Images of Aging: Cultural Representations of Later Life [Hardcover]

We all have a finite life-span. We are born, we get old and we die. Given the universiality of the ageing process, it is remarkable that there is almost a complete absence of study of culture and self-image of the middle aged and old. Images of Ageing: Cultural Representations of Later Life changes this. The contributors discuss images of ageing which have come to circulate in the advanced industrial societies today. They address themes such as: body and self image in everyday interaction; experience and identity on old age; advertising and consumer culture images of the elderly; images of ageing used by Government agencies in health education campaigns; the diversity of historical representations of the elderly; gender images of ageing; images of senility and second childhood; images of health, illness and death.The contributors in this book discuss images of aging which have come to circulate in the advanced industrial societies today. They address such themes as gender images of aging, images of health, illness and death.1. Introduction Mike Featherstone and Andy Wernick Historical and Comparative Perspectives 2. Images of old America, 1790-1970 - A Vision and a Revision Andy Achenbaum, University of Michigan 3. Images of Positive Ageing: A Case Study of Retirement Choice Magazine Mike Featherstone and Mike Hepworth, University of Aberdeen 4. The Status and the Image of the Elderly in Japan: Understanding the Paternalistic Ideology Shuichi Wada, Waseda University, Japan Imagining the Lifespan: From Premodern Miracles to Postmodern Fantasies Stephen Katz, Trent University Gender and Identity 6. Tribute to the Older Women: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Ageism Kathleen Woodward, University of Wisconsin 7. Imageing the Age of Men Jeff Hearn, University of Bradford Relations Between the Generations 8. Changing Images of Ageing and the Social Construction of the Life Course Tamara Hareven, University of Delaware and Harvardl£1