Successful Ageing Ambition and Ambivalence

The ambition of ageing science to discover the golden fleece of longevity and health is closely connected to the concept of 'successful ageing'. Still, for a large portion of the population, frailty and cognitive impairment is the reality of ageing, and it is by no means certain if health promotion, prevention and other interventions will reduce the probability of its occurrence. This book argues that a narrow understanding of 'successful ageing' as good health, full functioning, and active participation in society excludes a large portion of ageing individuals from the quest for a good life in old age. The challenge is that the term 'successful ageing' comes with ambitions but also with ambivalence. On the one hand, it counteracts the deficit view of ageing and facilitates visionary thinking on what might be possible in the future. On the other hand, its implicitly ageist and derogative features have negative consequences to older people and society at large. So, what is successful ageing? We provide answers at three levels: First, we synthesise the various models used to define successful ageing into a heuristic scheme able to unravel the normative complexity and differences inherent in existing models. Second, we anchor successful ageing models in a tripartite way at micro (individual), meso, and macro analytic levels of human development. Third, we argue that the usefulness of successful ageing in guiding policy will only profit from the concept, if it follows a pluralistic and holistic view without hastily deciding for one model only.

Clemens Tesch-Römer, director of the German Centre of Gerontology and associate professor for psychology at the Free University Berlin, has published 20 books and about 200 scholarly journal articles and chapters on ageing. He is PI of the German Ageing Survey and has been co-speaker of a European Network on ageism. He is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and was president of the German Society for Gerontology and Geriatrics, president of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, European Region as well as a member of expert commissions for the German Federal Government's reports on older persons. Hans-Werner Wahl is a former Professor of Psychological Aging Research. He is currently the Director of the Network Aging Research of Heidelberg University. He is the author or editor of more than 30 books and more than 400 scholarly journal articles and chapters related to behavioral aging. He is the founding editor of the European Journal of Ageing (together with Dorly Deeg) and a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. He has received the 2008 Social Gerontology Award (together with Manfred Diehl), the 2009 M. Powell Lawton Award of the GSA, and the 2019 IAGG-ER Advanced Scholar Award. Suresh I.S. Rattan Ph.D.,D.Sc., is Professor Emeritus of Biogerontology at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark. He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Biogerontology - an international peer reviewed journal published by Springer-Nature. His research areas and expertise include ageing of human cells and application of the concept of mild stress-induced hormesis as a modulator of ageing. He is the recipient of the Lord Cohen Medal in Gerontology from the British Society for Research on Ageing (BSRA), and an Honorary Doctorate from the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (St. Petersburg branch). He has published more than 300 scientific articles, and has edited/co-edited 15 books, including books for chil