Question

• Calasanti and King state, “The dictate to age successfully by remaining active is both ageist and ignorant of the lives of the working classes” . Discuss this claim and its relation to capitalism/consumerism, especially in “anti-aging” campaigns

Answer 1

Calasanti and King state that in order to age successfully and in driving the craze to be active even when one grows old, it increases the discrimination of people based on their age as almost everyone tries to look young while working class people can't afford such luxuries as they don't have the means to be active and look young as the products are also expensive.

Older people are expected to be active and as a result health conditions arising with old age would be stigmatized as they would be expected to be completely active. It has been increasingly advertised that being active means having leisure activities which are only affordable to the affluent class, this makes it discriminatory and ignores the lifestyle of the working class. Especially in anti-aging campaigns where old people are advertised as active elders in order to promote the lifestyle and consumption patterns.

Along with increasing capitalism and consumerism, the implication is all the more visible as it is implied that with successful aging, old people are defined as being productive and not really old which is very contradictory. This leads to any serious chronic illnesses not being entertained and old being considered in line with the middle aged population.