NotNormativelyHuman 245
behavior which SOC theories seek to describe and promote are (still)
possible.Whatremainsoutsidethepurviewofsuchtheoriesarethevery
frailandtheveryold,theso-called"FourthAgers."
Theflipsideofthenewbiotechcoinisthenanew"twoclasssystem
of older adults" (Rubinstein and de Medeiros 34). This development is
particularly relevant for a cultural-materialist critique such as that
attempted in this book. Class has come to "age" in many guises, the
new, biotechnological system realizes itself—socially but also
culturally—through a new scientifically validated biotech governance
over the individual person. The principal outcome of such a new life
courseregimeisthatthe
primary responsibility for successful ageing [is getting assigned] to the
individualwhocanbeblamedforfailingtocomply[withrecommended
enhancementproceduresorproducts].Thosewhoretaintheirfitnessand
active engagement in life are praised, whereas those who lose their
vitalityordisengagefromsocietyaremarginalized,pitiedandridiculed.
(Hodgettsetal.419)In this way, the intense affective investment of age-related markers
with individual or collective anxieties is not at all abating. Rather, the
"post-age" utopia is well on its way of producing new forms of
biocultural otherness. It is a little observed fact that the public debate
about biotechnical interventions in the human genome has been going
on along lines similar to discussions about the practicality and
desirability of environmental engineering. So, if improving Mother
Nature by creating genetically modified plants and foods is regarded as
OK, then improving people's lives by modifying their bodies (through
biotech) is also OK. What seems especially noteworthy about all this
fromanAmericanCulturalStudiespointofviewisthedegreetowhich
the brave new biotech world is captivating the imagination also of lay
people—manyofthemnot(yet)old—andhowgreatitsimpactisonthe
general culture. On the basis of this unfolding "genetic imaginary"
(Franklin qtd. in Clarke et al., "Theoretical and Substantive
Introduction" 19), a new, equally imaginary grammar of "age" is
forming,thenormnottobe"reallyold."
Within this set of norms, the promise of "post age" is wedded to
important concerns about what can count as a good human life in its