Problematising Ageing and Identity

Abstract

The title of this book Social Identities across the Life Course stems from a question which is implicit in theories of the life course: how do we come to know that we are ageing? In asking this question we recognise that, though our bodies change over time, those changes are imperceptible on a day-to-day basis. And yet we are, nonetheless, aware that we are ageing and we know that being of a certain age brings with it social obligations and expectations. The task of the social sciences, and one we set ourselves in this book, is to explain such processes and their impact on people’s everyday lives. Just as gender and ‘race’ shape people’s identities, so does the ageing process. In this book, we assess the extent to which social science has provided a satisfactory account of how it is we come to know that we are ageing.