Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T01:17:05.023Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What's so critical about it? An analysis of critique within different strands of critical gerontology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

Shane Doheny Open the ORCID record for Shane Doheny [Opens in a new window]  and
Ian Rees Jones
Shane Doheny*
Affiliation:
Division of Cancer & Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Ian Rees Jones
Affiliation:
WISERD – Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Shortly after emerging in the 1980s, critical gerontology became a recognised part of mainstream gerontology. Under the umbrella of ‘critical gerontology’ sits a number of orientations that draw attention to how ageing is socially located, while foregrounding the importance of values in ageing research. Nevertheless, as critical gerontology is not a clearly defined field or orientation, inconsistencies in the use of ‘critique’ among critical gerontologists has been fermenting internal tensions. In this paper we draw on recent debates on critique as a form of discourse that aims to criticise a deficient social order with the aim of helping to bring about a good society, to identify four discourses of critique. These include the discourses of immanent critique and of transcendent critique, critique that focuses on tensions between these two, and critique that builds on constructive combinations of immanence and transcendence. We add to these an extra level of depth by distinguishing how critical discourse is applied in each case. We use this framework to identify the discourses of critique deployed in variants of critical gerontology. Here, we distinguish political economic, lifecourse, humanistic and culturalist approaches within critical gerontology and assess how each of these applies a discourse of critique. We find that these gerontological perspectives draw on a variety of discourses of critique and make use of varying degrees of engagement with critical discourse. The paper concludes by discussing how critical gerontology may develop as a reflective forum commenting on and integrating insights offered by its own varieties of critique and connecting these with macro-social analyses.

Keywords

Critical gerontologycritiqueimmancencetranscendencepolitical economylifecourse
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 41 , Issue 10 , October 2021 , pp. 2314 - 2334
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Apel, KO (1987) The problem of philosophical foundations in light of a transcendental pragmatics of language. In Baynes, K, Bohman, J and McCarthy, T (eds), After Philosophy: End or Transformation? Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 250–289.Google Scholar
Baars, J (1991) The challenge of critical studies. Journal of Aging Studies 5, 219–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baars, J, Dannefer, D, Phillipson, C and Walker, A (2006) Introduction: Critical perspectives in gerontology. In Baars, J, Dannefer, D, Phillipson, C and Walker, A (eds), Aging, Globalization and Inequality: The New Critical Gerontology. New York, NY: Baywood, pp. 1–14.Google Scholar
Barnes, (2012) Care in Everyday Life: An ethic of care in practice. Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Bengtson, VL, Rice, CJ and Johnson, ML (1999) Are theories of aging important? Models and explanations in gerontology at the turn of the century. In Bengtson, VL and Schaie, KW (eds), Handbook of Theories of Aging. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 3–20.Google Scholar
Bengtson, VL, JrElder, GH and Putney, NM (2005 a) The Lifecourse Perspective on Aging. In Johnson, ML with Bengtson, VL, Coleman, PG and Kirkwood, TBL (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 493–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, VL, Putney, NM and Johnson, ML (2005 b) The problem of theory in gerontology today. In Johnson, ML with Bengtson, VL, Coleman, PG and Kirkwood, TBL (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernard, M and Scharf, T (2007) Critical perspectives on ageing societies. In Bernard, M and Scharf, T (eds), Critical Perspectives on Ageing Societies. Bristol, UK: The Policy Press, pp. 3–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhaskar, R (1978) A Realist Theory of Science. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Biggs, S (2001) Toward critical narrativity stories of aging in contemporary social policy. Journal of Aging Studies 15, 303–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biggs, S (2004) Age, gender, narratives, and masquerades. Journal of Aging Studies 18, 45–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boltanski, L and Thévenot, L (2006) On Justification. The Economies of Worth. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P (1991) Language and Symbolic Power. Oxford: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Bury, M (1995) Aging, Gender and Sociological Theory. In Arber, S and Ginn, J (eds). Connecting Gender and Aging: A Sociological Approach. Buckingham: Open University Press, pp. 15–29.Google Scholar
Calasanti, T (1986) The social creation of dependence, dependency ratios, and the elderly in the United States: a critical analysis. Social Science and Medicine 23, 1229–1236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calasanti, T (2009) Theorizing feminist gerontology, sexuality, and beyond: an intersectional approach. In Bengtson, VL, Gans, D, Putney, NM and Silverstein, M (eds), Handbook of Theories of Aging. New York, NY: Springer.Google Scholar
Calasanti, T (2010) Gender relations and applied research on aging. Gerontologist 50, 720–734.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooke, M (2006) Re-presenting the Good Society. London: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dannefer, D (2006) Reciprocal co-optation: the relationship of critical theory and social gerontology. In Baars, J, Dannefer, D, Phillipson, C and Walker, A (eds), Aging, Globalization and Inequality: The New Critical Gerontology. New York, NY: Baywood, pp. 103–120.Google Scholar
Dannefer, A and Kelley-Moore, JA (2009) Theorizing the life course: new twists in the paths. In Bengtson, VL, Gans, D, Putney, NM and Silversein, M (eds), Handbook of Theories of Aging. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 389–411.Google Scholar
Dannefer, D and Uhlenberg, P (1999) Paths of the life course: a typology. In Bengtson, VL and Schaie, KW (eds), Handbook of Theories of Aging. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 306–326.Google Scholar
Dannefer, D, Stein, P, Siders, R and Patterson, SR (2008) Is that all there is? The concept of care and the dialectic of critique. Journal of Aging Studies 22, 101–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delanty, G (2011) Varieties of critique in sociological theory and their methodological implications for social research. Irish Journal of Sociology 19, 68–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eder, K (2007) Cognitive sociology and the theory of communicative action: the role of communication and language in the making of the social bond. European Journal of Social Theory 10, 389–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estes, CL (2001) Political economy of aging: a theoretical framework. In Estes CL and Associates. Social Policy and Aging: A Critical Perspective. London: Sage, pp. 1–22.Google Scholar
Estes, C (2011) Crises and Old Age Policy. In Settersten, RA Jr and Angel, JL (eds). Handbook of Sociology and Aging. London: Springer, pp. 297–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estes, LE, Biggs, S and Phillipson, C (2003) Social Theory, Social Policy and Ageing: A Critical Introduction. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Estes CL and Associates (2001) Social Policy and Aging: A Critical Perspective. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Ferraro, KF (2011) Health and aging: early origins, persistent inequalities? In JrSettersten, RA and Angel, JL (eds), Handbook of Sociology and Aging. London: Springer, pp. 465–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Formosa, M and Higgs, P (eds) (2013) Social Class in Later Life: Power, Identity and Lifestyle. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, L and Walker, A (2015) Active and successful aging: a European policy perspective. The Gerontologist 55, 83–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foucault, M (1984) Nietzsche, genealogy, history. In Rabinow, P (ed.), The Foucault Reader. New York, NY: Pantheon, pp. 76–100.Google Scholar
Freixas, A, Luque, B and Reina, A (2012) Critical feminist gerontology: in the back room of research. Journal of Women and Aging 24, 44–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilleard, C and Higgs, P (2000) Cultures of Ageing: Self, Citizen and the Body. Harlow, UK: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C and Higgs, P (2006) Contexts of Ageing; Class, Context and Community. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Gubrium, JF and Holstein, JA (1999) Constructionist perspectives on aging. In Bengtson, VL and Schaie, KW (eds), Handbook of Theories of Aging. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 289–305.Google Scholar
Habermas, J (1979) Communication and the Evolution of Society. Boston, MA: Beacon.Google Scholar
Habermas, J (1984) The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 1, Reason and the Rationalisation of Society. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Habermas, J (1987) The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 2, The Critique of Functionalist Reason. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Hendricks, J and Achenbaum, A (1999) Historical development of theories of aging. In Bengtson, VL and Schaie, KW (eds), Handbook of Theories of Aging. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 21–39.Google Scholar
Higgs, P (2009) Critical gerontology: intersections of the personal and the political. Ageing & Society 29, 653–655.Google Scholar
Holstein, MB and Minkler, M (2007) Critical gerontology: reflections for the 21st century. In Bernard, M and Scharf, T (eds), Critical Perspectives on Ageing Societies. Bristol, UK: The Policy Press, pp. 13–26.Google Scholar
Jones, IR, Hyde, M, Victor, CR, Wiggins, RD, Gilleard, C and Higgs, P (2008) Ageing in a consumer society: From passive to active consumption in Britain. Bristol: The Policy Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, I (1998) Critique of pure reason. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, S (2009) Cultural Aging: Life Course, Lifestyle, and Senior Worlds. Toronto, UK: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Keating, N and Phillips, J (2008) A critical human ecology perspective on rural ageing. In Keating, N (ed). Rural Ageing: A Good Place to Grow Old? Bristol, UK: Policy Press, pp. 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krekula, C (2007) The intersection of age and gender: reworking gender theory and social gerontology. Current Sociology 55, 155–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latour, B (2004) Why has critique run out of steam? From matters of fact to matters of concern. Critical Inquiry 30, 225–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longino, CF and Powell, JL (2009) Towards a phenomenology of aging. In Bengtson, VL, Gans, D, Putney, NM and Silverstein, M (eds), Handbook of Theories of Aging. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 375–387.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N (1995) Social Systems. Trans. Bednarz, J and Baecker, D. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Marshall, V (2009) What is new about critical gerontology? Ageing & Society 29, 651–652.Google Scholar
Marshall, VW and Bengtson, VL (2011) Theoretical perspectives on the sociology of aging. In JrSettersten, RA and Angel, JL (eds), Handbook of Sociology and Aging. London: Springer, pp. 17–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minkler, M (1996) Critical perspectives on ageing: new challenges for gerontology. Ageing & Society 16, 467–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillipson, C (1982) Capitalism and the Construction of Old Age. London: The MacMillan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillipson, C (1998) Reconstructing Old Age: New Agendas in Social Theory and Practice. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C and Walker, A (1987) The case for a critical gerontology. In De Gregorio, S (ed.), Social Gerontology: New Directions. London: Croom Helm, pp. 1–15.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C (2005) The political economy of old age. In Johnson, ML with Bengtson, VL, Coleman, PG and Kirkwood, TBL (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 502–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J ([1971] 1999) A Theory of Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ray, RE (1999) Researching to transgress: the need for critical feminism in gerontology. Journal of Women and Aging 11, 171–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ray, RE (2007) Narratives as agents of social change: a new direction for narrative gerontologists. In Bernard, M and Scharf, T (eds), Critical Perspectives on Ageing Societies. Bristol, UK: The Policy Press, pp. 59–72.Google Scholar
Ray, R (2008) Coming of age in critical gerontology. Journal of Aging Studies 22, 97–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rorty, R (1989) Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sevenhuijsen, S (1998) Citizenship and the Ethics of Care. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sevenhuijsen, S (2000) Caring in the third way: the relation between obligation, responsibility and care in Third Way discourse. Critical Social Policy 20(1), 5–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonderegger, R and de Boer, K (2004) Conceptions of Critique in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Strydom, P (2000) Discourse and Knowledge: The making of enlightenment sociology. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strydom, P (2009) A Theory of Cognitive Frames For Critical Sociology. In Tuama, Ó (ed). Critical Turns in Critical Theory: New Directions in Social and Political Thought. London: I.B. Tauris Publishers, pp. 1–23.Google Scholar
Strydom, P (2011) Contemporary Critical Theory and Methodology. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townsend, P (1981) The structured dependency of the elderly: a creation of social policy in the twentieth century. Ageing & Society 1, 5–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tronto, J (1993) Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Twigg, J and Martin, W (2014) The challenge of cultural gerontology. The Gerontologist 55, 353–395.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Venn, S, Davidson, K and Arber, S (2011) Gender and Aging. In Settersten, RA and Angel, JL (eds). Handbook of Sociology and Aging. London: Springer, pp. 71–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A (1981) Towards a political economy of old age. Ageing & Society 1, 73–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A (2005) Towards an international political economy of ageing. Ageing & Society 25, 815–839.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walzer, M (1987) Interpretation and Social Criticism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wellin, C (2018) Introductory chapter: The need for, and fruits of, a current critical gerontology. In Wellin, C (ed). Critical Gerontology Comes of Age: Advances in Research and Theory for a New Century. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar