Beyond Successful and Active Ageing: A Theory of Model Ageing (Hardcover)
These days, the concept of successful and active aging has become near ubiquitous, deployed by policy makers and marketing professionals alike. Beyond Successful and Active Ageing argues that while this approach to aging may seem benign, it actually exacerbates inequalities among older populations. Virpi Timonen puts forth a new theory designed to make sense of the popularity of these concepts and enable readers to view them through the prism of model aging, a theory that sheds light on the causes and consequences of attempts to depict aging as a stage of life that requires direction, reshaping, and control.
Virpi Timonen is professor of social policy and aging at the School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
“Timonen is a fine theorist and critical thinker. This book will challenge readers to revisit their notions of a good old age.”
— Norah Keating, University of Alberta, Canada
“This book challenges the pervasive model of successful aging through both cogent critique and penetrating analyses of its policy and practice implications. The proposed alternative frame of ‘model aging’ is a unique and important contribution to knowledge and understanding.”
— Anne Martin-Matthews, University of British Columbia, Canada
“Anyone who uses ‘active’ and ‘successful’ aging as concepts in their policy, research, or advocacy work, needs to think carefully about what these mean. Timonen’s book provides a valuable, if sometimes challenging, aid to doing this.”
— Judith Davey, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
— Norah Keating, University of Alberta, Canada
“This book challenges the pervasive model of successful aging through both cogent critique and penetrating analyses of its policy and practice implications. The proposed alternative frame of ‘model aging’ is a unique and important contribution to knowledge and understanding.”
— Anne Martin-Matthews, University of British Columbia, Canada
“Anyone who uses ‘active’ and ‘successful’ aging as concepts in their policy, research, or advocacy work, needs to think carefully about what these mean. Timonen’s book provides a valuable, if sometimes challenging, aid to doing this.”
— Judith Davey, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand