Toward critical narrativity - Stories of aging in contemporary social policy

This article includes a critical assessment of "positive aging" policies, which are becoming increasingly popular in North America and parts of Europe. Trends in UK social policy are used as a case example to draw out guiding narratives, effecting both the public legitimacy and the personal identities that are made available to older people. In particular, the value of work and work-related initiatives is questioned if these artificially restrict socially valued definitions of adult aging. It is argued that a narrative approach can make explicit elements that are often taken for granted in policy making. It also draws attention to the complex and contradictory nature of the stories that we are encouraged to live by in later life by opening up a critical space between description, intention, and agency. A critical narrativity allows us to interrogate political attempts to fix definitions of later life, which may or may not benefit older people themselves. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.