NotNormativelyHuman 215
Inageneralsocio-politicalcontext,inwhichtheoverallcostsoflate
life, individually and collectively, are coming up for debate (to be
discussedbelow),mass-culturalprojectionsof"richoldsters,"the"silver
agers" or the "Golden Ponders" already mentioned, have a social and
cultural meaning that is not exhausted by marking affluent lifestyles
(whichinthisparticularinflectionareage-neutral,ifnotaltogetherage-
less). These projections are in fact deeply ideological, as Age Studies
scholarshavearguedagainandagain.Manyargumentsaroundresource
allocation—some of which will be discussed below in the context of
"age" and governmentality—are at the heart of the matter "who doesn't
workshouldnoteat"-arguments.
These arguments resource cultural processes of "generational
scapegoating" (Segal 45) which are rampant in many cultures of the
Global North and are propagated also and with great intensity by the
pundits of neoliberalism in the U.S. where they produce cultural and
broadlyideologicaleffectsbutalsomaterialones.Alreadyinthe1940s,
sociologist Talcott Parsons had noted the "structural isolation [of old
people]... cut [them] off from participation in the most important
interests and activities of the society" ("Age and Sex" 103). There are
manyexamplesofsuchaspatialapartheidintheU.S.andothersocieties
of the Global North, such as the relative absence of senior people from
certain city quarters (here "age" works in ways not altogether different
from "race") and inversely the congregation of the elderly in retirement
communities of which Sun City, AZ, is perhaps the most notorious
example.
Concerning the "vital normativities" (Canguilhem 239) which have
aggregated around "aging" and "old age," cultural critique is faced with
a paradoxical situation. All forms of organic life are subject to
physiologicalchangesovertime,andthosewhosedefiningcharacteristic
is the observable length of their lifespan can be said to "age," as a
biomedical handbooknotes: "With the passage of time, organisms
undergo progressive physiological deterioration that results in increased
vulnerability to stress and an increased probability of death. This
phenomenoniscommonlyreferredtoasaging"(Cristofaloetal.98).In
thissense,then,itisanabsolutelynormalprocessto"age."Atthesame
time, people identified as "aging" or "old" by experts and lay persons
alikeallcarrytheindexofthenon-normal,ifcomparedwiththehuman
body during earlier stages of its life course. Temporal difference or