Katz Stephen, Calasanti Toni
Department of Sociology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
Department of Sociology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg.
Gerontologist. 2015 Feb;55(1):26-33. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnu027. Epub 2014 Apr 18.
"Successful aging" is one of gerontology's most successful ideas. Applied as a model, a concept, an approach, an experience, and an outcome, it has inspired researchers to create affiliated terms such as "healthy," "positive," "active," "productive," and "effective" aging. Although embraced as an optimistic approach to measuring life satisfaction and as a challenge to ageist traditions based on decline, successful aging as defined by John Rowe and Robert Kahn has also invited considerable critical responses. This article takes a critical gerontological perspective to explore such responses to the Rowe-Kahn successful aging paradigm by summarizing its empirical and methodological limitations, theoretical assumptions around ideas of individual choice and lifestyle, and inattention to intersecting issues of social inequality, health disparities, and age relations. The latter point is elaborated with an examination of income, gender, racial, ethnic, and age differences in the United States. Conclusions raise questions of social exclusion and the future of successful aging research.
“成功老龄化”是老年学领域最为成功的理念之一。作为一种模式、概念、方法、经历和结果，它激发了研究人员创造出诸如“健康老龄化”“积极老龄化”“活跃老龄化”“生产性老龄化”和“成效性老龄化”等相关术语。尽管成功老龄化被视为衡量生活满意度的一种乐观方法，也是对基于衰退的年龄歧视传统的一种挑战，但约翰·罗（John Rowe）和罗伯特·卡恩（Robert Kahn）所定义的成功老龄化也引发了不少批评回应。本文从批判性老年学的视角出发，通过总结罗 - 卡恩成功老龄化范式在实证和方法论上的局限性、围绕个人选择和生活方式理念的理论假设，以及对社会不平等、健康差异和年龄关系等交叉问题的忽视，来探讨对该范式的这些回应。文章通过考察美国的收入、性别、种族、族裔和年龄差异对最后一点进行了详细阐述。结论提出了社会排斥问题以及成功老龄化研究的未来走向。
