In Search of a Good Life in and Out of Switzerland: Making Use of Migration in Old Age

2021 ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Marion Repetti ◽  
Sarah Schilliger
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Good Life

scholarly journals Excluded from the Good Life? An Ethical Approach to Conceptions of Active Ageing

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Pfaller ◽  
Mark Schweda
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Active Ageing ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Social Discrimination ◽  
Ethical Point ◽  
Normative Content ◽  
Blind Spots ◽  
Policy Discourses

Contesting previous deficit-oriented models of ageing by focusing on the resources and potential of older people, concepts of ‘successful’, ‘productive’, and ‘active ageing’ permeate social policy discourses and agendas in ageing societies. They not only represent descriptive categories capturing the changing realities of later phases of life, but also involve positive visions and prescriptive claims regarding old age. However, the evaluative and normative content of these visions and claims is hardly ever explicitly acknowledged, let alone theoretically discussed and justified. Therefore, such conceptions of ‘ageing well’ have been criticised for promoting biased policies that privilege or simply impose particular practices and lifestyles. This appears problematic as it can obstruct or even effectively foreclose equal chances of leading a good life at old age. Against this backdrop, our contribution aims to discuss current conceptions of active ageing from an ethical point of view. Starting from an analysis of policy discourses and their critique, we first examine the moral implications of prominent conceptions of active ageing, focusing on evaluative and normative premises. By employing philosophical approaches, we analyse these premises in light of a eudemonistic ethics of good life at old age and detect fixations, shortcomings, and blind spots. Finally, we discuss consequences for ethically informed active ageing research and policies, highlighting the interrelations between one-sided ideals of ageing well and social discrimination and exclusion.

scholarly journals Préparer la Retraite: New Age-Inscriptions in West African Middle Classes

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erdmute Alber
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Good Life ◽  
West African ◽  
General Notion ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Republic Of Benin ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Life Course

New ways of imagining, planning and living old age are actually emerging in the republic of Benin, West Africa. This process could be understood as the dissemination of an idea of retirement from the sector of formal labor and the corresponding social security system to a general notion of a good life in the late life course.  It is preceded by emerging age-inscriptions which are contouring the new up to a point that it is settled and becoming a norm or a dominant pattern. It is also linked to the emergence of new a African middle class. It is going hand in hand with the emergence of other changes in the imaginaries of the life- course, for instance new ways of living and imagining youth. Additionally, it goes along with an accelerating process of social differentiation, since living old age as retirement is, for the moment, only possible for people who are more or less doing well and able to gain the necessary resources of self-maintenance during a time after work.  Thus, retirement has become, beyond the sphere of formal work, a generalized notion of new pathways of old age. However, up to now, the desire to live old age as retirement is still an emerging age- inscription and has not become the dominant norm.

Successful Aging

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Tesch-Romer ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Suresh Rattan ◽  
Liat Ayalon
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Good Health ◽  
The Body ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Successful Ageing ◽  
Life Worth Living ◽  
The One

Biological ageing is a progressive decline in physiological functionality, and an increase in the chances of chronic diseases and death. Ageing of the body sets in and happens progressively, exponentially and intrinsically in the period beyond the naturally evolved essential lifespan of a species. Ageing science has searched for the factors securing longevity in good health. An end to this quest is not foreseeable. For a large number, frailty and cognitive impairment is the reality of ageing, and it is by no means certain if health promotion, prevention, and other interventions will reduce the probability of its occurrence. A narrow understanding of ‘successful ageing’ as good health, full functioning, and active participation in society excludes a large portion of ageing individuals from the quest for a good life in old age. Hence, the term is highly ambivalent. On the one hand, it counteracts the deficit view of ageing and facilitates visionary thinking on what might be possible in the future. On the other hand, its ageist and derogative features have negative consequences. Striving for a good life in old age should be inclusive, acknowledging different forms and pathways of ageing. Conceptions of life worth living up to very old age can vary widely, and may include good health and functioning, and also life satisfaction, wisdom, supporting environments, and good care. The discussion on successful ageing needs a multifaceted and pluralistic spirit of discourse, which aims to integrate different models of life-course development into a new narrative of successful ageing.

Towards a new narrative on successful ageing

2021 ◽  
pp. 77-86
Author(s):  
Clemens Tesch-Römer ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Suresh I. S. Rattan ◽  
Liat Ayalon
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Successful Ageing ◽  
Major Task ◽  
Conceptual Reasoning

The major task of this closing chapter is to strive for reconciliation between the very divergent positions and perspectives on successful ageing that have been outlined in this book. The building blocks enabling at least partial reconciliation are the emphasis of the need for pluralism in conceptual reasoning on the notion of successful ageing; the insistence that one must be aware of the full implications of choosing any particular model of successful ageing; and the claim that the discourse on successful ageing can only, to a limited extent, be driven by empirical data. Instead, illuminating the underlying normative conceptions of what it means to enjoy a good life in old age is key to arrive at a more holistic picture of successful ageing that comes with heuristic utility. At the same time, visions of the good life in old age need further elaboration, but remaining ambivalences seem unavoidable.

scholarly journals Active seniors and old farts

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (30) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Scheel Thomasen
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Physical Rehabilitation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
And Training

Based on ethnographic fieldwork among elderly people in physical rehabilitation in Denmark, the article examines aging with disease and frailty as a process of moral becoming. Employing Cheryl Mattingly’s notion of Moral Laboratory (Mattingly 2014), the article shows how life in old age, when changed by disease and the onset of frailty, is marked by striving, failure and success in the endeavour to create a good life in a constant negotiation with the body that seems to have grown a will of its own. In the training centers the body is a malleable and controllable entity known through tests and training routines, underlining individual responsibility and an active senior life as a moral value. The body does not necessarily comply with the defined goals, and other possible futures come into play, where ‘old age’ can be an explanatory resource in accepting frailty as part of life and the end of life rehearsed and orchestrated.

Emerging Nutrition Gaps in a World of Affluence - Micronutrient Intake and Status Globally

2011 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfred Eggersdorfer ◽  
Paul Walter
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Molecular Basis ◽  
Health Benefit ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
New Science ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
Micronutrient Intake

Nutrition is important for human health in all stages of life - from conception to old age. Today we know much more about the molecular basis of nutrition. Most importantly, we have learnt that micronutrients, among other factors, interact with genes, and new science is increasingly providing more tools to clarify this interrelation between health and nutrition. Sufficient intake of vitamins is essential to achieve maximum health benefit. It is well established that in developing countries, millions of people still suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. However, it is far less recognized that we face micronutrient insufficiencies also in developed countries.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document