ABSTRACT
The social and biological processes of ageing and the lifecourse demonstrate the intimate connections between the body, self and society. The argument of this chapter will be that these connections can be seen at both the individual and societal levels. An obvious example might be that of changes in longevity. As average longevity improves – the result of declining mortality in infancy and across the lifecourse – so more individuals experience the processes associated with growing old, and the more society itself ‘ages’. Today in western societies the majority of individuals can expect to live into old age. The ageing of populations is the cumulative expression of changes in the experience of health and illness for groups of individuals passing through the lifecourse in a particular historical period. In addition to reductions in early mortality, low fertility produces a secular change towards fewer children and thus a greater number of older people, themselves living longer on average than in the past. Thus, changes in longevity and the lifecourse shape society itself, in terms of its age structure and social composition.
