ABSTRACT

We live in a society that to a large extent valourizes youth and the youthful and that simultaneously devalues old age and the old. Until now, the growing number of persons reaching an advanced age, as well as their potential of representing a huge marketing segment did not prevent the Western world from increasingly turning into a society in which old age is regarded as a problem and a burden for the individual and the society. This materializes itself in what in academic literature is often described as ‘gerontophobia’ – the anxiety for, the apprehension about and the distance towards old age and the old. This chapter argues that gerontophobia is fundamentally based on a more general contemporary ‘thanatophobia’. This primary thanatophobia constitutes the main root of gerontophobia. Moreover, the chapter explains the contemporary strong connection between gerontophobia and the fear of falling out of (good) shape and establishes this fear as the second cultural root of gerontophobia. The chapter discusses how both primary and secondary thanatophobia go hand in hand with the social exclusion of the elders, functioning as a trigger for it, while being, at the same time, stimulated and reinforced by the prevalent ageism of our days.