ABSTRACT
Although life expectancy is increasing, there is no evidence of an increase in absolute achievable longevity. This is because by far the largest decline in death has been in the area of infant mortality and life expectancy statistics are conventionally reported as life expectancy at birth. The chances of mothers surviving pregnancy have also greatly increased over this century. This has had the effect of concentrating the age of death in the 70-and 80-year-old age group. Some writers have called this the rectangular survival curve. Greatly increased life expectancy at birth over the last hundred and fifty years is not reflected in a similarly large increase in life expectancy at age 70 or 80. Changes in longevity have been largely associated with changing social conditions. The role of medical science in elongating the basic biological life span is debatable. The media frequently report apparent breakthroughs in medical science that will produce longevity. However, the discussion in Chapter 4 of the place of medical science in our current cultural construction of old age might explain the continued search and optimistic reporting of quasi immortality. On the other hand, there is evidence of a social expectation of the age of death and medical teams striving with less than total determination to preserve the life of the very old who have reached such an age (Sudnow 1967).
