Introducing the “Third Age”: A “Successful” Alternative to the

Tripartitioned Life Course?

Dawn C. Carr, MGS, ABD Miami University

Department of Sociology and Gerontology

Overview

•  Conceptualization of the third age •  Critical examination of salient ideals •  Implications for the way older adults

are valued •  Implications for future research on the

third age

A New Paradigm

•  Contextualized by the third age •  Marked by macro-demographic changes

– Population aging – Life course structure

•  Linked with rhetoric about active and productive aging – Avoidance of decline – Promotion of “successful aging”

New Structure of Later Life

•  Tripartitioned Life Course Structure –  Institutionalization of retirement

•  Education, work, and leisure – Criticisms

•  Limits social value / status in later life •  Economic costs of population aging

•  Third age – Delay of disability

•  Four-part life course

•  New opportunities in old age – Retirement before disability

•  Average older adult – New possibilities

•  Productivity •  Meaningful engagement

New Opportunities for Later Life

Examination of the Salient Ideals of the Third Age

•  Salient Perspectives •  A New frontier for personal growth •  Avoidance of aging and acting young

in old age

Third Age is a New Frontier for Personal Growth

•  Seeks to sever tie between old age and less valued “leisure” roles – Major critique of tripartitioned life course

•  Challenges ageist views of older adults as frail and needy – Especially productive aging

•  Focus on opportunities in later life

Being a “Third-Ager” Means Acting Young in Old Age

•  Encouragement of productive aging to increase social value – E.g., Volunteering – Seeking to off-set costs of population

aging •  Choice about individual behavior

•  Avoidance of dependency (fourth age) •  Individual responsibility for remaining

independent

Third Age Rhetoric: Conflicting Core Values and Ideologies

•  1. tension between individual responsibility (and choice) and social structural support (i.e., retirement)

•  2. relevance of socially versus economically valued social roles

•  3. personally versus socially valued opportunities in later life

Is the “Third Age” an Improvement?

•  Not necessarily •  Awkward position of seeking to remain

“ageless” – Submitting to decline and disengagement,

no longer “successful” – Masking aging by mimicking middle-age

lifestyle – Success in later life is related to decisions

about behavior

Third Age as Evidence of Resilience?

•  Avoidance of aging – Entry and exit from third age viewed as the

product of personal decisions and behaviors •  Ageist depiction of old age

– Old age redefined based on privilege – Perpetuation of “anti-aging” rhetoric

•  “Third age societies” and resources??

Alternative Perspectives: Celebrating the Third Age

•  De-emphasized •  Evidence of positive changes •  Recognition that paths to the third age

are not equal – Opportunity versus choice – Availability of resources across the life

course

Future Research: A macro-level perspective of resiliency

•  Individual behaviors and opportunities related to distribution of resources – Linked with social structural forces

•  Integration of personal resources and social resources

avoidance of dependency •  Identify barriers to aging “positively” that

lead to inequality in later life