Introduction: Perspectives on Cultural Aging at a Glance

Abstract

Demographic transformation resulting from low fertility and high life expectancy in developed and developing countries has led to an increase in the numbers of elderly people living in those countries. Moreover, low birth rates, changing family structures, and economic and political crises causing migration and flight are having a significant impact on intergenerational relationships, social welfare systems, the job market, and on what elderly people (can) expect from their retirement and environment. Due to these current demographic developments and changes, the categories age and aging are quickly gaining in societal relevance and are garnering tremendous attention in various scientific and scholarly fields. Age(ing) is not only a biological and social fact but also a cultural one. Questions of aging and demographic change, and issues of dependency and the need for care, are central concerns in Europe and in many other countries worldwide. In societies with a growing proportion of older people, concepts relating to who the elderly are and what aging means are becoming increasingly important. Ideas about what they contribute to society and what society gives them, what is known about older people, and how aging processes are evaluated are being put to the test, and the question of how older people perceive themselves is gaining significance. In all societies, concepts of life phases have developed that are reflected in images of old age.1 Demographic shifts and changes to disease profiles and cultural dynamics (e.g., to family structures, value systems, employment, health, opportunities for political and other forms of social participation) are transforming these images of age, which in turn affect the role that people who are identified as “old” assume in a society. Reflections on old age in the arts reveal not only the concepts of age, role expectations, and stereotypical notions with which we encounter this stage of life but also how expectations of age-appropriate behavior can be subverted, changed, and expanded upon. Yet our society still pays far too little attention to the potential impact made by cultural actors on policy, social programs, and medical research. The current generation and, in particular, the next generation must be prepared for an academic and economic world that comprises diverse ages and an aging workforce, and for