Valuing older people

How can we understand older people as human beings, value their wisdom, and appreciate that their norms and purposes matter in themselves as well as responding to those of others?

Using a lifecourse approach, this book claims that the complexity and potential creativity of later life demands a humanistic vision of older people and ageing, one which denies that older people are 'other' than ourselves and emphasises instead the 'ties of recognition and concern' that bind human beings together. At the same time, it acknowledges the specificities of different experiences of older age and the diversity of meanings connected with them. It presents a range of contexts and methodologies through which such meanings can be understood.

The book interprets ageing as a process of creating meaning, carried out by older people but significant for those around them, and influenced by the norms and values of their societies as well as their political and economic structures. It then considers the impact of social norms on older people's capacities to age in creative ways. What genuine obstacles are there to older people's construction of meaningful lives? What is going on when they feel they are ageing well? In former times, the idea of a meaningful later life was associated with the idea of wisdom; some of its contemporary dimensions are explored here.

This collection offers a lively and creative response to contemporary challenges of ageing and how to understand them. It is aimed at students, researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in ageing.