful (Burbank, 1992). For most of them, the meaning came from human relationships, followed by service to others, religion, and leisure activities. Another study revealed that the most damaging threat to well-being in later life is loss of life purpose and boredom, not fear of absolute destitution or poor health. Responses show that people find purpose or meaning in a variety of ways: work, leisure, friendship, lifelong learning, grandparenting, and intimate adult relationships. Respondents reported that, unless they were sick or depressed, they “didn’t feel old” (Thompson, 1993), which suggests what has been called “the ageless self” (Baars, 2012; Kaufman, 1986).
Looking at verbal responses or patterns of behavior is suggestive but may not get us any closer to understanding meaning in the last stage of life. Questionnaires about life satisfaction tell us only a limited amount about these deeper issues (Windle & Woods, 2004). Inevitably, values and philosophical assumptions reveal themselves in our discourse.
According to one widely shared view, the agenda for gerontology should be to promote better social integration of the aged (Rosow, 1967) by means of group activities, social involvement, and participatory roles of all kinds. We see that view in the popularity of productive aging, intergenerational programs, and other strategies. The ideal of an “age-integrated society” is a comprehensive enunciation of the same goal (Riley & Riley, 1994). Whether through work, leisure, or attendance at religious services, the aim of social integration is for people to stay engaged throughout life. Workers in senior centers and nursing homes often share this outlook. But if we view role losses of old age as an opportunity for self-development beyond conventional roles, then integration in group activities may no longer seem so compelling. Other values, sources of meaning, and uses of what time one has left might assume greater importance.
We might still encourage older people to maintain social connections or affiliate with groups, but the form of that engagement would be based on a strategy for individual development, not conformity to social norms or activities. An example of such individual development might be a creative arts program designed to encourage self-expression; another example might be a religious retreat designed to support individual prayer and meditation. These last kinds of pursuits seem in keeping with the potential for interiority and individuation in later life. Whether individual contemplation or social activity is the more desirable approach still remains debatable, of course, but that is precisely what is at issue in the controversy about whether old age has meaning or offers some special opportunity not readily available at other stages of life. The question is what makes it important for gerontology to look more deeply at what inspires a shared sense of meaning in life’s last stage (Cole & Gadow, 1986).
The Meaning of Aging in the 21st Century
The life course perspective views stages of life as social constructions reflecting broader structural conditions of society. As conditions change, so will our view of how people find meaning at different stages of life. Consider the weakening of age norms and beliefs about what is “appropriate” for different stages of life. In a world where retired people may go back to college or where a woman may have her first child at age 40, it makes less sense to link education or work with strict chronological ages. Indeed, one attractive strategy for an aging society might well be to introduce more flexibility for people of all ages to pursue education, work, and leisure over the entire course of life, rather than link these activities normatively to periods of youth, middle life, and old age, as modern societies have done in the past.
It is not clear how the meaning of old age will change in contemporary postindustrial societies. On the one hand, older Americans have achieved gains in income levels, health, and political power. On the other hand, as the stages of life have evolved and become blurred, the entire image of old age is giving way to more of an “age-irrelevant” image of the life course (Neugarten, 1983). As an empirical matter, chronological age, by itself, loses predictive value and importance for many purposes. However, given that age discrimination is far from eradicated, it seems that age—and aging—continues to be quite relevant.
Does this trend mean that old age, as a distinct stage of life, no longer has any special meaning or significance? Here, we again must distinguish between a meaning that society ascribes to old age and what individuals find meaningful in their own lives. In postmodern culture, it is increasingly difficult to ascribe anything special to the last stage of life. But if nothing special is to be found in later life, we wonder, does it follow that personal meaning in old age must simply be “more of the same,” that is, continuing whatever values gave meaning earlier in life? Is old age becoming but an extension to or the tale-end of midlife? Or does lifelong growth imply a constant effort to overcome old habits and change our view of what offers meaning in life—perhaps by composing a new version of our life story (Bateson, 2011)? These questions have no easy answers but are important to consider.
Thinking Critically: Meaning in Later Life
What gives your life purpose and meaning? Has your sense of purpose and meaning changed over time? Are there activities or pursuits that were important to you earlier in life that are no longer important to you? When you imagine your future older self, are there sources of purpose and meaning that are important to you now that will continue to be important to you in the future? Do you imagine that you will discover new sources of purpose and meaning when you are an older person?
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Activity or Reflection?
The previous discussion initially looked at two classical theories of aging—disengagement and activity. We saw how both theories implicitly appeal to deeply held values but point in opposite directions. When we think about the question of whether old age has meaning, we come back, over and over again, to two fundamental alternatives: on the one hand, continuation of midlife values into old age, and on the other hand, discovering some new or special challenge or purpose that belongs to the last stage of life.
In the following readings, we begin with a selection by Simone de Beauvoir that offers the view of a philosopher who rejects traditional ideals of old age as a time of tranquility or disengagement. On the contrary, she believes that only continued activity on behalf of new goals will give our lives meaning, whether in old age or at any other time of life. Along these lines, John Rowe and Robert Kahn’s strategy of “successful aging” represents a way of preserving meaning by adapting ourselves to diminished reserve capacity. Rowe and Kahn believe that “success” is best defined by optimizing capacity for continued engagement with the activities of life.
Erik Erikson, writing with Joan Erikson and Helen Kivnick, shares this endorsement of engagement but takes a different approach. Erikson sees each stage of life as a period with its own purpose or psychological task to be achieved. Old age is different from other stages because it offers a kind of culmination to life as a whole. Erikson believes that, through concern for the welfare of future generations, older people find a sense of meaning in later life. In the personal journal of Florida Scott-Maxwell, we find an echo of Carl Jung’s