224 RüdigerKunow
synonymous with the new life forms made possible by the longevity
revolution and advances in medicine, the latter is often associated with
dependency,institutionalization,andneardeath(HiggsandGilleardvii,
ix-xi).Thismakesplausibletheideathat"age"isaninherentlyrelational
norm: the emergence and current popularity of the "Fourth Age," I
would suggest, is not so much an acknowledgment of the physical,
mental, and socio-cultural hardshipsof later life but an attempt to shore
up an age identity based on health, activity, and consumerism, which
goesbythenowfashionableterm"ThirdAge."Havingsaidthat,Iwant
to make clear that it is not my intention to dismiss beforehand new
conceptualizations of what constitutes a "good old age," or new
opportunities for living a good life well into senescence. As Andrew
Achenbaum has shown, these ideas do indeed offer encouragement to
many elder people of both sexes not to passively resign to getting older
or to take over uncritically culturally mandated "age" norms, which
relegatethemtothemarginsofeverydaylife(OlderAmericans129-55).
Atthesametime,thesloganeeringofanewagefor"aging,"whilea
cultural construct, is underwritten by material considerations, and it
produces material effects. Stephen Katz and others have noted that this
new normal ties in beautifully with neoliberalism's anti-welfare agenda
("GrowingOlder"32).The"silveragers"or"bestagers,"areperhapsthe
ideal objects of neoliberal retrenchment ideologies for the very reason
that they do not need public services or public support; if they do, they
can purchase both, as they would other items, in the market. Ostensibly
about "age," the "new normal" addressing forms and norms of late life
has the (perhaps intended) effect of obliterating any difference of this
particular stage in the human life course from earlier ones. In other
words,the"bestagers"arethenthosewhoarenot"really"old,asJoshua
Meyrowitz also observed: "Old people are respected to the degree that
they can behave like young people," which means that they are not
"really old" (153). And clearly, in the symbolic order of most societies
todaythecardsaredeckedinfavorofyouth:
The realities of the elderly and the aging process somehow have been
drained and replaced by fanciful, foolish, and often panicky views—
views that people come to believe to be part of the natural order. But
myths of aging are also palpably harmful and destructive stereotypes of
elders. And, to complete our application of semiology to aging, these