Responses to the Mass Observation Ageing Directives: Five Case Studies

Abstract

As discussed in the previous chapter of this book, the FCMAP research confirms the widespread feeling in British society that it no longer makes sense to describe people in their 60s as old; and most certainly not as elderly. In fact, ‘being old’ should probably be purely a matter of self-definition. As these longitudinal case studies demonstrate, there always comes a point when the individual says ‘and now I am OLD’. If the terminology of third and fourth ages is to be retained, then it would be most productive if ‘third age’ was used to refer to the post-retirement period in which the individual doesn’t identify as old and ‘fourth age’ to the period after the point when the individual does so identify. The MO case studies are particularly helpful here because, as will become clear, they give accounts of ‘good ageing’ that incorporate infirmity and indicate how the richness of life may persist deep into fourth age. In this manner, the stigma of identifying as old will be diminished and it will become easier to see that ageing and death, rather than being alien processes that have to be denied by the living, are integral, ever-present aspects of life.