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Elderhood: A New Paradigm for the Third Stage of Life
Louise Aronson, a geriatrician and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, wants to reimagine being old as a time of possibilities. Her book, Elderhood — Redefining Old Age, Transforming Medicine, and Reimagining Life, is important, and I want you to know about it. Her ideas about a third stage of life are compelling — and not just because I share her mission of reimagining old age.
Aronson describes her book as both a battle cry and a lament.
She notes that people are living longer than ever before; the shift is dramatic. In medieval times, the average life expectancy was in the early 30s. In 1750, only 20% of people in colonial America lived to be 70 years old. Now a whopping 80% of us make it to 70. Our changing demographics mean the perception of ‘old’ has also shifted over time. One economist at Stanford, John Shoven, suggests we are ‘old’ when we have a 2% or higher chance of death in the next year. Using that measure, men are ‘old’ today at 65 and women at 73.
Culture determines treatment of elders
Old people are treated differently among cultures. In some, they are revered and treated with the greatest respect. In the USA, growing old is universally dreaded. Most everyone wants to look young, act young, and be perceived as younger than they are. Many of us expect…
