ABSTRACT
The WHO has pointed out that ageing consists of an interplay of biological, psychological and social processes, which, as Baltes and Carstensen indicate, become increasingly interdependent as one approaches deep old age. If biological determinism, whilst appearing to be based in objective fact, is itself a social creation, then the degree to which ageing can be thought of as changeable is unnecessarily compromised. The history of the relationship between social and biological ageing has centred on the relative primacy of the body as a focus of concern. The rate of deterioration in later life may be caused by the cumulative effects of natural selection as genetic adaptation is only transmitted up until the point it is handed on to the next generation, so that changes caused by ageing past that point have little effect. The tension between what is natural or unnatural and therefore requires clinical intervention shows itself to be an amalgam of physical and social factors.
