ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a very brief background and commentary on some of the ways in which perceptions of ageing and intelligence have changed. Crystallized intelligence measures the amount of knowledge a person has acquired during his or her lifetime. Fluid intelligence is 'the ability to solve problems for which there are no solutions derivable from formal education or cultural practices'. The stereotype of old age as 'enfeeblement' was established. Enfeeblement and pessimism joined the constant spectre of poverty in old age, which was a fearful expectation for very many people throughout the century. When a research interest in social gerontology began to emerge in the 1940s and 1950s, against this background of enfeeblement, pessimism and anticipated poverty, the orientation was to uncover the potential problems and dangers connected with an ageing population. In all the advanced or capitalist industrial societies, throughout the twentieth century, retirement has been regarded by employers and trade unions with ambivalence.
