ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part examines the thesis with data from Geneva, Switzerland, along with their knowledge of the research on French and American samples, for signs of some common set of feelings and behaviors. It shows that the concept of midlife crisis cannot be isolated from specific cultural and historical factors. The part discusses the usefulness of a life course structured into discrete segments —school, work and/or family, retirement. It describes how the license serves as an “asphalt identikit,” defining its holder as someone who is of the community, who is not yet really “old.” If having the license is crucial, so also is exercising the right to use it, despite the many physiological decrements that make driving somewhat dangerous for the older driver and others on the road. The part suggests the fierceness of resistance to any attempt to curtail driving on the basis of age.
