Unmaking old age: political and cognitive formats of active ageing
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Unmaking old age: political and cognitive formats of active ageing. / Lassen, Aske Juul; Moreira, Tiago.
In: Journal of Aging Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2014, p. 33-46.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Unmaking old age: political and cognitive formats of active ageing
AU - Lassen, Aske Juul
AU - Moreira, Tiago
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Active ageing is a policy tool that dominates the way the ageing society has been constituted during the last decades. The authors argue that active ageing is an attempt at unmaking the concept of old age, by engaging in the plasticity of ageing in various ways. Through a document study of the different epistemes, models and forms used in the constitution of active ageing policies, the authors show how active ageing is not one coordinated set of policy instruments, but comes in different formats. In the WHO, active ageing configures individual lifestyle in order to expand the plasticity of ageing, based on epidemiological and public health conventions. In the EU, active ageing reforms the retirement behaviour of populations in order to integrate the plasticity of ageing into the institutions, based on social gerontological and demographic conventions. These conventional arrangements are cognitive and political in the way they aim at unmaking both the structures and the expectations that has made old age and format a new ideal of the ‘good late life’. The paper examines the role of knowledge in policy and questions whether the formats of active ageing should be made to co-exist, or whether the diversity and comprehensiveness enables a local adaptation and translation of active ageing policies.
AB - Active ageing is a policy tool that dominates the way the ageing society has been constituted during the last decades. The authors argue that active ageing is an attempt at unmaking the concept of old age, by engaging in the plasticity of ageing in various ways. Through a document study of the different epistemes, models and forms used in the constitution of active ageing policies, the authors show how active ageing is not one coordinated set of policy instruments, but comes in different formats. In the WHO, active ageing configures individual lifestyle in order to expand the plasticity of ageing, based on epidemiological and public health conventions. In the EU, active ageing reforms the retirement behaviour of populations in order to integrate the plasticity of ageing into the institutions, based on social gerontological and demographic conventions. These conventional arrangements are cognitive and political in the way they aim at unmaking both the structures and the expectations that has made old age and format a new ideal of the ‘good late life’. The paper examines the role of knowledge in policy and questions whether the formats of active ageing should be made to co-exist, or whether the diversity and comprehensiveness enables a local adaptation and translation of active ageing policies.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - Aging
U2 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2014.03.004
DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2014.03.004
M3 - Journal article
VL - 30
SP - 33
EP - 46
JO - Journal of Aging Studies
JF - Journal of Aging Studies
SN - 0890-4065
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 104028758