{"title":"Beyond 'Productive Aging': An Argument for 'Happy Aging'.","authors":"Gordon Mathews","doi":"10.1007/s10823-023-09475-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper critically considers the concept of 'productive aging,' maintaining that although the term emerged as an effort to aid older people, it may be normative and potentially coercive. The paper illustrates this premise through an examination of Japan, through analysis of interviews conducted over decades, and, more fully, an analysis of advice books for Japanese seniors over the past twenty years. These advice books show how seniors in Japan are now increasingly urged to find contentment in old age as they themselves see fit, without concern over 'contributing to society.' In crucial respects, Japan has been moving from 'productive aging' to 'happy aging' as a guide for how to age. The paper then considers the judgment inherent in the term 'productive aging'-are some forms of aging better than other forms of aging?-by examining competing conceptions of happiness, advocating on the basis of this examination that the term 'productive aging' be replaced by 'happy aging.'</p>","PeriodicalId":46921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9986657/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-023-09475-5","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/3/6 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper critically considers the concept of 'productive aging,' maintaining that although the term emerged as an effort to aid older people, it may be normative and potentially coercive. The paper illustrates this premise through an examination of Japan, through analysis of interviews conducted over decades, and, more fully, an analysis of advice books for Japanese seniors over the past twenty years. These advice books show how seniors in Japan are now increasingly urged to find contentment in old age as they themselves see fit, without concern over 'contributing to society.' In crucial respects, Japan has been moving from 'productive aging' to 'happy aging' as a guide for how to age. The paper then considers the judgment inherent in the term 'productive aging'-are some forms of aging better than other forms of aging?-by examining competing conceptions of happiness, advocating on the basis of this examination that the term 'productive aging' be replaced by 'happy aging.'
期刊介绍：
The Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology is an international and interdisciplinary journal providing a forum for scholarly discussion of the aging process and issues of the aged throughout the world. The journal emphasizes discussions of research findings, theoretical issues, and applied approaches and provides a comparative orientation to the study of aging in cultural contexts The core of the journal comprises a broad range of articles dealing with global aging, written from the perspectives of history, anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, population studies, health/biology, etc. We welcome articles that examine aging within a particular cultural context, compare aging and older adults across societies, and/or compare sub-cultural groupings or ethnic minorities within or across larger societies. Comparative analyses of topics relating to older adults, such as aging within socialist vs. capitalist systems or within societies with different social service delivery systems, also are appropriate for this journal. With societies becoming ever more multicultural and experiencing a `graying'' of their population on a hitherto unprecedented scale, the Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology stands at the forefront of one of the most pressing issues of our times.
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