The Ageless Self: Sources of Meaning in Late Life

by Sharon R. Kaufman

Among the many studies of aging and the aged, there is comparatively little material in which the aged speak for themselves. In this compelling study, Sharon Kaufman encourages just such expression, recording and presenting the voices of a number of old Americans. Her informants tell their life stories and relate their most personal feelings about becoming old. Each story is unique, and yet, presented together, they inevitable weave a clear pattern, one that clashes sharply with much current gerontological thought. With this book, Sharon Kaufman allows us to understand the experience of the aging by listening to the aged themselves.
          Kaufman, while maintaining objectivity, is able to draw an intimate portrait of her subjects. We come to know these people as individuals and we become involved with their lives. Through their words, we find that the aging process is not merely a period of sensory, functional, economic, and social decline. Old people continue to participate in society, and—more important—continue to interpret their participation in the social world. Through themes constructed from these stories, we can see how the old not only cope with losses, but how they create new meaning as they reformulate and build viable selves. Creating identity, Kaufman stresses, is a lifelong process.
          Sharon Kaufman's book will be of interest and value not only to students of gerontology and life span development, and to professionals in the field of aging, but to everyone who is concerned with the aging process itself. As Sharon Kaufman says, "If we can find the sources of meaning held by the elderly and see how individuals put it all together, we will go a long way toward appreciating the complexity of human aging and the ultimate reality of coming to terms with one's whole life."

Genres: Nonfiction

220 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1986

About the author

Sharon R. Kaufman is Chair of the Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the author of …And a Time to Die: How American Hospitals Shape the End of Life.

Reviews

[Randy Elrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opening, particularly regarding themes in life rather than events.

[Hallee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read, not something I would have picked up on my own accord but had to for school. I love reading about other people’s lives so I enjoyed the stories of the elderly participants and how they have created meaning and definition of themselves into their “old age”. Loved the fact that these elderly people didn’t see themselves as old— they still believe themselves young, which gives me hope for the future. So interesting how we continue to change and shape our identities and values in life as we get older, and that aging does not have to be a scary thing- but something meaningful and beautiful.

[Taryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great qualitative work in medical anthropology.