Aging, Discourse and Subject Positioning: The Case of Health and Social Care – A Foucauldian Excursion

Abstract

In recent times, there has been an extraordinary global rise in debate about aging, despite the frequent charge that the subject of ‘‘aging’’ has been relatively underdeveloped in social policy shaping and practice (Phillipson 2013). This article draws upon the theoretical work of French philosopher Michel Foucault in order to map out a conceptual and methodological ‘‘tool-kit’’ for the analytical investigation of aging as it has been characterized in social discourse. Further, I claim that Foucault’s extensive conceptual and methodological works can be used to understand the construction of old age as a core focus of health and social care and that, in many cases, health and social care has simultaneously come to stand for old age itself.